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joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet
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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam
The so-called "419" scam is a type of fraud dominated by criminals from Nigeria and other countries in Africa. Victims of the scam are promised a large amount of money, such as a lottery prize, inheritance, money sitting in some bank account, etc.
Victims never receive this non-existent fortune but are tricked into sending their money to the criminals, who remain anonymous. They hide their real identity and location by using fake names and fake postal addresses as well as communicating via anonymous free email accounts and mobile phones.
Keep in mind that scammers DO NOT use their real names when defrauding people.
The criminals either abuse names of real people or companies or invent names or addresses.
Any real people or companies mentioned below have NO CONNECTION to the scammers!
Read more about such scams here or in our 419 FAQ. Use the Scam-O-Matic to verify suspect emails.
Click here to report a problem with this page.
Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:
- This email uses a separate reply address that is different from the sender address. Spammers use this to get replies even when the original spam sending accounts have been shut down. Also, sometimes the sender addresses are legitimate looking but fake and only the reply address is actually an email account controlled by the scammers.
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: Engr William Walter <vera-w56@sbcglobal.net>
Reply-To: walterzto@gmail.com
Date: Mon, 29 Mar 2010 10:29:11 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Re: Remain Blessed
Beloved,
I pray you find peace with this. I got your contact during my search for suitable person then I decided to contact you after prayers and meditation. Can you carry out an Orphanage home project? i’ m in specialist hospital, my name is Engr William Walter from Scotland  I am presently in  a hospital where I've been taking treatment for cancer of the lungs for the past  four years. My doctors have told me that I have only few weeks to live that is why I  decided to use this fund for charity work. I have no family who can do this for  me, so I decided to look for a sincere person who can or family who can use 80% of the fund to run the charity. As soon as you respond, I  will write an authority letter to the bank to release the fund to you. I want  you to promise me that you will use this fund exactly as I said.
I await your  urgent reply.
Engr William WalterÂ
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Anti-fraud resources:
