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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: "Mrs Hillary Brett" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <hillarybrett11@yahoo.co.jp>
Date: Wed, 12 May 2010 01:55:55 -0700
Subject: INVEST THIS FUNDS IN CHARITIES ORGANISATION
Beloved you are chosen by God as a vessel in good faith.
Reply I 'm Mrs. Mrs. Hillary Brett. I was married to Late Dr. Edward Brett who was based in Malaysia. My Husband died on February 2nd 2008 after a brief illness.
Before my Husband died, we both make a deposite of a total sum $7.6M in a vault security and Finance Company in Europe.
I am presently diagnosed of Chronic Myelogenous Leukaemia (CML) and recently, my Doctor told me that I may not last for the next Three Months.
Having known my condition, I have decided to entrust my entire estate to a honest individual who will utilize this money in the manner at which the funds are meant for.
Beloved,I choose this means to locate you because I am sure that I will be lead to the kind of person that will be totally honest with me.
Please assure me that you will act accordingly as I have stated.
In His Arms.
Mrs. Hillary Brett.
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Anti-fraud resources:
