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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: "DOUGLAS OCHA" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <mr_ocha01@yahoo.co.jp>
Date: Mon, 2 Aug 2010 18:02:24 +0100
Subject: LETTER
Dear Beneficiary
Our late customer Mr.Tomo WILL his deposited fund of $10.5m to you as beneficiary since 2004.He died as a result of heart-related condition on March 12th 2007 sustained due to the death of all his children being his family in the tsunami disaster on the 26th December 2004 in Sumatra Indonesia.
We received an application letter from a lady who claimed to be your cousin that you have authorized her to receive the deposited of $10.5 inheritance fund on your behalf that you are very ill in the hospital.
Confirm this information and you will be guide on how to apply for the release of the inheritance to your account as the beneficiary.
Yours Sincerely
Mr. Ocha Douglas
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Anti-fraud resources:
