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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: "REV WILLIAMS FRED" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <williamsfred28@yahoo.com.hk>
Date: Mon, 15 Nov 2010 00:14:00 -0800
Subject: Blessings to you:
Blessings to you:
My name is Rev Williams Fred; I was told by late Mr. James Obi after his confession that I should contact you and get your fund refunded back to you. Through his confession he told us that he scammed you $8.5million united stated dollars regards to a false transaction.
I plead on his behalf that you should forgive him and follow my instruction’s to get your fund wired back to you without any hitch. I need you to get back to me immediately upon the receipt of this email.
Advice: do not have any further transaction in the internet with Nigerians because federal governments of Nigeria are working very hard to trap down all this criminals and we always pray that God almighty should forgive them and change their lives.
I wait for your responds
Thank you
God Bless you
Rev Williams Fred
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Anti-fraud resources:
