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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: Merrydamah Merrydamah <merrydamah@gmail.com>
Reply-To: merrydamah@hotmail.com
Date: Tue, 21 Jan 2014 11:23:00 +0000
Subject: hi
Donation
My dear in Christ Jesus,
My name is Mrs. Merry Damah
from Texas USA. I lived in Africa for many years and now currently
hospitalized in a private hospital here in Texas as a result of brain
cancer. My purpose of writing you is because I was led by the spirit of
God to offer you the money that I have in my private account in Africa
now that is clear that I’m approaching the last days of my life. I’m
79 year old and may not even need the money again for any thing. I’m
offering you the sum of 4.5 million Euros as a donation for the
work of God and charity.May the good Lord bless you for the work you
are doing already and may he give you wisdom to continue it .When I
hear
from you, I will direct you on how to receive the money.Please pray
that God will accept my soul.
Mrs. Merry Damah
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Anti-fraud resources:
