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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.
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "god fearing " (scammers in West Africa like to use religious phrases)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Mrs.Shimshai Mohammed" <shimshai11@live.com>
Reply-To: <infooo@zambia.co.zm>
Date: Sat, 01 Feb 2014 06:48:47 -0800
Subject: CAN I TRUST YOU!!!
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Blessings,
I am not feeling too fine and presently battling with Cancer and
Fibroid. My Doctor has just informed me that I have only 2 month to live
due to my ailment. Having known my condition I decided to donate my
deposits valued at 8.5M to either a charity/orphanage home or devoted
God fearing individual that will utilize this money the way I am going
to instruct. Please respond if you can help me in carrying out this
humanitarian service,I mean no offense but any delay in your reply will
give me room in sourcing for an individual for this same purpose. Please
assure me that you will act according to specification herein.
All I require is your honest co-operation, a guarantee of your
sincerity and capability to enable us concludes this deal. Note however
that the sensitive nature of this transaction demands that you have to
keep it absolutely confidential. Please accept my apologies, keep my
confidence and disregard this letter if you do not appreciate this
proposition.
Mrs.Shimshai Mohammed
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Anti-fraud resources:
