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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. Theresa Joseph" <marilobouabre13@yahoo.co.jp>
Reply-To: "Mrs. Theresa Joseph" <mrstheresajoseph@outlook.fr>
Date: Tue, 9 Sep 2014 01:14:48 +0900 (JST)
Subject: Greetings from Mrs. Theresa Joseph
Greetings from Mrs. Theresa Joseph
I am Mrs. Theresa Joseph an aging widow suffering from cancer of the lung for some years now. I have been admitted in this hospital for past three years and from all indications my ill state of health is not improving couple with the sad result I received from my doctors last week that the illness has done alots of damages to my organs. I was told by the senior surgeon that I may not live up to the next 60 days according his diagnosis. When I thought over my poor state of health I made a bold step of faith to donate my late husband’s deposit value of US$13.2M to a God fearing person that will use it for the service of humanity.
Please if you are willing to receive this fund in your custody to distribute it amongst the poor, widows like me, underprivileged children and other non-profit charitable organisations that have no funds to finance humanitarian services then reply immediately for further details and directives on how to receive the fund in your destination.
I will be expecting your kind and immediate reply.
Yours sister in the Lord.
Mrs. Theresa Joseph.
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Anti-fraud resources:
