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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:
- "dear friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- This email message is a "dying widow" scam.
Fraud email example:
From: "Mrs.Joan Gate" <gate@aol.com>
Reply-To: gatejoan@yandex.ru
Date: Sat, 13 Sep 2014 10:42:09 -0500
Subject: Hello
My Dear Friend,
I am Mrs.Joan Gates, married to Dr. James R. Gates who worked with Texaco=
Oil Company in Nigeria before he died in a ghastly motor accident on his w=
ay to a Board meeting.We were married without any children.presently I am 6=
9 Years old. When my late husband was Alive he d e p o s i t e d the s u m =
of $16.5M with a B a n k.
I am presently in a hospital where I have been undergoing treatment, Cancer=
of the lungs. I have since lost my ability to talk and my doctors have tol=
d me that I have only a few months to live so I think the best thing to do =
is to use the m o n e y for charity purposes. I want a person who is trust=
worthy that I will make the beneficiary of my late Husband's f u n d d e p=
o s i t e d with the B a n k so that the person can
get the m o n e y and utilize 70percent of this m o n e y to f u n d chu=
rches, orphanages and widows around the world.
Get back to me if you can be trusted.
Regards,
Mrs.Joan Gate
=20
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Anti-fraud resources:
