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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:
- "million united state dollars" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- "united state dollar" (this email uses bad English)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "tafff" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <kbonllne@rediffmail.com>
Date: Sun, 1 Feb 2015 10:10:46 -0500
Subject: Re: YOUR PAYMENT.:
Hi,
This message is from the Walton Family Foundation established in 1988 by the late Sam and Helen Walton (co-founder of Walmart) The Walton Family Foundation is one of the largest private foundations in the world and as part of our Support for social business investment, every year Walton Family Foundation gives out USD $5,000.000.00 (Five Million United State Dollars) to a randomly selected individual to help someone out there start a business or grow an existing business.
If you are reading this message you should count yourself lucky, this simply means that our random list picker has selected your email address as the 2015 winner of our annually social business support give away. Kindly get back to me at your earliest convenience so we can be sure your email address is still valid and also guide you how to receive the fund.
1. Your Full Name / Company Name
2. Your Residential Address
3. Your Direct Telephone / Cell Phone Number
4. Occupation/Business
5. Age
6. Marital Status
Congratulations.
Regards,
Horace S
Foundation’s Executive Director
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Anti-fraud resources:
