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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: "Dr.Martins Mowani" <arthure40@yahoo.pt>
Reply-To: "Dr.Martins Mowani" <offic.mg12@hotmail.com>
Date: Wed, 4 Feb 2015 23:24:26 +0000 (UTC)
Subject: PLEASE HONOR MY EMAIL.
Greeting,My name is Martins Mowani, I am a senior world health medical doctor from Niue. I am writing you in tears, I only have few weeks to die. I only desire one last wish, good quality education and security for my only daughter before I die. I am pleased to offer you a proposal worth millions of Euros to achieve my last wish. I will detail you more on it, and also your percentage reward the moment I get your positive response.RegardsMartins Mowani
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Anti-fraud resources: