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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:
- An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
- 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.
- This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- selinjohnson2@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: SELIN JOHNSON <g.r.sicurezza@alice.it>
Reply-To: selin_johnson@yahoo.fr
Date: Mon, 20 Apr 2015 23:08:16 +0200 (CEST)
Subject: Hello
Hello,
My name is Mrs SELIN JOHNSON of France nationality. I am currently
hospitalized at the hospital of THE ROYAL MARSDEN Sutton (ENGLAND) for the
treatment of Ovarian cancer disease since years now. Indeed I contact you
because my late husband and I mobilized a small fortune of ($4.5 Millions)
that we plans to invest in humanitarian works as NGO and orphans home center
etc. But considering my condition, I could not busy myself. I needed someone
with the fear of God to handle this project by help me achieve these
important projects in his country. If you agree, please contact me on my
private address mail : selinjohnson2@gmail.com
Best Regards,
SELIN JOHNSON
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Anti-fraud resources: