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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 next of kin scam.
Fraud email example:
From: "Michael Afonso" <a.michael001@gmail.com>
Reply-To: keep4ma@yahoo.com
Date: Wed, 22 Apr 2015 14:37:17 -0400
Subject: Greetings From Michael
Good Day.
I got your contact in course of my inquiry to locate any relative of my Deceased Client who died in a car crash on the 7th of August 2013, it was reported to us that my Client, his wife and their only Son were involved in a car crash.
I have a serious transaction which would interest you,we will both benefit financially.If you are interested contact me for further explanation and You can reach me via my E-mail, for more information.
Looking forward to hearing from you soonest.
Have a nice day and God Bless You.
Sincerely,
Michael Afonso.
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Anti-fraud resources:
