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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 sir/madam" (a standard Nigerian greeting phrase)
- "million 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)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Bill William And Andrea Groner" <info@charity.com>
Reply-To: b.a.groner@foxmail.com
Date: Sat, 08 Aug 2015 22:46:42 +0200
Subject: Donation
--
Dear Sir/Madam,
I saw your email address during the course of my research today. My
name is Bill William Groner my wife and I won a Jackpot Lottery of $50
Million Dollars in December 2013, we are donating the sum of $1
million Dollars to 6 lucky individual all over the world as part of
our charity project and if you received this email then you are one of
the luck recipients and all you have to do is get back to us with your
details so we can forward it directly to the payout bank.
You can verify this by visiting the web pages below.
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2014/07/22/50-million-edmonton-lotto_n_5610890.html
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2014/07/21/21823476.html
Good luck,
Bill William And Andrea Groner
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Anti-fraud resources:
