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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:
- "abidjan" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
- "god fearing " (scammers in West Africa like to use religious phrases)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Mrs. Aveline zamorah" <avelinezamorah1@outlook.fr>
Reply-To: "Mrs. Aveline zamorah" <avelinezamorah01@yahoo.fr>
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 2015 00:31:01 +0900 (JST)
Subject: Dearest in Christ.
Dearest in Christ.
Greetings in the name of our Family; this
is the second time l am contacting you with regards to this charity work. I am
Mrs. Aveline Zamorah from Philippine, an ageing widow suffering from longtime
illness. I am currently admitted in a private hospital here in Abidjan the
capital city of Cote d'Ivoire.
I have some funds I inherited from my late
loving husband Late Mr. Douglas H. Zamorah, the sum of US$12.500, 000.00 which
he deposited in a Bank here and I need a very honest and God fearing Christian
hat can use this funds for God's work and 15% out of the total funds will be
for your compensation for doing this work of God. You may be wondering why I
chose you but someone has to be chosen, I found your address and i decided to
contact you. Please if you would be able to use these funds for the Lord's work
kindly reply me.
Yours Sister.
Mrs. Aveline Zamorah.
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Anti-fraud resources:
