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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: "Mrs.Maria Farnn"<>
Reply-To: mariafarnn2015@gmail.com
Date: Fri, 08 Jan 2016 02:25:52 +0200
Subject: Please Help!!!
Good Morning to you Sir/Ma.
I sincerely humbly offer my friendship & loyalty to you via email communication.Am Mrs. Maria Farnn,from Zimbabwe Southern Africa based in South Africa,I decided to contact you for your prompt assistance in standing as a beneficiary to the sum of US$30.5M left by my late husband in the Security company,So therefore,if you care to assist me please I prefer you send me email than call i will offer you 20% which is US$6.1 M.
My Best Regards.
Mrs.Maria Farnn.
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Anti-fraud resources:
