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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:
- "your urgent reply" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
- This email message is a "dying widow" scam.
Fraud email example:
From: cynthia hopewel <user@bjnews.com.cn>
Reply-To: <cynthiahopewell1@yahoo.co.nz>
Date: Sun, 17 Apr 2016 05:11:36 +0200
Subject: God Bless You as You Devote Your Time.............
God Bless You as You Devote Your Time Reading This Mail
May God Bless You as You read. I am Mrs Cynthia Hopewell,suffering from cancerous ailment.
I was married to Mr.Brian Hopewell ,my husband worked with Chevron/Texaco in the United Kingdom for twenty years before he died in the year 2013 during the Spanish train crash which took him away from me. copy paste the link below for news info on edition.cnn.com/2013/07/30/world/europe/spain-train-crash My late husband deposited the sum of 2.5 Euros (Two Million Five Hundred Thousand Euros) with a Bank in Spain.
Recently,I am currently in hospital here in Spain for the past two months undergoing treatment and my Doctor told me that I have limited days to live due to the stroke and cancerous problems I am suffering from.I have decided to donate this funds to charity Home through you and want you to use my husbands effort to fund the upkeep of widows and charities worldwide.
I took this decision because I do not have any child that will inherit this money and my husband relatives are bourgeois and very wealthy persons and I do not want my husband hard earned money to be misused so In This Faith i have decided so please be Oblidged to do this for GOD as i Await your urgent reply, so I will give you more information and direction on how to contact the bank where this money is been deposited.
With God all things are possible.
Your Sister in Christ,
Mrs Cynthia Hopewell
xxxuser@bjnexxxBeloveddddddddd
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Anti-fraud resources:
