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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: "Mr. Edwin Freeman" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <edwinfreeman22@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 3 May 2016 09:29:32 -0500
Subject: Re: I need your quick response
Good day,
I am sorry to encroach your privacy in this manner but due to the urgency attached to the transaction I had to reach you by all means. There is a deceased customer (Dr. Anthony) of my bank who died in an auto- accident and left behind the sum of US$17.5Million. I have been searching for any of his relative to come forward to claim the funds but all my effort proved abortive and if no one comes forward for this claim after a certain period the bank will take over the fund, hence, I seek your partnership in receiving this fund for our mutual benefit.
If interested, reply immediately for more detail information on the transaction.
Thanks,
Mr.Edwin Freeman.
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Anti-fraud resources:
