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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:
- "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: "Margaret Bennett" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <margaretbennett411@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 15 May 2016 08:03:46 +0800
Subject: IN PEACE I COME
I greet you in the name of God.
My name is Mrs. Margaret Bennett, am a widow to Late Mr.Joshua Bennett from United Kingdom.
Am working as a missionary in Asia before i was urgently transferred to my home country due to my Cancer illness
and i may not live up to 2 months according to my doctor.
I am contacting you because of a favour i want from you. I want to donate my fund to you for the purpose of helping the poor, my health condition could not allow me to continue doing it.
Please reply back to me with the answer to these questions:
(1)If i donate my fund to you, will you be able to use it to help the less privileged?
(2)Do you care to help those who are suffering and dying out of poverty.
(2)Are you a God fearing person no matter your religion?
Thank you so much for your time in reading and understanding my message
Mrs. Margaret Bennett.
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Anti-fraud resources:
