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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:
- "please endeavor to " (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Andrew Balfour " <test@livemail.com.ua>
Reply-To: andrewbalfour420@yahoo.com
Date: Tue, 09 Aug 2016 15:22:29 +0200
Subject: I hope you are in good health
Hello,
How are you doing today, I hope you are in good health.
I am ANDREW BALFOUR, a financial consultant attached with a financial =
Institution here in the United Kingdom and I am contacting you to assist in=
a business transaction that relate with my late customer's account who die=
d of cancer after years of struggling with the disease.
The details of my late client who shares same last name with you will be g=
iven to you in my next email; I will furnish you with all the necessary doc=
umentation as regards to this mutual transaction. Please endeavor to provid=
e me with your FULL NAME; CONTACT ADDRESS; PROFESSION; AGE and MOBILE PHONE=
in your reply
I urgently hope to get your response as soon as possible. =
Yours Sincerely
Andrew Balfour=20
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Anti-fraud resources:
