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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:
- "stella.michael@1email.eu" (this email address has been used in a known scam)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: Stella Michael <qJ7p@slapiok.org>
Reply-To: <stella.michael@1email.eu>
Date: Tue, 23 Aug 2016 04:53:38 -0700
Subject: Hello beloved
Hello beloved,
How are you? I am Stella Michael from USA North Carolina. I was working with Abro Oil Company here in Ghana as a marketing manager. I was very sick and i went to the hospital doctor told me that i have cancer of blood.
He told me that i have few days to live on this earth because the cancer is all over me. I contacted you because i need your help I want you to help me to receive the money i have with my bank and use it for the motherless and fatherless children in your country.
If i die now with out moving out the money, bank will confiscate the money and use it for the their selfish reasons. Please i need yours sincere help to handle the money before i die.
Please can you help me and handle this?
I will wait to hear from you so that i will give you more details.
Reply to : stella.michael@1email.eu
Regards,
Stella.
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Anti-fraud resources:
