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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:
- An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
- 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:
- "utmost confidentiality" (scammers urge victims to keep the transaction secret because they don't want anyone to point out to them that it is a scam)
- This email message is a next of kin scam.
- This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- thomaswalkmanlaw@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "Thomas Walkman" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <thomaswalkmanlaw@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 10 Sep 2016 15:54:33 +0100
Subject: Dear Friend
Good day!
My name is Mr. Thomas Walkman; I am a senior banker in a bank here in the United Kingdom and i am contacting you because of my late client. His account has been dormant in our Bank for many years, because he did not mention any Next of Kin when his account was opened.
I seek your consent to present you to the Bank as my late client Next of Kin so that his Thirteen Million Two Hundred and Fifty Thousand dollars can be transferred to your account.
However, i assure you that this transaction will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law both in your country and here in UK once the fund is transferred to your bank account.
Please treat this business proposal with utmost confidentiality and write back to this email THOMASWALKMANLAW@GMAIL.COM for further details for this transfer only if you are interested.
Regards,
Thomas Walkman
EMAIL: THOMASWALKMANLAW@GMAIL.COM
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Anti-fraud resources:
