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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: "Dr. Frederick Reif" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <reiffrederick@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 4 Oct 2016 05:15:40 +0800
Subject: Please help!!!!!!!!!!!!! (10/3/2016)
Weill Cornell Medical Associates
Upper West Side
12 W 72nd St
New York, NY 10023
Phone number (646) 340-8285
Hello,
I am Doctor Frederick Reif from the Weill Cornell Medical Associates. I am writing you from my personal email requesting a favor from you on behalf of my patient. I know this will come as a surprise but i need your urgent attention to fulfill the wish of my dying patient.
Kindly reply back to this email for further details.
Yours sincerely,
Dr. Frederick Reif.
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Anti-fraud resources:
