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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: "Mrs. Maim Farooq" <uu@hontactingdku.org>
Reply-To: <mrsmaimounafarooq@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 13 Oct 2016 08:48:41 +0200
Subject: Re: My incurable illness
Good Day,
I am Mrs. Maim Farooq from Canada, Aging widow suffering from long time incurable illness.
Presently I am admitted in a private hospital and don't know how tomorrow will be like.
I am not afraid of death even if I have no child to succeed my estate left behind by my late husband.
My late husband's family members wanted me to even die before my time, and for that reason; I now decide to seek one who has a heart to help the Motherless and less privileged in our society to receive and utilize the funds for that purpose.
Can you volunteer or make yourself available to be used in putting smiles or an end to the sufferings of our children out there?
Please if after reading this mail and your heart is troubled to carry on with this project; do not hesitate to avail yourself for this purpose kindly reply.
Mrs. Maim Farooq
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Anti-fraud resources:
