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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:
- "dear friend" (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: Fiona Alexandra <fionaalexandra2016@gmail.com>
Reply-To: Fiona Alexandra <fionaalexandra2016@yahoo.com>
Date: Wed, 2 Nov 2016 21:51:36 +0900 (JST)
Subject: Dear Friend
Dear Friend
My name is Mrs. Fiona Alexandra. I am 56 years old woman and I am legally married to late Mr. Marcel Alexandra . Me and my late husband where both citizens of Switzerland in Europe and we lived here in West Africa (Ivory Coast) for the past 17 years ago. My late husband worked with an oil drilling company as an expatriate for many years before he died. I and my late husband were both married without a single biological child of our own.
I presently have a serious breast cancer sickness and I am writing this message with the help of a medical doctor here in the hospital. When my late husband was alive, he deposited the sum of one million five hundreds thousands Euros (1.500.000.00 euro) in a bank here in Africa and he signed an agreement with the bank that the funds will be used for charity
purposes such as; helping the motherless babies, supporting church activities and helping the non privilege children to continue their education.
I contacted you today because my private doctor just informed me that my breast cancer sickness has gotten worst and they are going to carry out a serious cancer surgery on my heart by next weekend which I might not survive, If I die during my surgery, the bank here in Africa will embezzle the funds because I have no other relative to claim the money. I want you to help me transfer the funds to your bank account in your country and after the transfer to your bank account; you will collect 25% (375,000.00 euro) of the total funds for your self as compensation and use the remaining 75% (1.125, 000.00 euro) to do the charity work in your country. Please reply me urgently for more details…
Mrs.Fiona Alexandra
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Anti-fraud resources:
