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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:
- "million united states dollars" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- ",000,000" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- "united state of america" (this email uses bad English)
- This email message is a orphan scam.
Fraud email example:
From: Joyce Morris <michealphilip008@gmail.com>
Reply-To: joycymary_morris@yahoo.com
Date: Thu, 9 Feb 2017 19:41:32 +0100
Subject: Personal Message
Dearest,
I'm Miss Joyce Mary Morris 19 years old. My father was a very wealthy oil
merchant and businessman in United State of America (U.S.A). MY father
was poisoned to death by his brothers because they want to take over
his properties and wealth.
My father left the sum of USD$6,000,000 (Six Million United States
Dollars) in a fixed/suspense account for me which i want you to stand
as my trustee to claim this from the bank so that i will come over to
your country to further my education in your care.
Note that you are to contact me back on my email address for more
details please.
Thanks and God bless.
Joyce Mary Morris
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Anti-fraud resources:
