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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:
- "await your urgent response" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
- "united state of america" (this email uses bad English)
- "power of attorney" (with your bank details and a power of attorney form criminals sometimes empty bank accounts)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.
Fraud email example:
From: "Dr. Godwin Emefiele (CBN)" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <infogodwinemefiele@yahoo.es>
Date: Tue, 15 Aug 2017 20:56:29 -0400
Subject: Dear Beneficiary
Good Morning
We are sending you this message today to confirm if truly you sent one Mr.Harrison Richard, a citizen of the United States as a representative to receive your Contract payment $10.5 Million United State of America Dollars due to be paid to your person. The said Harrison Richard claimed that he represents your interest in the fund and that you have given him a Power of Attorney to claim the fund on your behalf, as he claimed that you are lying in your sick bed and about dying.
According to the law of our contry guiding this kind of payment, we decided to send you this message to confirm from you if you are dead or alive and has authorized this person to claim the fund on your behalf.
This is the issue we wanted you to clarify. Please if this claim by this man is wrong, kindly revert back to us
quickly to avoid wrongful payment of your fund to a wrong person
I await your urgent response.
Yours truly.
Dr. Godwin Emefiele (CBN)
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Anti-fraud resources:
