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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. JANE ABRAHAM" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <majaneabraham@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 8 Nov 2017 01:02:23 -0000
Subject: fund transfer
Good day to you my dearest one.
Christmas is fast approaching. I need your assistance in the transfer of $14,386,000.00 USD to your account .This is a Proceed from Agricultural development excess fund.You need to stand as the investor/beneficiary of this fund. And you shall have 40% of the total deal while 60% will be for me for my investment in your country. I am a branch manager in a bank in Ghana. Send me your full name, Fax, phone numbers and your address .
Yours business partner.
Ms. Jane Abraham .
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Anti-fraud resources: