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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:
- An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
- 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)
- "hundred thousand 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)
- ",500,000" (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)
- "00,000.00" (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)
- This email message is a next of kin scam.
- This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- rthembason@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "Herr.Richardson Themba" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <rthembason@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 24 Nov 2017 22:18:11 +0100
Subject: Very Urgent!!!
Dear Friend,
I hope that this e-mail will not be a surprise to you but it is true. I am a staff of Standard Bank In South Africa. I decided to contact you regarding one of our customer from Europe who unfortunately is deceased, he left a large sum of money in a suspense account worth Twelve Million, Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars only{$12,500,000.00} with our bank. The deceased died without a will or any next of kin.
I need the cooperation of a foreign partner like you, whom I can introduce as a relative of the deceased person so that we can claim the money for sharing/investment purpose.
I will give you further information on this subject matter upon your positive response.Please send your answer to this confidential e-mail address:rthembason@gmail.com
Best regards
Mr.Richardson Themba.
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Anti-fraud resources:
