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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: "Grace Smith" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <grasmith32@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 2 Dec 2017 12:31:07 -0800
Subject: Be Blessed
Greetings in the name of God my names is Mrs. Grace Smith Now undergoing medical treatment. Iam married to late Eng. Flex Smith who worked as a contractor in oil and gas firm before death in last Two years, We were married for fifteen years without a child.My condition is really deteriorating and is quite obvious that I may not live more than 2 to 3 weeks according to the doctor's report,because the cancer stage has gotten its 3rd stage together with my old age.
l have decided to divide part of my fortune,by contributing to the Charities & Motherless. I am willing to donate the sum of $5,450,000.00 USD to the poor through you.
Thanks
Mrs. Grace Smith
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Anti-fraud resources:
