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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:
- "inheritance funds" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- This email message is a next of kin scam.
Fraud email example:
From: "SOMJATE MOOSIRILERT" <admin@cinnadco.com>
Reply-To: anuwatluent@yahoo.com
Date: Sun, 10 Dec 2017 01:05:57 -0200
Subject: NOITICE
SOMJATE MOOSIRILERT
Senior Executive Vice President
Thanachart Bank Limited
Bangkok Thailand
Attention: BENEFICIARY
A woman came to my office few days ago with a letter, claiming to be
your true representative to your inheritance funds of $43.6m. Here are
her information:
Please do reconfirm to this office, as a matter of urgency if this woman
is from you so the bank Will not be held responsible for paying into the
wrong account name.
However, we shall proceed to issue all payments details to the said
Mrs.Petermann if we do not hear from you within the next seven working
days from today.
You should forward all your information
1 Your full name and address
2 Your phone number
3 Your state id
Best regards,
SOMJATE MOOSIRILERT
Senior Executive Vice President
Thanachart Bank PCL
Bangkok Thailand
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Anti-fraud resources:
