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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 Clara Dokpe <dokpeclara1@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: Mrs Clara Dokpe <dokpeclara1@yahoo.co.jp>
Date: Tue, 23 Jan 2018 20:01:33 +0900 (JST)
Subject: Dear, I sent you this message praying that it will reach you in good health. I am Mrs. Clara Dokpe. I have been suffering from breast cancer for a long time and the doctor said that I only have less than 20% of hope to survive. Now that I am in a critical condition due to the stage of my cancer illness , I have some funds I inherited from my late husband,the amount of US$3,000,000(Three million US dollars) deposited in a bank here. I decided to donate this fund to an honest and God-fearing person that will
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Anti-fraud resources:
