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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:
- "million pounds" (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 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: Emile Kenold <dw5508688@gmail.com>
Reply-To: me35ko@gmail.com
Date: Wed, 14 Feb 2018 00:33:14 +0000
Subject:
--
This is Mrs. Emile Kenold a missionary contacting you from London. I
pray you will be kind enough to deliver my £7 million pounds donation
to the less privileged ones in your country and God will bless your
generation for doing this humanitarian work.
I am a widow suffering of lung cancer which has damaged my liver and
back bone and i decided to donate this money to you to use it for
Charity works. Please i want your sincere reply to know if you will be
able to execute this project, and I will give you more information on
how to receive this money. I am waiting for your reply.
Thanks and God bless you.
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Anti-fraud resources:
