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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: "Cpt. Kate Lee" <admin@fantastic-elastic.de>
Reply-To: captain.carrlee123@yandex.com
Date: Fri, 13 Apr 2018 17:19:41 -0700
Subject: Greeting To You.
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Greeting,
I am indeed glad to be in contact with you even though this medium of
communication (internet) has been grossly abused by criminal minded
people making it difficult for people with genuine intention to
correspond and exchange views without skepticism.
I am Cpt. Kate Lee, an Army Nurse attached to the U.S. Army corps of
engineers in Syria. I have decided that I seek your assistance in a
matter that requires your urgent attention. I want you to assist me to
receive some funds in his country before l will come over and join the
person I want you to be Honest and trust worthy individual .
To prove my sincerity, you are not sending me any money because most of
these scams are all about sending money.
Kindly send me your information to me if you are willing to assist me.
I look forward to your prompt reply to enable us move forward.
Regards,
Cpt. Kate Lee
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Anti-fraud resources:
