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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:
- "might come to you as a surprise" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Mrs Clara Ndive" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <alerting@onet.pl>
Date: Wed, 25 Apr 2018 15:48:48 -0700
Subject: Alerting You
Greeting to you,
I know my email might come to you as a surprise couple with the fact that we have never met before. Well, I am Mrs Clara Ndive, an investment consultant. I wish to inform you that I have a client who has good amount of money place under my management for investment in any good environment that I could recommend. So I will like to partner with you and achieve this goal. Upon receipt of your email and your interest to proceed, I shall give you more insight on how we shall proceed towards conclusion.
I look forward to hearing back from you soon.
Best Regards,
Mrs Clara Ndive
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Anti-fraud resources:
