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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 united state dollars" (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)
- "united state dollar" (this email uses bad English)
- This email message is a next of kin scam.
Fraud email example:
From: "Wang Wei" <wangwei053@aliyun.com>
Reply-To: wweii053@qq.com
Date: Tue, 24 Jul 2018 14:56:12 -0700
Subject: Hello,
My name is Mr. Wang Wei, I am a staff of bank of china. I know this email comes to you as a surprise, I implore you to read carefully and confidentially.I have a transaction that I believe will be of mutual benefits to the both of us. It involves an investment portfolio worth Eight Million United State Dollars in our organization which I like to acquire with your help and assistance. This will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law and you will be compensated adequately according to agreed commissions,Please do respond to this email if interested to enable me proceed.
Wei
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Anti-fraud resources:
