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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:
- "transfer into your account" (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: "Marina Emmanuel" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <airbreeze30@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 13 Dec 2018 18:00:05 -0800
Subject: Greetings
My name is Marina Emmanuel I have ($4.2 Million) from my late husband and I cannot think of anybody trying to kill me apart from my Late husband's second wife here in Ivory coast in order to inherit the money, she is an Ivorian by nationality I want you to contact me back As soon as i hear from you that you are competent to execute my desire, I will instruct my lawyer and the bank management to make the immediate transfer into your account. This is the favor I need when you have gotten the money 1 Give 30% of the money to Churches for the work of God. 2 Give 30% of the money to handicap people and charity organization,then the remaining one is yours.
Please get back to me as soon as possible
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Anti-fraud resources:
