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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:
- "dear friend" (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: "Mr. Frances" <frances.patrickc@usa.org>
Reply-To: <frances.patrickc@yahoo.com>
Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2019 04:40:08 -0800
Subject: DONATION PAYMENT NOTICE
--
Dear Friend,
I Frances and my wife Patrick Connolly are the winners of the £115
Million EuroMillions jackpot draw on 1 January 2019 and to avoid
fraudulent alerts, check out our interview by visiting the BBC News
below.
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-northern-ireland-46759932/frances-and-patrick-connolly-say-they-are-overwhelmed-at-their-115m-win
My wife and I have decided to give a US$10.5Million donation payment
each to Three lucky individual around the world and your name and email
address is among those listed for payment. Please for more information
about your donation fund US$10.5 Million sign today, respond is required
if you are interested for claim.
Best regards.
Mr. Frances and Patrick Connolly
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Anti-fraud resources:
