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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: "Mrs. Alice Walton" <odnfiles@gmail.com>
Reply-To: alicewalton513@yahoo.com
Date: Thu, 30 May 2019 13:15:33 +0100
Subject: ITS THE WILL OF GOD
Greetings dear friend, please i am very sorry to disturb you but i
have no other alternative since life is no longer guaranteed to me,
please listen to my cry
I am Mrs. Alice Walton an aging widow suffering from Esophageal Cancer
and presently hospitalized. My doctor says I have few months to live.
I have been touched by God to donate from what I have inherited from
my late husband to you for charity and work of God since life is no
longer guaranteed to me and i have no children or relative.
I will be going in for an operation soon. I decided to WILL/donate the
sum of $5.4 million to you for the good work of God, you should invest
the money into any business of your choice to help the less privileges
on my behalf so that my soul can be at rest if anything happens to me.
I will provide you more details about how you should contact my bank
when i confirm your readiness to handle this
Thanks and God bless you for doing this good works of God in my name
I wait to hear from you as urgent as possible because my condition is
very critical now
Regards
Alice Walton
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Anti-fraud resources:
