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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.
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- smithstephanie768@yahoo.com (Yahoo; can be used from anywhere worldwide)
Fraud email example:
From: <Mrs Stephnie Smith>mail@mail.com
Reply-To: smithstephanie768@yahoo.com
Date: 14 Oct 2019 21:49:13 +0800
Subject: LETTER FROM MRS STEPHANIE SMITH
May the peace of God be with you and your family.I know it will
be a great surprise reading from me today but consider this a
divine intervention as a pastor explained to my understanding. My
name is Mrs. Stephanie Smith, a widow from Oklahoma USA and am
writing you from my sick bed because i have been fighting cancer
and the doctors says i have only few weeks left. I want to
entrust my money ($8.5 million USD) to your care for charity
purposes to help the less privileged as my late husbands
relatives want me dead so that they will claim all my late
husband and i worked for.
I will tell you more about myself and what you need to do with
the money once your receive it.Please write me soon as my health
is pretty bad and my doctors says i will be moved to the
intensive care unit anytime soon.Have a blessed day and please do
pray for me.God bless you.
Yours Faithful
Mrs. Stephanie Smith
Email: (smithstephanie768@yahoo.com)
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Anti-fraud resources:
