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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.
Fraud email example:
From: "Loretta Mester" <franklin@halleytelecom.com.br>
Reply-To: priv8desk@yandex.com
Date: Sun, 16 Feb 2020 01:08:07 +0800
Subject: To Whom It May Concern ^
Good Day;
I need to know if you are real owner of this email to make sure I got the right person whose email address is found on the document to avoid wrong deliveries, because that's the only way I can figure it out. Therefore you need to provide your information as given below:
Beneficiary's Full Name................
Current Home Address...................
Cell Phone Number......................
Fax Number.......................
I'd card......................
Your check is containing amount of dollars, ARE YOU DEAD OR ALIVE?
Sincerely
Mrs. Loretta J. Mester
President and Chief Executive Officer
FRB
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Anti-fraud resources:
