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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 sir/madam" (a standard Nigerian greeting phrase)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: Bill Lawrence <stud219087@aua.gr>
Reply-To: bill.lawrence0749@gmail.com
Date: Wed, 06 May 2020 07:16:15 +0300
Subject: Re: $2MILLION DONATION TO YOU.
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Dear Sir/Madam
We bring greetings to you in the name of the lord. This message is sent
to you as a notification that you have been chosen to benefit from our
charity project aimed at touching lives and helping those that we can
across the world as God has blessed us.
I won the Powerball lottery of $150Million on December 16, 2019 and I
have voluntarily decided to donate the sum of $10Million to charity, I
try to reach people randomly from different sources and modes so as to
touch lives from different angles, Hence you are getting a message here.
You have been listed as one of the lucky recipients to receive $2M This
donation is made out to you so to enable you strengthen your personal
issues and mostly to generously help us extend hands of giving to the
less privileged, orphans and charity organizations within your locality
To verify
https://www.powerball.com/winner-story/150-million-powerball-ticket-claimed
Get back to me on how to receive the donation
Thanks
Bill Lawrence
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Anti-fraud resources: