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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)
- "million dollars" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- "utmost confidentiality" (scammers urge victims to keep the transaction secret because they don't want anyone to point out to them that it is a scam)
- "god fearing " (scammers in West Africa like to use religious phrases)
- "calvary greetings" (scammers in West Africa like to use religious phrases)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: Elisabeth Peter <wilkow.goldenfoodssiam@gmail.com>
Reply-To: mrselisabethpeter07@gmail.com
Date: Fri, 27 Nov 2020 14:45:52 +0100
Subject: Hello dear friend
Hello dear friend
Calvary Greetings in the name of the LORD Almighty and Our LORD the giver
of every good thing. Good day and compliments of the seasons, i know this
letter will definitely come to you as a huge surprise, but I implore you to
take the time to go through it carefully as the decision you make will go
off a long way to determine my future and continued existence.
I am Mrs Elisabeth Peter aging widow of 51 years old suffering from long
time illness.I have some funds I inherited from my late husband, the sum of
($17.9Million Dollars) and I needed a very honest and God fearing who can
withdraw this money then use the funds for Charity works. I WISH TO GIVE
THIS FUNDS TO YOU FOR CHARITY WORKS. I found your email address from the
internet after honest prayers to the LORD to bring me a helper and i
decided to contact you if you may be willing and interested to handle these
trust funds in good faith before anything happens to me.
I will appreciate your utmost confidentiality and trust in this matter to
accomplish my heart desire, as I don't want anything that will jeopardize
my last wish. I want you to take 20 percent of the total money for your
personal use while 80% of the money will go to charity.
Any delay in your reply may give me room to look for another good person
for this same purpose. Please assure me that you will act accordingly as I
stated herein. I don't need any telephone communication in this regard
because of my ill-health.
kindly respond quickly for further details.
Regards,
Mrs Elisabeth Peter
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