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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: "Mrs Rose Williams" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <agentm903@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 21 Mar 2021 20:55:24 -0700
Subject: Attn: Beneficiary
Attn: Beneficiary
After reviewing our online email communication messages on your unsuccessful transactions with most European and other foreign banks in Africa,
we wish to let you know that we have communicated with most of these foreign banks that withheld most international payments to individual accounts so as to find out why these funds were withheld and the source of the funds,
Your fund of Ten million FIVE HUNDRED US Dollars have been approved by this office as it is our agreement with the Assets recovery bank that you must be paid this time .All Taxes and clearance will be deducted from the fund and the balance will be paid to you
PLEASE RECONFIRM TO US BELOW INFORMATION;
1. Your Full Name, Nationality & Current Location.
2. Your Age & Current Occupation.
3. Your Cell Phone & Fax Number.
4. Your ID Number (or Attach Identification Documents).
Regards,
Mrs Rose Williams
INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND ( I M F )
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Anti-fraud resources:
