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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:
- "hundred thousand united states 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)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "James M. Murray" <unitedstatesecretservice2@gmail.com>
Reply-To: unitedstatessecretservicee@gmail.com
Date: Thu, 8 Apr 2021 13:46:04 -0700
Subject: Please Treat the Message with Urgent Response
UNITED STATE SECRET SERVICE COMMISSION
U.S. National Central Bureau
ATTENTION Lucky One:
The United States Secret Service Commission uses both its cyber and
criminal resources along with its intelligence capabilities to
identify and stop crime groups in their early stages and to root out
the many types of perpetrators. By virtue of the authority vested in
me as the Director of United States Secret Service Commission in order
to provide and supervise management of the United States Secret
Service Commission to ensure a full and thorough investigation of your
winning which we have carried out and have our duties and obligations.
we would like you to know that your winning is 100% legit and through
our surveillance we taped and track your conversation to know you are
dealing with the wrong people which are impostors trying to swag your
money and get away, Please, also confirm if you have authorized Mr.
RAINER HESSE to change your banking details to the following details
stated below:
VACAP Federal Credit Union,
1700 Robin Hood Road, Richmond,
VA 23220. Account number 3250163
Also re-confirm your details with verification identification.You have
been compensated with Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars as a
scam victim compensation fund. The government has signed the fund for
you as you are being compensated for being scammed in the past.
We would like you to get back to us with every correspondence involved
in your transactions with the winning commission boards and make sure
you update every activity that you think it’s unusual to your
winning.
Get back to us with your address in full and reachable cell Number as
we commence from there.
Regards James M. Murray
UNITED STATES SECRET SERVICE
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Anti-fraud resources:
