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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:
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "good day friend" (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: Martins Udo <barristermartinsudo@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 26 May 2021 19:45:57 +0200
Subject: Urgent Reply!!
Good day friend
How are you doing and how is your business today, hope fine and ok?
Please I would like to have a private business discussion with you
which would be of a great mutual benefit to both of us at the end,
because I have an investor (fund owner) who is willing to give to you
or company the sum of US$50 million only to do investment for his own
only child future because of his bad health condition.
I have done a due diligence on his fund and the funds are of good
origin and have nothing to do with terrorism fund. What investment
projects do you have in mind that the fund owner can invest this fund
into, kindly do let me know! I hope to hear from you soon.
Thanks, and best regards,
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Anti-fraud resources:
