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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:
- An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
- 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:
- "united state dollar" (this email uses bad English)
- "lome togo" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- ljoy7975@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: Chris Onu <chrisonuu@gmail.com>
Reply-To: ljoy7975@gmail.com
Date: Sun, 25 Jul 2021 19:22:32 +0200
Subject: Hello
Greetings,
This letter is to acknowledge the substantial contributions of time and
energy you have made when i contacted you for a business transaction some
time ago but something led to another and we could not achieve our aim of
transferring the money to your Bank account as
planned.
I'm happy to inform you that i have had the funds transferred with the
cooperation of a new partner from Japan. Presently, I'm in Japan for long
term investment projects with my own share of the total
sum. Meanwhile, I have not forgotten your past efforts and attempt to
assist me in transferring those funds despite that it failed us
somehow.
Now contact my personal secretary...Her name is Mrs. Linda Joy, E-mail: (
ljoy7975@gmail.com) Introduce yourself very
well and demand her to send you the certified ATM VISA CARD, kept in
an envelope worth US$850,000.00 (Eight Hundred And Fifty Thousand
United State Dollars).
I would appreciate if you let me know Immediately you receive it so that we
can share the joy after all the suffering at that time.
This is just to show you that I appreciate all your great effort. My
Your Full Names:.................................
Your country of origin and Address:.....................
Your Age and occupation..........................................
Your telephone numbers...........................................
E-mail Address....................................
Regards to your family.
Your's Sincerely.
Mr. Chris Onu.
Lome Togo E-mail: (ljoy7975@gmail.com)
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