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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:
- "abidjan" (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.
Fraud email example:
From: Patricia Lebrun <patricialebrun2017@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 15 Aug 2021 09:42:38 +0100
Subject: Greeting From Mrs Patricia Lebrun.
Hello my dear,
My name is Mrs. Patricia Lebrun from France based in Abidjan, Côte
d'Ivoire. I'm married to Engineer Williams Lebrun who was a petrol chemical
engineer in Ivory Coast Company Before he retired and died in 2020. I am a
widow and suffering from a long time cancer illness. We married for many
years without children. I needed a very honest and sincere person that
would use this fund for Charity work. I contacted you today because I have
decided to hand you this fund over the sum of ($7million usd) through your
help to Build Orphanage Home. I found your email address from the human
resources database and I decided to contact you. It has been my heart's
desire to use this fund to Establish a Charity Foundation. Please write
back so that we can process further because my doctor said that I will have
another surgery any moment from now. I want this fund to be transferred
into your account before anything happens to me.
Yours faithfully,
Mrs Patricia Lebrun .
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Anti-fraud resources:
