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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:
- ",000,000" (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)
- "00,000.00" (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: Janet Yellen <ofile5931@gmail.com>
Reply-To: usdepartmenttreasury945@gmail.com
Date: Tue, 5 Oct 2021 13:17:45 +0100
Subject: OFFICE OF TREASURY OF THE UNITED STATES
U.S. department of the Treasury 1500 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW.
Washington, DC 20220.
This is to bring to your notice that the US department of the
Treasury in affiliation with the office of foreign Assets Control
(OFAC) has been authorized in their Sanction Program to compensate
some few citizens who has being through tough time due to the
pandemic. The US department of the treasury has decided to pay the sum
of $10,000,000.00 dollars (Ten millions United States dollars) each
in order to restore the global economy to the enviable standard of
respectability.
Your particulars was mentioned by one of the syndicates who was
arrested as one of the victims of their operations. You are hereby
warned not to communicate or duplicate this massage to him or her for
any reason whatsoever as the u.s. SECRET SERVICE is already on trace
of other criminals, your full information should be your reply for a
quick delivery such as.
(1) Full name---------
(2) Mobile Number:---------
(3) Country of origin:--------
(4) Your Current delivery address:---
(5) Occupation/ age/ sex--------
(6) City --------------------
(7) Nearest Airport--------
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Anti-fraud resources:
