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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.
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: Richard Alex <montoyact9@gmail.com>
Reply-To: mkhick@outlook.com
Date: Thu, 21 Oct 2021 00:32:10 +0100
Subject: From Richard
--
Hello Dear,
Good day and how are you? I have the pleasure to make this disclosure
to you about a placement with my institution. I am a private banker
with a financial institution in Central London. I have details of a
deceased client name who is from your Country and may be related to
you. He passed away years ago and I will like to have your permission
to present you as beneficiary of his investment of 6.4M and the estate
he left behind. Please contact me at your convenience for more
details.
Best Regards,
Richard Alex.
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Anti-fraud resources:
