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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: Mrs Ruth Curley <wu014394@gmail.com>
Reply-To: ruthcurley5@gmail.com
Date: Mon, 15 Nov 2021 20:31:40 +0100
Subject: ATTN: My Dear
We have programmed an ATM MASTER CARD with your name and uploaded your
total fund of ($9.8 Million) in the Card so that you will be
withdrawing with it in any ATM MACHINE. The ATM MASTER CARD works
worldwide and the daily amount WITHDRAW according to our programming
system is(US$15,000.00) Fifteen Thousand Dollars only.
I, Mrs. Ruth Curley, have made the delivery arrangement with DHL
DELIVERY COMPANY Cape Verde that will carry on the delivery to your
given address and the Director told me that Delivery of the ATM MASTER
CARD to your house will be smooth without delay.
He assured me that their Company takes good 2-days to complete any
delivery registered with an accurate address. So you are advised to
send your full address such as
Full Name:______
Home Address:___
Country:____
State:____
City:_____
Zip code:____
Telephone Number:___
Regard
Mrs. Ruth Curley
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Anti-fraud resources:
