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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:
- "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: Alice Adam <aliceadam17@gmail.com>
Reply-To: aliceadam218@gmail.com
Date: Wed, 17 Nov 2021 11:33:46 +0100
Subject: Hello Dear,
Hello Dear,
My name is Mrs. Alice Adam from France based in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire. I'm
married to Engineer James Adam 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 Alice Adam.
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Anti-fraud resources:
