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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: Viola Belusconi <goodmanromney4@gmail.com>
Reply-To: violabelusconi@gmail.com
Date: Mon, 22 Nov 2021 09:00:41 +0100
Subject: My name is Viola.Please Reply.
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Hello.
I write to you because i have no other option left.My name is Viola
Belusconi.I am from Venice Italy i am 17 years old.
I lost my parents to Covid-19 on 12th January this year.I was thrown
out of school because my uncles stopped paying for my tuition fee.
I need your help to stand in as my foster parent to take care of my
education with the help of my Late fathers money in the bank which i
cannot access due to my age.
I need your kind and urgent reply.
Thank You and God Bless.
Viola Belusconi.
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Anti-fraud resources:
