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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:
- "million united state dollars" (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)
- "united state dollar" (this email uses bad English)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: Fatima Muhammad <jfarnan956@gmail.com>
Reply-To: faty.muhamad@gmail.com
Date: Wed, 1 Dec 2021 17:28:41 +0000
Subject: Re: Greetings
I hope my message will meet you in good health condition which is very
important Please I appeal to you to exercise a little patience and
read through my message carefully, my name is Fatima Muhammad a young
medical student, please I know you will be shocked to come across my
email. it is my sincere pleasure at this moment to exhibit my total
confidence bestowed on you in accordance of which I am fully convinced
that you will really be of immense assistance.
I am contacting you personally for an investment assistance and a long
term business relationship in your Country and I feel quite safe
dealing with you in this important issue, I want you to help me
provide bank account to receive the money $2.5 Million United State
Dollars for investment in your Country.
I will offer you 30% of the total funds as compensation for your
effort to provide bank account to receive the funds for investments. I
will tell you more details as soon as I receive your response. Please
If this business investment proposal offends your moral and ethic
values please do accept my apology and if you are interested then you
should reply back to me as soon as possible.
Thank you for your wiliness.
Yours Fatima Muhammad.
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Anti-fraud resources:
