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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:
- "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: "Mrs. Wendy J W" <michealkzulu@gmail.com>
Reply-To: mrs.janwewilliamsss1@gmail.com
Date: Fri, 10 Dec 2021 00:44:57 +0200
Subject:
I am Mrs. Wendy Jane Williams from South Africa. My doctor told me
that my days are numbered and I would not last 4 months due to Breast
cancer and kidney failure problems. I will be going in for an
operation soon. And I have a transaction with a high amount of value
of Thirty million Five Hundred Thousand United State Dollar which I
would like to donate for charity work to you for the good work of God,
to set up a foundation for the Orphanage, widows and the needy in the
society.I will provide you more details after knowing your willingness
to handle this fund with fear of God.
Thanks and God bless.
Mrs. Wendy Jane Williams.
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Anti-fraud resources:
