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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:
- "dear friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "huge amount of money" (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)
- "million 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)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: marina wenzel <marina1952wenzel@gmail.com>
Reply-To: marinawenzel996@nifty.com
Date: Fri, 17 Dec 2021 19:37:25 +0000
Subject: I offer you 30% from this money
Hello dear friend, I welcomed you in the name of God
May GOD bless you for paying attention to my message.
I am writing this letter to you from the hospital because I am very sick now.
I have some huge amount of money, $ 5.5 US Million dollars to donate to the less
privileged before I die.
My intention is to use the money to open the Charity Foundation but my
My health is very bad
Now I am afraid I may not survive this illness.
For that reason I will need your help to manage the charity foundation
on my behalf.
I will instruct my bank to transfer the money to your account to start
up this project on
my behalf if only you are interested in helping me.
I will tell you more about myself and my plans when I receive your response.
Mrs. Marina Wenzel
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Anti-fraud resources:
