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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 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)
- "power of attorney" (with your bank details and a power of attorney form criminals sometimes empty bank accounts)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.
- This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- anthonyaustin2144@gmail.com (Gmail/GoogleMail; can be used from anywhere worldwide)
Fraud email example:
From: Anthony <vylo56694@gmail.com>
Reply-To: anthonyaustin2144@gmail.com
Date: Sat, 8 Jan 2022 12:09:24 -0800
Subject: ATTENTION DEAR BENEFICIARY
I want to let you no that we receive another email right now from a young
man called Mr. Jackson Robert he said that you got an accident and died
yesterday that before you died in the hospital you gave him the power of
attorney to inherit your fund worth $20.8 million dollars in our custody
and he said that he is ready to pay for the VAT charge duty so that we can
hand over the fund to him, we need a confirmation to this and if we do not
hear from you within a couple of 6 hours we are going to take the action
by handing him over the fund.Remember to send him your Full information to
avoid wrong transfer such as:
Receiver’s Name_______
Address: ____
Country: ____
Phone Number: ___
ID Card:_____
Best Regard
Contact Name: ANTHONY AUSTIN
Director of Homeland security here is my Email anthonyaustin2144@gmail.com
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Anti-fraud resources:
