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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: "MRS. AGNES MARTIN" <mercyklord24@gmail.com>
Reply-To: agkofi22@gmail.com
Date: Thu, 3 Feb 2022 17:05:03 +0000
Subject: PLEASE I AND MY DAUGHTER NEED YOUR ASSISTANCE
--
Hello,
I am Mrs. Agnes B. Martin the wife of late Dr. Jerry Martin from
Sierra-Leone but based in Cote d'Ivoire. My late husband was murdered
in Cote d'Ivoire along with his lawyer a few years ago on their
business trip back from Dubai. It is with tears that I am writing you
this mail from my sick bed here in the hospital with the assistance of
my only child Jessica, 21 years old.
Before his death, he had some money $19.2 Million deposited with one
of the best banks here. I am contacting you because I need your
sincere cooperation and assistance to be a guardian to my daughter so
that you can help her to receive this money in your account in your
country for investment and to help the poor and less privileged in
your country or elsewhere in the world.
I am going to give you 15 percent of this total money as compensation
and thanks for your help.
If you are interested and can be TRUSTED, please reply immediately for
more details before I go for operation.
Yours Sincerely,
Mrs. Agnes & Jessica
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Anti-fraud resources:
