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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 us 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 <grace1972m@gmail.com>
Reply-To: marinawenzel996@nifty.com
Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2022 12:43:24 +0000
Subject: will you be there for me
Hello dear friend, how are you doing today?
God bless you for paying attention to my message.
I'm writing you this letter from the hospital because I'm very ill now.
I have a huge amount of money, 5.5 million US dollars to donate to the less
privileged before i die
My intention is to use the money to open the Charity Foundation, but mine
My health is very bad
Now I'm afraid I can't survive this disease.
For this reason, I will need your help to run the charity
in my name.
I will instruct my bank to transfer the money to your account to get started
further this project
on my behalf, if you're just interested in helping me.
I'll tell you more about me and my plans when I get your answer.
Mrs. Marina Wenzel
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Anti-fraud resources:
