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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:
- An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
- 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:
- "remain blessed" (scammers in West Africa like to use religious phrases)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- 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.
- shedracktony@post.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: Post Office <smartchuby@gmail.com>
Reply-To: shedracktony@post.com
Date: Sat, 19 Mar 2022 15:18:38 +0300
Subject: ATTENTION PLEASE!
I'm Mr. Shedrack Tony, the newly appointed Postman of the Regular Mail
Post Office branch at Nairobi Kenya. I assumed this office on 3rd,
January, 2022.
On going through the files of the previous records of this office, I
discovered that there are six parcels containing ATM cards each one
attached with an email address of the owner on it.
The ATM card was deposited by one Senior Evangelist Mathew Peterson
who died one year back as a charity foundation parcel valued at a sum
of $10.5 million. Below information is officially needed for posting
of the ATM CARD ASAP.
Full name:
Full mailing info:
Your cell phone line:
Country:
Nearest Airport:
Remain blessed as I'll be looking forward to receiving your immediate response.
Regards,
Mr.Shedrack Tony
phone: +254 714-430-582
Email: shedracktony@post.com
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Anti-fraud resources:
