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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: "Mr. Mihir Patel" <ij261347@gmail.com>
Reply-To: mihirpat56@gmail.com
Date: Fri, 10 Jun 2022 12:15:16 -0700
Subject: Hello Urgent information
Greetings,
I am contacting you for us to work together on a profitable business
because you bear the same last name with a late client of our bank. I
want to present you as his true next of kin to inherit his fund in our
bank. As his account officer I have some necessary documents in my
disposal to achieve this.
I therefore reckoned that you could receive this fund as you are
qualified by your last name. All the legal papers will be processed in
your name as the deceased's true next of kin.
Please revert back to me for further details if you can handle this with me.
Mr. Mihir Patel
Customer relation officer
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Anti-fraud resources:
