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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.
- 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.
- claimoffice000332@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "Thomas Yi Mega" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <claimoffice000332@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 1 Aug 2022 09:11:39 -0700
Subject: Donations
Greetings to you. Following Mr. Thomas Yi Mega Jackpot winning of $235.4 million on March 27, 2021 which he intend to use to pursue a variety of passions and make some charitable contributions to humanity. I am glad to inform you that you have been selected to benefit from his private donations aimed at touching lives as God has blessed his.
This donation of $4 million is made out to enable you strengthen your personal issues and generously extend hands of help to the less privileged, orphans and charity organizations within your locality.
Forward your message of acceptance to: claimoffice000332@gmail.com
Best Regards.
Thomas Yi Mega
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Anti-fraud resources: