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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:
- "money laundering" ("anti-terrorist", "anti-money laundering" or "drug-free" certificates are a common way for criminals in fake lottery scams and other Advance Fee scams to get you to send money to them. There are no such certificates in the real banking world. )
- "million 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)
- "utmost confidentiality" (scammers urge victims to keep the transaction secret because they don't want anyone to point out to them that it is a scam)
- "is 100% risk free" (almost true for the criminal trying to scam you - arrests of online criminals are rare)
- "remain blessed" (scammers in West Africa like to use religious phrases)
- This email message is a "dying widow" scam.
Fraud email example:
From: "Reggi Freemyer" <yeter@pine.com.tr>
Reply-To: reggifreemyer@gmail.com
Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2022 20:29:04 +0300
Subject: Charity
Good day
I am Mrs. Reggi Freemyer and I am a widow of 68 years old suffering from
lung cancer . I have some funds I inherited from my late husband, the sum
of (17.5 Million Dollars) and I am in need of someone I can entrust these
funds to invest and profits used for Charity works.
Having known my condition I decided to give this money to you and the
profits given to charity organizations or good organizations that will
utilize this money the way I am going to instruct herein. The profits
should be for Charity organizations, orphanages, widows and other people
that are in need. l took this decision because I don’t have any child that
will inherit this money . Moreover, my husband's relatives are not close
to me since I developed a Cancer problem and it had been their wish to see
me dead in order to inherit my late husband's wealth since we have no
Child. These people are not worthy of this inheritance. This is why I am
making this decision.
This is not stolen money nor is it related to money laundering and there
are no dangers involved with this money because I worked hard all my life
alongside my husband to earn this money. This money is 100% RISK FREE
with full legal proof. Please if you would be able to use the profits
after investing for the Charity works kindly let me know immediately. I
will appreciate your utmost confidentiality and trust in this matter to
accomplish my heart's desire, as I don’t want anything that will
jeopardize my last wish. I want you to take 20 percent of the total money
for your personal use while 80% of the money will go to start up the
investment of your choice. I will appreciate your utmost confidentiality
and trust in this matter to accomplish my heart desire. Please assure me
that you will act accordingly as I stated herein.
Thanks and Remain blessed
Mrs. Reggi Freemyer.
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