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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:
- "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)
- ",500,000" (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)
- "00,000.00" (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: Ann-Lorien Claudia <nadesh.mohamed@gmail.com>
Reply-To: annlorienclaudia135@gmail.com
Date: Tue, 23 Aug 2022 03:55:28 +0000
Subject: HELP ME
Dear, Please I want you to pay attention to this email because it is very
important and confidential. My name is Miss. Ann-Lorien Claudia.
I am a 23 year old girl. I am an orphan. My father died when I was 4 years old
While my mother recently died after a long time of cancer illness.
I am writing you this email with a lot of pain and heartbreak due to what I am
passing through since the death of my mother.
I really need your urgent help now to bring me over to your country to settle
down and continue my education but before that, I want you to assist
me to retrieve
and transfer the sum of $7,500,000.00 dollars to your account.
I inherited this money from my late mother.
I want you to help me to invest this money in any good business since I am
I am still a young girl and I cannot manage this huge amount of money by myself.
I will tell you more about myself and my plans if you are willing to help me.
God bless you.
I wait for your response.
Miss. Ann-Lorien Claudia.
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Anti-fraud resources:
