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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 next of kin scam.
Fraud email example:
From: "Paul B. Murphy" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <mr111055pbmurphy@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 3 Jan 2023 01:39:35 -0800
Subject: Re: We can achieve this together!!
Good day,
I write to solicit for your indulgence in working with me in this
beneficial transaction.
I wish to present you to my bank as our deceased customer next of kin
since you share the same family name with him. As his account
coordinator, I have all the legal documents to back up this claim at
my disposal to achieve the success of this fortune without any
hitches.
I implore you to work with me to accomplish this life time opportunity
since you are qualified by your last name. I am going to supply you
everything that may be required by the bank to guarantee the success
of this transaction.
Mr.Paul B. Murphy
Customer relation officers.
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Anti-fraud resources:
