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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:
- "very confidential" (scammers urge victims to keep the transaction secret because they don't want anyone to point out to them that it is a scam)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: Bill Smith
Reply-To: <sbill4732@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 20 Jan 2023 01:43:40 -0800
Subject: INVESTMENT OFFER
Hello,
I am a representative to an investor from a Mineral-Oil Rich Country with a sensitive political background who wants to invest outside his country and without the appearance of his name on the investments.
As stated above, the investor gave me a mandate to seek for a well reliable individual with professional experience in financial management that can help him receive and channel the funds (US$100M) into profitable investments outside his country where these funds could exist outside his name and country.
This is a very confidential transaction, and should this be of interest to you, please feel free to contact me so we can discuss further.
Best Regards.
Mr.Bill Smith.
Business Consultant.
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Anti-fraud resources:
