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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 message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Mrs. Cristina Bonett." <heleenmichae21@gmail.com>
Date:
Subject:
--
Hello,
I know it will be a great surprise reading from me today but consider
this a divine intervention. My name is Mrs. Cristina Bonett., a widow
from United Kingdom. I am presently writing to you from my sickbed
because I have been fighting cancer and the doctor says I have a few
weeks left.
I want to entrust my money to your care for charity purposes and crave
your indulgence as a concerned individual to help the poor with my
money for charity and also assist the poor with less privileged in the
society as I'm not always online due to my health and my late
husband's brother wants me dead so that he will claim all my late
husband and I worked for.
I will tell you more about myself and what you need to do with the
money once you receive it. Give me your word that you will not betray
my trust so that I furnish you with more details about the Charity
Funds. Please reply now as my health is pretty bad, itâs urgent and
very important you keep this email confidential.
Have a blessed day and do not forget to pray for me.
Bless you.
Mrs. Cristina Bonett.
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Anti-fraud resources: