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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:
- "dear friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Mr. Hope Walker" <johnsongift121@gmail.com>
Reply-To: filesoffi@outlook.com
Date: Thu, 16 Mar 2023 00:10:00 -0700
Subject:
Dear Beneficiary:
We are writing to remind you about your funds of US$3.5 million USD that
suppose to be deliver to you since, but we did not hear from you for
some months now. dear friend. As you can see every argument how to
delivery your FUNDS is already made
here. Now you are the one delaying your funds by not to write back to
us. We are awaited your reply with your information,
1. Full name
2. Phone number
3. Current home address
We need your urgent responds to inform us if you still want your funds
or not, because after meeting hold today in our head office with our
government we concluded with our federal government that any one who
did not write back to us from now till weekend that person fund will
be diverted into our federal government account.
Mr. Hope Walker
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Anti-fraud resources:
