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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:
- "i will like you to " (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "god-fearing " (scammers in West Africa like to use religious phrases)
- This email message is a "dying widow" scam.
Fraud email example:
From: mother mary sanders <alhjimammanan@gmail.com>
Reply-To: mothermrysanders@outlook.com
Date: Fri, 24 Mar 2023 08:14:11 +0100
Subject: REMINDER.
Good day my beloved in Christ, My name is Mother Mary Sander a
God-fearing woman suffering from Cancer of the breast.
I am 63 years old a widow to late Mother Mary Sander,i have an
important message for you, from our father in heaven, so i will like
you to email me on mothermrysanders@outlook.com so that i can pass the
message to you and am very sure you will be very happy to receive
it...God bless you.
Mother Mary Sander
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Anti-fraud resources:
