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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:
- "million us dollars" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: Susan White <ebiannjustinyak@gmail.com>
Reply-To: aaabrownnn2019@gmail.com
Date: Fri, 14 Apr 2023 08:45:00 +0100
Subject: URGENT LETTER OF INTENT ACT FAST
Attn Beneficiary
Kindly Re-Confirm if you did authorize one John Kaiser to
represent and to claim your fund on your Behalf as your Next of Kin?
Yes or No?
We hereby officially notify you about the present arrangement to pay
John Kaiser your overdue contract/Prize/inheritance fund to the
account details below which he presented to us.
Beneficiary Name : John Kaiser
Bank Address: 857 Second Avenue East, Owen Sound, Ontario, Canada
Bank phone: 519-376-8480
Bank fax: 519-376-5396
Swift Code: NOSCCATT
Routing Number: 026002532
Transit Number: 12062
Account Number: 0005029
Please do Re-confirm the above Bank account details immediately you
receive this e-mail now if we should commence the transfer of your
$15.5 million us dollars into the bank account details above.
This is because Your fund will be transferred to the above account
details within 72 hours as such we advise you get back to us for
confirmation if we are to commence the payment process to John Kaiser's
Bank Account details above or not. Your immediate response to this
e-mail now will do you good than harm.
Yours truly,
Andrew Brown
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Anti-fraud resources:
