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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.
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "U S TREASURY DEPT" <@girl.com@mayurisobti.com>
Reply-To: jalfredi527@gmail.com
Date: Thu, 20 Jul 2023 18:39:02 -0400
Subject: YOUR PROMPT RESPONSE
U S Department of the Treasury
Address:1500 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington D C
We have this day received a payment credit instruction from the US
Government, British Government to credit your account with your full
Inheritance fund of US 10.5Million from the Online emails lucky data bases
in receipt of scams victims with the con-ligation of UNITED NATION
ORGANIZATION.
This is to inform you that, after a series of complaints from the Security
agencies from Asia Europe South America and the USA respectively against
the Federal Government and the British Government for the rate of scam
activities going on in these Nations, You are therefore advised to
reconfirm your details to enable the financial department release your
payment to you without any delay.
Thus, reconfirm the following
Your Full Name
Your residential address
Your direct phone number
We look forward to your prompt response.
Sincerely
Mr. Alfred I Johnson
Deputy Chief of Staff U.S Treasury
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Anti-fraud resources: