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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:
- ",500,000" (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: "Mr Timo Paltomaa" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <tpaltomaa@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 25 Dec 2023 08:09:05 -0800
Subject: CRYTOCURRENCY RECOVERY COMPENSATION
Hello Sir,
I'm Timo Paltomaa, the Assistant director of Cyber Crime Cryptocurrency Fraud And Recovery Department of the IMF
and we have been charged to investigate and recover funds lost by US and North American citizens to fraudsters through
fraudulent cryptocurrency trading.
So I'm using this opportunity to inform you that we came across your case and after a
thorough investigation, we were able to recover your lost crypto funds plus the accumulated interest which has summed up to $4,500,000 at this point in time. This funds are very much ready to be paid back to you immediately upon completing the
necessary preliminary paperwork. So be advised to quickly get back to me upon receiving this email so that we can quickly
start the payment process. Waiting to hear from you. Thanks.
Sincerely Timo Paltomaa
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Anti-fraud resources:
