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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

• About the 419 (Advance Fee) scam
• "Is that email a scam?" - Check it online here!
  
• Frequently asked Questions (419 FAQ)
• Phone numbers used by 419 scammers
  (+225 +229 +234 +27 +31 +32 +34 +44 other)
• Company names mentioned in 419 spam:
  1 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
• Support our efforts to stop scams!
  
• How to report 419 spam to us
• What can you do when you receive 419 spam
  
  
• Spam archive, Daily index
  

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.

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 message is a fake lottery scam. Consider the following facts about real lotteries:
  
  1. They don't notify winners by email.
  2. You can't win without first buying a lottery ticket.
  3. They don't randomly select email addresses to award prizes to.
  4. They don't use free email accounts (Yahoo, Hotmail, etc) to communicate with you.
  5. They don't tell you to call a mobile phone number.
  6. They don't tell you to keep your winnings secret.
  7. They will never ask a winner to pay any fees to receive a prize!

Fraud email example:

From: "mr steven garden" <emmac4all@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: mr.stevengarden@yahoo.es
Date: Fri, 9 Feb 2007 08:51:44 -0500 (EST)
Subject: [SPAM] CALL FOR CONFIRMATION.


Spam detection software, running on the system "mail.clemson.edu", has
identified this incoming email as possible spam. The original message
has been attached to this so you can view it (if it isn't spam) or block
similar future email. If you have any questions, see
postmaster@clemson.edu for details.

Content preview: CONTACT:FOR YOUR PRIZE YOU WON REF Number: ASL-
WF97-5G3 Congratulations to you as we bring to your notice, the results
of the Category B draws of THE LOTTO NL PROMO INT We are happy to
inform you that you have emerged a winner under the Category B, which
is part of our promotional draws. The draws are being officially
announced today 29th day of January,2007. [...]

Content analysis details: (5.7 points, 5.0 required)

pts rule name description
---- ---------------------- --------------------------------------------------
0.4 MILLION_USD BODY: Talks about millions of dollars
0.7 US_DOLLARS_3 BODY: Mentions millions of $ ($NN,NNN,NNN.NN)
0.6 SUBJ_ALL_CAPS Subject is all capitals
0.4 FORGED_YAHOO_RCVD 'From' yahoo.com does not match 'Received' headers
3.0 NIGERIAN_BODY1 Message body looks like a Nigerian spam message 1+
0.7 PRIORITY_NO_NAME Message has priority setting, but no X-Mailer

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam