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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: Mark Addison <mark.addison@live.com>
Date: Fri, 12 Sep 2008 01:49:51 +0100
Subject: *****SPAM***** WINNING NOTIFICATION


Spam detection software, running on the system "mail.tugab.bg", 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 label
similar future email. If you have any questions, see
The administrator of that system for details.

Content preview: The National Lottery P O Box 1010 Liverpool,L70 1NL UNITED
KINGDOM (CustomerServices) Ref: UK/9420X2/68 Batch: 074/05/ZY369 Winning
Numbers 31 17 8 28 55 21 BONUS: 25 WINNING NOTIFICATION [...]

Content analysis details: (15.5 points, 5.0 required)

pts rule name description
---- ---------------------- --------------------------------------------------
-1.8 ALL_TRUSTED Passed through trusted hosts only via SMTP
3.5 BAYES_99 BODY: Bayesian spam probability is 99 to 100%
[score: 1.0000]
2.1 SUBJ_ALL_CAPS Subject is all capitals
1.3 MISSING_HEADERS Missing To: header
1.6 KAM_LOTTO2 Highly Likely to be a e-Lotto Scam Email
2.9 KAM_LOTTO1 Likely to be a e-Lotto Scam Email
1.2 ADVANCE_FEE_2 Appears to be advance fee fraud (Nigerian 419)
0.6 KAM_LOTTO3 Almost certain to be a e-Lotto Scam Email
2.0 LOTTERY_PH_004470 LOTTERY_PH_004470
1.4 ADVANCE_FEE_3 Appears to be advance fee fraud (Nigerian 419)
0.6 ADVANCE_FEE_4 Appears to be advance fee fraud (Nigerian 419)

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam