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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:

Fraud email example:

From: "Williams Parker" <wparker0044@hotmail.com>
Date: Thu, 25 Sep 2008 09:43:29 +1030
Subject: GOOD DAY FROM WILLIAMS PARKER


El programa de detecci=F3n de Spam del sistema "dns1.ciberweb.com.mx", ha
identificado este mensaje como "correo basura". A=F9n as=ED, el
mensaje original no se ha borrado para su chequeo, si lo
era, podr=EDa bloquearlo en su programa de correo (cree un "filtro"
a partir de la etiqueta "X-Spam-Score"). Si tiene alguna duda,
contacte con el administrador para m=E1s detalles.

Contenido: Good Day, Let me start by introducing myself, I am MR.
WILLIAMS PARKER OF LIOYDS TSB BANK Here in London. I am writing you this
letter based on the latest development at my bank, which I will like to
bring to your personal edification. I am writing you this letter with so
much joy and excitement even though my heart goes out to the very
powerful and distinguished gentleman who I was Fortunate to have worked
for and extremely privileged to have known for numerous years. I am a
top official in charge of client accounts in LIOYDS TSB BANK here in
United Kingdom. In 2001, my client was going through a horrendous
divorce in the United States of America and was on the verge of losing
most of his estate to his vicious and diabolical wife. As a result of
this alarming predicament, my client came to me with a Very brilliant
idea. He transferred some funds, Twenty million Five Hundred Thousand
United State Dollars ($20.5m) to a fixed deposit account in my bank
under an alias which only the two of us knew about as the
confidentiality of the matter was necessary for his protection. [...]=20

Detalles del an=E1lisis: (12.9 puntos, 5.0 requeridos)

pts regla aplicada descripci=F3n
---- ---------------------- ---------------------------------------
1.0 UNDISC_RECIPS Valid-looking To "undisclosed-recipients"
1.0 SUBJ_ALL_CAPS Subject is all capitals
-1.4 ALL_TRUSTED Passed through trusted hosts only via SMTP
1.7 FORGED_HOTMAIL_RCVD2 hotmail.com 'From' address, but no 'Received:'
0.4 URG_BIZ BODY: Contains urgent matter
2.4 MILLION_USD BODY: Talks about millions of dollars
0.3 MAILTO_TO_SPAM_ADDR URI: Includes a link to a likely spammer email
2.9 ADVANCE_FEE_3 Appears to be advance fee fraud (Nigerian 419)
3.0 ADVANCE_FEE_4 Appears to be advance fee fraud (Nigerian 419)
0.0 ADVANCE_FEE_1 Appears to be advance fee fraud (Nigerian 419)
1.6 ADVANCE_FEE_2 Appears to be advance fee fraud (Nigerian 419)



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