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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: (sent from abused email account)
Date: Wed, 22 Oct 2008 02:59:50 -0700
Subject: *****SPAM***** Transfer..


Spam detection software, running on the system "spam1.pem.inap.sea.dotster.net", 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: My Proposal Greetings, Before I start, I must firstly apologize
for this unsolicited proposal to you. I am aware that this is certainly an
[...]

Content analysis details: (8.7 points, 7.0 required)

pts rule name description
---- ---------------------- --------------------------------------------------
0.1 RDNS_NONE Delivered to trusted network by a host with no rDNS
3.3 DATE_IN_FUTURE_12_24 Date: is 12 to 24 hours after Received: date
1.6 MISSING_HEADERS Missing To: header
2.0 ADVANCE_FEE_2 Appears to be advance fee fraud (Nigerian 419)
1.4 ADVANCE_FEE_3 Appears to be advance fee fraud (Nigerian 419)
0.2 FORGED_MUA_OUTLOOK Forged mail pretending to be from MS Outlook



Anti-fraud resources: