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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: "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: