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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
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• 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:

• An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "dear beloved," (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
  • "abidjan" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
• This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
  
• This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
  • hwv03@yahoo.fr (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: hellen helly <hellenwilliams@amharicmail.com>
Date: Tue, 30 Oct 2007 16:45:35 +0000 (GMT)
Subject: From Hellen Williams


Spam detection software, running on the system "geezemail.com", 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: From Hellen Williams Abidjan Cote d'Ivoire. West Africa. Alter
Email;hwv03@yahoo.fr. Dear Beloved, I write to intimate you of a matter that
requires an urgent attention.But briefly, I am Hellen Williams, the only
daughter of late Chief Vincent Williams he was the chairman/CEO of the Sierra-Leone
national Gold & Diamond Mining Corporation. [...]

Content analysis details: (8.6 points, 5.0 required)

pts rule name description
---- ---------------------- --------------------------------------------------
-1.4 ALL_TRUSTED Passed through trusted hosts only via SMTP
0.9 NA_DOLLARS BODY: Talks about a million North American dollars
0.3 MAILTO_TO_SPAM_ADDR URI: Includes a link to a likely spammer email
0.0 HTML_MESSAGE BODY: HTML included in message
0.9 HTML_10_20 BODY: Message is 10% to 20% HTML
0.4 MIME_HTML_ONLY BODY: Message only has text/html MIME parts
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)

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam