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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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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:

• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "fiduciary agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
  • "million us dollars" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
  • ",500,000" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
  • "00,000.00" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
• 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!
• 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.
  • richard_louis1936@yahoo.co.uk

Fraud email example:

From: MICROSOFT INTERNATIONAL LOTTERY HEADQUARTERS <info@lawoffice.org>
Reply-To: announce_deptl117@yahoo.co.uk
Date: Fri, 09 Nov 2007 01:45:12 -0500
Subject: ONLINE NOTIFICATION


This mail is probably spam. The original message has been attached
along with this report, so you can recognize or block similar unwanted
mail in future. See http://spamassassin.org/tag/ for more details.

Content preview: MICROSOFT INTERNATIONAL LOTTERY HEADQUARTERS: 61-70 Southampton
Row, Bloomsbury, LONDON, United Kingdom, WC1B 4AR. REF NO: MSW-L/200-26937
BATCH: 2005MJL-01 Dear Winner, We happily announce to you the draw (Draw
#1202) of the MSW LOTTERY,online Sweepstakes International Program held on
24 JUNE 2007. You have therefore been approved for a lump sum pay out of
GBP5,500,000.00 POUNDS in cash which is approximately $11.5MILLION US DOLLARS
credited to file REF NO: MSW-L/200-26937. This is from total prize money
of GBP27,500,000.00 POUNDS, shared among the Twenty (5)international winners
in this category. To file for your claim, please contact our fiduciary agent
via email. MR.RICHARD LOUIS E-m@il:richard_louis1936@yahoo.co.uk [...]

Content analysis details: (8.6 points)
-1.4 ALL_TRUSTED Passed through trusted hosts only via SMTP
2.2 SUBJ_ALL_CAPS Subject is all capitals
3.2 DEAR_WINNER BODY: DEAR_WINNER
1.1 NA_DOLLARS BODY: Talks about a million North American dollars
1.0 KAM_LOTTO2 Highly Likely to be a e-Lotto Scam Email
2.0 KAM_LOTTO3 Almost certain to be a e-Lotto Scam Email
0.5 KAM_LOTTO1 Likely to be a e-Lotto Scam Email

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam