joewein.de LLC fighting spam and scams on the Internet

Try our spam filter! Free trial for 30 days

"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
• Support our efforts to stop scams!
  
• 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:

• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "dear beloved," (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
  • "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 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
  

Fraud email example:

From: "contactdon2 Gazeta.pl" <contactdon2@gazeta.pl>
Date: Fri, 4 Jul 2008 00:14:49 +0200
Subject: ****** SPAM ****** YOUR PAYMENT BY ATM MASTER CREDIT CARD


Spam detection software, running on the system "easytravels.nl", 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: YOUR PAYMENT BY ATM MASTER CREDIT CARD Dear beloved, I =
have
been waiting for you since to know if you have been able to go and pic=
k your
bank draft but did not hear from you since that time. I deposited the =
=80800,000.00
EURO draft/cheque in the bank. They have arranged your payment through=
swift
card payment centre Asia Pacific, this CARD centre will send you an AT=
M CARD
which you will use to withdraw your money in any CARD machine in any p=
art
of the world, but the maximum is =801,500 Per-hour and you can withdra=
w =8020.000
Per-day. Kindly contact the below person who is in position to release=
your
ATM Payment Card. Send your information which they will use to send th=
e card
to you. [...]=20

Content analysis details: (3.5 points, 1.0 required)

pts rule name description
---- ---------------------- ---------------------------------------------=
-----
2.1 SUBJ_ALL_CAPS Subject is all capitals
1.3 MISSING_HEADERS Missing To: header
0.0 HTML_MESSAGE BODY: HTML included in message
0.0 BAYES_50 BODY: Bayesian spam probability is 40 to 60%
[score: 0.5008]
0.1 RDNS_NONE Delivered to trusted network by a host with n=
o rDNS

The original message was not completely plain text, and may be unsafe to
open with some email clients; in particular, it may contain a virus,
or confirm that your address can receive spam. If you wish to view
it, it may be safer to save it to a file and open it with an editor.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam