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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: MADAM ANNA CAMARA <annacamara47@yahoo.co.th>
Date: Thu, 14 Aug 2008 09:43:50 -0400
Subject: ****** SPAM ****** FROM MADAM ANNA CAMARA,


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: FROM MADAM ANNA CAMARA, This is Madam ANNA CAMARA, I am suffering
from thurberclosises and liver problem, I am writing from the hospital in
Cote D'Ivoire, this mail is very urgent. I was told by the doctor that the
sickness has got my liver damaged and can only live for two months. I inherited
some money ($8.4 Million usdollars ) from my late Husband which I do not
want the fund to go in vain since I can not survive from the illness. [...]


Content analysis details: (9.0 points, 1.0 required)

pts rule name description
---- ---------------------- --------------------------------------------------
2.1 SUBJ_ALL_CAPS Subject is all capitals
1.5 MILLION_USD BODY: Talks about millions of dollars
0.0 BAYES_50 BODY: Bayesian spam probability is 40 to 60%
[score: 0.5000]
1.4 MIME_QP_LONG_LINE RAW: Quoted-printable line longer than 76 chars
0.5 RAZOR2_CHECK Listed in Razor2 (http://razor.sf.net/)
2.2 DCC_CHECK Listed in DCC (http://rhyolite.com/anti-spam/dcc/)
0.0 DIGEST_MULTIPLE Message hits more than one network digest check
1.2 ADVANCE_FEE_2 Appears to be advance fee fraud (Nigerian 419)
0.1 RDNS_NONE Delivered to trusted network by a host with no rDNS



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