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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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• 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:
  • "hundred thousand united state 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)
  • "united state dollar" (this email uses bad English)
• 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.
  • cheng.vhvc770@yahoo.com.hk (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: " MR. V H C CHENG." <CHENG@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: cheng.vhvc770@yahoo.com.hk
Date: Sat, 23 Aug 2008 23:49:03 +0200
Subject: *****SPAM***** From: MR. V H C CHENG.


Spam detection software, running on the system "mail.tugab.bg", 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: MR. V H C CHENG. Email:cheng.vhvc770@yahoo.com.hk Good
Day I am Mr. Vincent Cheng Hoi Chuen, GBS, JP Chairman of the Hong Kong and
Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited. Our Client, Gen Zaiki Taha Abdel, a
businessman and also who was with the Iraqi forces, made a fixed deposit,
of Twenty Four million Five Hundred Thousand United State Dollars only in
my branch, a number of notices was sent to him, before the war which began
in 2003 and also after the war but, no response came from him. We later found
out that the General along with his wife and only daughter had been killed
during the war in a bomb blast that hit their home. [...]

Content analysis details: (12.2 points, 5.0 required)

pts rule name description
---- ---------------------- --------------------------------------------------
-1.8 ALL_TRUSTED Passed through trusted hosts only via SMTP
3.5 BAYES_99 BODY: Bayesian spam probability is 99 to 100%
[score: 0.9997]
2.3 FORGED_YAHOO_RCVD 'From' yahoo.com does not match 'Received' headers
1.3 MISSING_HEADERS Missing To: header
1.5 MILLION_USD BODY: Talks about millions of dollars
1.5 RAZOR2_CF_RANGE_E4_51_100 Razor2 gives engine 4 confidence level
above 50%
[cf: 100]
0.5 RAZOR2_CHECK Listed in Razor2 (http://razor.sf.net/)
0.5 RAZOR2_CF_RANGE_51_100 Razor2 gives confidence level above 50%
[cf: 100]
1.2 ADVANCE_FEE_2 Appears to be advance fee fraud (Nigerian 419)
1.4 ADVANCE_FEE_3 Appears to be advance fee fraud (Nigerian 419)
0.6 ADVANCE_FEE_4 Appears to be advance fee fraud (Nigerian 419)
-0.4 AWL AWL: From: address is in the auto white-list

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam