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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
• 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 fake company names, fake addresses, non-existent institutions/documents or other details have appeared in scams before:
  • "uk national lottery" (can only win this lottery if you bought a ticket)
• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "from: the desk of" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
  • ",000,000" (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!

Fraud email example:

From: "DR.RICHARD WRIGHT" <richardwright60033@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 3 Sep 2008 13:48:41 +0200
Subject: *****SPAM***** DEAR WINNER


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: United Kingdom National Lottery No.18 Stirling House.Wo=
olich
Se 18 6up, London . FROM: THE DESK OF THE PROMOTION MANAGER. INTERNATI=
ONAL
PROMOTIONS/ PROCESSING PRIZE AWARD DEPARTMENT UK.NATIONAL LOTTERY. Dea=
r Sir/Madam,
Congratulations! We are pleased to announce you as one of the 3 lucky =
winners
in the Uk National Lottery draw held today. All 3 winning addresses we=
re
randomly selected from a batch of 5,000,000 international emails. Your =
email
address emerged alongside to others as a 3rd category winner in this m=
onth's
draw. Consequently, you have therefore been approved for a total pay o=
ut
of =A3500,000.00 Pounds (Five Hundred Thousand pounds) only. The follow=
ing particulars
are attached to your lotto payment order: [...]=20

Content analysis details: (12.7 points, 5.0 required)

pts rule name description
---- ---------------------- ---------------------------------------------=
-----
-1.8 ALL_TRUSTED Passed through trusted hosts only via SMTP
2.1 SUBJ_ALL_CAPS Subject is all capitals
1.3 MISSING_HEADERS Missing To: header
1.6 DEAR_SOMETHING BODY: Contains 'Dear (something)'
3.2 DEAR_WINNER BODY: DEAR_WINNER
1.0 BAYES_60 BODY: Bayesian spam probability is 60 to 80%
[score: 0.6911]
1.6 KAM_LOTTO2 Highly Likely to be a e-Lotto Scam Email
2.9 KAM_LOTTO1 Likely to be a e-Lotto Scam Email
2.0 LOTTERY_PH_004470 LOTTERY_PH_004470
-1.2 AWL AWL: From: address is in the auto white-list

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam