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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.

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Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "dear friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
  • "cotonou" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
• This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
  

Fraud email example:

From: (sent from abused email account)
Date: Wed, 26 Nov 2008 20:19:12 +0000 (GMT)
Subject: CONTACT BOND COURIER FOR THE DELIVERING OF YOUR FAMILY VALUABLES


Spam detection software, running on the system "geezemail.com", 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: CONTACT BOND COURIER FOR THE DELIVERING OF YOUR FAMILY VALUABLES
Dear Friend, Greetings to you and your Family.I have been waiting for you
since to contact me for your Confirmable Bank Draft of ($1.5m)United States
Dollars, but I have not heard from you since then,so I went and deposited
the Draft with Bond Courier And Security Company ,Cotonou,Benin Republic
before I travelled out of the country for a short Course and I will spend
three months overseas.What you have to do now, is to contact Bond Courier
And Security Company as soon as possible to know when [...]

Content analysis details: (13.7 points, 5.0 required)

pts rule name description
---- ---------------------- --------------------------------------------------
-1.4 ALL_TRUSTED Passed through trusted hosts only via SMTP
2.8 SUBJ_YOUR_FAMILY Subject contains "Your Family"
2.3 SUBJ_ALL_CAPS Subject is all capitals
2.6 DEAR_FRIEND BODY: Dear Friend? That's not very dear!
0.0 HTML_MESSAGE BODY: HTML included in message
2.3 MIME_HTML_ONLY BODY: Message only has text/html MIME parts
2.6 ADVANCE_FEE_2 Appears to be advance fee fraud (Nigerian 419)
2.4 ADVANCE_FEE_3 Appears to be advance fee fraud (Nigerian 419)

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam