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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: "Mrs. Rita Dominick" <peter_dominick@hotmail.com>
Date: Mon, 8 Dec 2008 12:18:59 -0900 (AKST)
Subject: *****SPAM***** From: Mrs. Rita Dominick


Spam detection software, running on the system "mx1.unpad.ac.id", 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: Mrs. Rita Dominick 132, Bruce Street Santon, Johannesburg,
South Africa Tel: + 27 7835417452 Email: peter_dominick@hotmail.com Good
Day, My name is Mrs. Rita Dominick, the wife to the late Mr.Johnson Dominick
SNR of Zimbabwe . This might come as a surprise to you about where and how
I got your contact address. It was a result of a trusted confident from the
South Africa Chamber of commerce and industries in Johannesburg South Africa
. [...]

Content analysis details: (15.1 points, 5.8 required)

pts rule name description
---- ---------------------- --------------------------------------------------
-1.8 ALL_TRUSTED Passed through trusted hosts only via SMTP
1.9 TVD_RCVD_IP TVD_RCVD_IP
3.2 TVD_RCVD_IP4 TVD_RCVD_IP4
1.9 DATE_IN_FUTURE_06_12 Date: is 6 to 12 hours after Received: date
1.3 MISSING_HEADERS Missing To: header
1.5 MILLION_USD BODY: Talks about millions of dollars
-2.6 BAYES_00 BODY: Bayesian spam probability is 0 to 1%
[score: 0.0000]
1.2 ADVANCE_FEE_2 Appears to be advance fee fraud (Nigerian 419)
1.7 SARE_FRAUD_X5 Matches 5+ phrases commonly used in fraud spam
1.7 SARE_FRAUD_X6 Matches 6+ phrases commonly used in fraud spam
1.4 ADVANCE_FEE_3 Appears to be advance fee fraud (Nigerian 419)
1.7 SARE_FRAUD_X3 Matches 3+ phrases commonly used in fraud spam
1.7 SARE_FRAUD_X4 Matches 4+ phrases commonly used in fraud spam
0.6 ADVANCE_FEE_4 Appears to be advance fee fraud (Nigerian 419)
-0.3 AWL AWL: From: address is in the auto white-list



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