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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.
• 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.
  • francis_w2@inbox.ru (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "franciswilliams1@adinet.com.uy" <franciswilliams1@adinet.com.uy>
Date: Mon, 23 Mar 2009 15:27:48 -0300 (UYT)
Subject: ****** SPAM ****** From Mr.Francis Williams(Urgent)


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 Mr.Francis Williams(Urgent) Good Day, Please Read. My
name is Mr. Francis Williams I am the Credit and audits manager with bank
of Africa Ouagadougou Burkina Faso. I have a business proposal in the tune
of $9.5m, (Nine Million Five hundred Thousand United States Dollar only)
after the successful transfer; we shall share in ratio of 40% for you and
60% for me. Should you be interested, please contact me through my private
email (francis_w2@inbox.ru) so we can commence all arrangements and I Will
give you more information on how we would handle this project. [...]

Content analysis details: (4.2 points, 1.0 required)

pts rule name description
---- ---------------------- --------------------------------------------------
1.3 MISSING_HEADERS Missing To: header
1.5 MILLION_USD BODY: Talks about millions of dollars
0.0 HTML_MESSAGE BODY: HTML included in message
0.0 BAYES_50 BODY: Bayesian spam probability is 40 to 60%
[score: 0.4800]
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

The original message was not completely plain text, and may be unsafe to
open with some email clients; in particular, it may contain a virus,
or confirm that your address can receive spam. If you wish to view
it, it may be safer to save it to a file and open it with an editor.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam