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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: "EUROPE LOTTERY BOARD"<lotteryoffice45@yahoo.com.hk>
Date: Tue, 29 Sep 2009 12.53.11 +0200
Subject: ****SPAM**** ******YOU ARE A WINNER OF(2 MILLION DOLLARS)*******


Spam detection software, running on the system "webserver01.aqua-it.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: Dear esteemed recipient, You have to confirm your win
by sending an email with your full name,Address,Mobile phone number and
your winning code.You have been selected due to the fact that you have
sent more than 3 txts/email messages in 2months. [...]

Content analysis details: (9.1 points, 7.0 required)

pts rule name description
---- ---------------------- --------------------------------------------------
1.8 INVALID_DATE Invalid Date: header (not RFC 2822)
0.9 DATE_IN_PAST_12_24 Date: is 12 to 24 hours before Received: date
1.2 SUBJ_ALL_CAPS Subject is all capitals
0.2 MISSING_HEADERS Missing To: header
1.6 MILLION_USD BODY: Talks about millions of dollars
0.1 TO_CC_NONE No To: or Cc: header
3.4 FORGED_MUA_OUTLOOK Forged mail pretending to be from MS Outlook



Anti-fraud resources: