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joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet
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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:
- This email uses a separate reply address that is different from the sender address. Spammers use this to get replies even when the original spam sending accounts have been shut down. Also, sometimes the sender addresses are legitimate looking but fake and only the reply address is actually an email account controlled by the scammers.
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "dear friend" (a common phrase found 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: "Mr.Aporn Kun" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <mr.apornkun1960@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 28 Mar 2017 02:14:50 +1100
Subject: From Mr.Aporn Kun
*****************************************************************
********************** SPAM REPORT MESSAGE **********************
*****************************************************************
Datagate AntiSPAM detection software has identified this incoming
email as possible spam. The original message report has been
attached to this so you can view it (if it isn't spam) or block
similar future email. If you have any questions, please contact
Datagate PostMaster <antispam@postmaster.datagate.net.uk>.
Content preview: Dear Friend, I am contacting you to assist me for putting
claim to a deposit of our late customer which he left before his death as
he died intestate without a will. Get back to me quickly for more details
so that both of us can share the fund 50-50 once it is transferred to your
account in your country. [...]
Content analysis details: (8.0 points, 5.0 required)
pts rule name description
---- ---------------------- --------------------------------------------------
0.0 FSL_HELO_NON_FQDN_1 FSL_HELO_NON_FQDN_1
0.0 FSL_CTYPE_WIN1251 Content-Type only seen in 419 spam
0.0 NSL_RCVD_FROM_USER Received from User
1.0 SPF_SOFTFAIL SPF: sender does not match SPF record (softfail)
2.6 DEAR_FRIEND BODY: Dear Friend? That's not very dear!
0.0 FROM_MISSP_XPRIO Misspaced FROM + X-Priority
0.0 FROM_MISSP_MSFT From misspaced + supposed Microsoft tool
1.3 RDNS_NONE Delivered to internal network by a host with no rDNS
0.0 FSL_NEW_HELO_USER Spam's using Helo and User
0.0 AXB_XMAILER_MIMEOLE_OL_024C2 Yet another X header trait
0.0 FROM_MISSP_TO_UNDISC From misspaced, To undisclosed
0.0 FROM_MISSP_USER From misspaced, from "User"
0.0 FROM_MISSP_REPLYTO From misspaced, has Reply-To
0.0 FROM_MISSPACED From: missing whitespace
0.4 MIMEOLE_DIRECT_TO_MX MIMEOLE + direct-to-MX
2.8 FORGED_MUA_OUTLOOK Forged mail pretending to be from MS Outlook
0.0 ADVANCE_FEE_5_NEW Appears to be advance fee fraud (Nigerian 419)
Datagate AntiSPAM Service <antispam@postmaster.datagate.net.uk>
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Anti-fraud resources:
