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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

• About the 419 (Advance Fee) scam
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• 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:
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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:

• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "fiduciary agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
  • "hundred thousand united states dollars" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
• This email message is a fake lottery scam. Consider the following facts about real lotteries:
  
  1. They don't notify winners by email.
  2. You can't win without first buying a lottery ticket.
  3. They don't randomly select email addresses to award prizes to.
  4. They don't use free email accounts (Yahoo, Hotmail, etc) to communicate with you.
  5. They don't tell you to call a mobile phone number.
  6. They don't tell you to keep your winnings secret.
  7. They will never ask a winner to pay any fees to receive a prize!
• 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.
  • wanlcd_accraghana@yahoo.com

Fraud email example:

From: "David Atta" <david_agetnationallotteryaccraghana@hotmail.com> (may be fake)
Reply-To: davidatt05@yahoo.com
Date: Sat, 14 Jan 2006 12:19:12 +0000
Subject: WINNING NOTIFICATION

West Africa National-LOTTERY Headquarters:
Customer Service
Ref: wfg/9420X2/68
Batch: 074

WINNING NOTIFICATION

We happily announce to you the draw of the West Africa National-LOTTO
Sweepstake Online Lottery International programs held on the (saturday
14th of January, 2006) in ACCRA GHANA.
Your e-mail address was attached to ticket number: 56475600545188 with
the Serial number: 5368/02 that drew the lucky numbers: 19-6-26-17-35-7,
which subsequently won you the lottery in the 2nd category.

You have therefore been approved to claim a total sum of
US$1.500,000.00 (One Million Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars) in cash credited to file EAL/9023118308/03.
This is from a total cash prize of US $25 Million dollars, shared
amongst the first Ten (10) lucky winners in this category. All participants were
selected randomly from World Wide Web sites through computer draw
system and extracted from over 100,000 companies websites. This promotion takes
place annually.You will be contacted with your US$1.500,000.00 (One million Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars) winning which would be released to you by our payment
office shortly.Our oversea agent will immediately commence the process to
facilitate the release of your funds as soon as you contact him. For security reasons,
you are advised to keep your winning information confidential till your
claims is processed and your money remitted to you in whatever manner you deem
fit to claim your prize.

This is part of our precautionary measure to avoid double claiming
and unwarranted abuse of this program by some unscrupulous elements. Take
note of this important notification.

To file for your claim, please contact our fiduciary agent:
Mr David Atta
Email: wanlcd_accraghana@yahoo.com

To avoid unnecessary delays and complications, please quote your full
names,
your country, your Telephone or fax number, your reference/batch
numbers etc
in any of your correspondences with our designated agent or this
organization.

Congratulations once more from all members and staffs of this program.

Thank you for being part of our promotional lottery program.

Sincerely,
David Atta
WEST -AFRICA NATIONAL-LOTTO Co-ordinator.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam