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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

• About the 419 (Advance Fee) scam
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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.

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Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

• 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!

Fraud email example:

From: "luckystar lotteries" <kuckystarinc120@msn.com>
Reply-To: info_wamagent@o2.pl
Date: Mon, 20 Feb 2006 17:17:07 +0000
Subject: Winning Notification

Lucky Star International Lotteries,
Corporate Headquarters: Maliebaan 38-40, 3581CR,
Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

20th February, 2006
Batch: 12/25/0340
Ref: BTL/101OXI/02


LSTAR WINNING NOTIFICATION DESK
We happily announce to you the draw (#954) of the LUCKY STAR INTERNATIONAL
LOTTERY, online Sweepstakes International program held on 17th february 2006
Your e-mail address attached to ticket number: 56475600545 188 with Serial
number 5368/02 drew the lucky numbers: (13)-(43)-(06)-(15)-(02)-(40)bonus #
(09).Which subsequently won you the lottery in the 2nd category. You have
therefore been approved to claim a total sum of $800,000.00 (Eight hundred
thousand )United States Dollars only in cash credited to file
KTU/9023118308/03.
METHOD OF SELECTING WINNERS:
All participants for the online version were selected randomly from World
Wide Web sites through computer draw system and extracted from over 100,000
unions, associations, and corporate bodies that are listed online. Please
note that, for security reasons, you are advised to keep your winning
information confidential till your claim 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. Please be warned!!!
Remember, all winning must be claimed not later than 7 working days from the
20th February, 2006. After the expiration of that time frame, if your funds
are unclaimed, it will be refunded to us and included in our next draws.
You are to contact the fiduciary paying agency as mentioned below for the
processing of your claims stating your full Names, Address, Your
Occupation, Your Telephone number, Your Fax Number if any,and Your possible
Next Of kin.

West African Monetary Agency
Contact person: Mr.John Phillips
Claims Processing/Legal Department
Tel.+233-288-272512
E-mail: info_wamagent@o2.pl

Yours faithfully,
Jane Myles (Mrs)
Director International Promotions Unit
DECLARATION DETAIL NOTICE (D.D.N) ALL LUCKY WINNERS ARE TO NOTE THAT THEY
ARE LIABLE FOR THE PAYMENT OF THE PROCESSING CHARGES FOR THE PAYMENT CLAIMS
AGAINST THEIR WINNING PRIZE CLAIMS. THIS IS NECESSARY DUE TO ALL PAYMENT
FUNDS LODGMENT IS SECURED IN VARIOUS DESIGNATED PAYMENT FINANCIAL
INSTITUTIONS ACROSS THE GLOBE,OUR GUARANTEE COVER BOND HOWEVER COVERS
PAYMENT FOR PROCESSING CHARGES AS ENDORSED BY NETHERLANDS LOTTERY
COMMISSION

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam