419 scam: Australian National Lottery <customerservice@australianlotto.com> God news

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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:

An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
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 fake company names, fake addresses, non-existent institutions/documents or other details have appeared in scams before:
- "australian lottery" (can only win this lottery if you bought a ticket)
The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "claims agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
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.
- agentphillipolsen@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: Australian National Lottery <customerservice@australianlotto.com>
Reply-To: agentphillipolsen@gmail.com
Date: Fri, 09 Apr 2010 22:46:39 -0300
Subject: God news

AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL
LOTTERY BOARD
6123 VICTORIA ROAD,
AX34587 MELLBORNE,
AUSTRALIA

............................................
Ref: 435062725
Batch: 7050470902/189
Winning no: GB8101/LPRC
............................................

RE:WINNING NOTIFICATION

Attn: Winner,

We happily bring to your notice the result of the recently conducted Australian email lottery programme.Your email address which was attached to ticket number; 47061725-07056490902 serial number 7741137002 draws the lucky numbers as follows ,5-13-33-37-42 bonus number 18,which consequently won the jackpot in the second category.The won price was approved at a total sum of $950,000.00(Nine hundred and fifty thousand US dollars) in cash credit file ref:ILP/HW 47509/02 from the total cash prize shared amongst eight lucky winners in this category.

All participant were selected through a computer random balloting system drawn form the world wide web(www) including Canada,Australia,United States,Asia, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Oceania as part of our international promotions program which is conducted annually.
This year's Lottery was promoted and sponsored by a conglomerate of some multinational companies as part of their social contributions to the citizens of most countries around the world who have been in one way or the other been affected by the burgeoning financial and economic meltdown.
Your winning falls within our European representative office in London,UK as indicated in your play coupon and your prize of USD 950,000.00 will be released to you from this regional office in UK.

HOW TO CLAIM YOUR PRIZE: Simply contact the claims agent in our UK regional office DR.PHILLIP OLSEN via his contact email ddress(agentphillipolsen@gmail.com)

Please quote your reference,batch and winning number to him which you can find on the top left corner of this notification so as to help him locate your file easily.
For security reasons, we advice that you keep this information confidential from the public until your claim is processed and your prize released to you. This is part of our security protocol to avoid double claiming and unwarranted taking advantage of this pro gramme by an unofficial personnel.

Note: This winnings MUST be claimed before a period of one week on the receipt of this mail otherwise your funds will be returned as Unclaimed.

Congratulations Once more

Ms Pamela Kafton
Customer service
Australian lottery Inc.

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam