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419 Scam – There is no "European Gaming Commission"

Many lottery scams mention an institution called "European Gaming Commission" or regulations supposedly enforced by that institution. In reality no such entity exists. Every EU member state that runs a national lottery regulates it according to its own laws. There is no central authority for this. Therefore any email related to a lottery prize you're supposed to have won that mentions a "European Gaming Commission" is a case of fraud, which you may report to the police. The same is true for the "International Gaming Board", which does not exist. The "Gaming Regulators European Forum (GREF)" mentioned in some scam emails does exist, but it is a discussion forum without regulatory powers. On its website it specifically warns of "promotional lottery" scams by email that request advance fee payments.

Other fake lottery emails request payments for "Anti-Terrorism certificates" or "Drug-Free certificates" supposedly issued by the International Court of Justice in Den Haag. No such certificates actually exist. You don't have to pay a "lawyer" to file an "Affidavit of Claim" in a High Court either. These demands are standard tools of scammers to steal money from victims.

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Fraudulent domains:

Sample scam email:

Attention: Firstname Lastname

This is to notify you that the time frame for unprocessed winnings has 
almost elapsed. You are adviced to either process your winnings on or before 
5th OF March (12 NOON GMT) or forfeit your prize money.

If you do not respond to this message positively, it will be taken as an 
acknowledgement of this notification.You are advised to act promptly as we 
will not be liable for forfeiture of your winnings. As all previous 
correspondence will be disregarded. Also note most importantly that we do 
not deal with second or third parties in the payment of winnings. We only 
deal with winners who are ascertained legitimate winners. Do not send 
anybody as he would not be attended to. If he has the funds he can transfer 
through western union with the information given below;

Jack Smith
London, UK.

I will advice that you oblige the claims procedure to avoid any 
inconvenience or cancellation of winnings which is getting close.

I look forward to your prompt response.

Regards,

Mr. Daniel Khan
FOREIGN SERVICE MANAGER,
UNIVERSAL SECURITY & FREIGHT UK

Message headers:

Note that "Daniel Khan" of "Universal Security and Freight UK" is writing from the email address of "Henrick Koenraad" of the "European Gaming Commision", two different fake identities used for the same scam.

Received: from 82.128.3.181 by by21fd.bay21.hotmail.msn.com with HTTP;
	Mon, 28 Feb 2005 19:41:38 GMT
X-Originating-IP: [82.128.3.181]
X-Originating-Email: [henrickkoenraad@eu-gamingcommission.net]
X-Sender: henrickkoenraad@eu-gamingcommission.net

WHOIS details for sending network (IP 82.128.3.181):

     inetnum:      82.128.0.0 - 82.128.31.255
     netname:      INET-MLTL
     descr:        Multi-Links Telecommunications Limited
     country:      NG
     admin-c:      DG26
     tech-c:       RIA27
     status:       ASSIGNED PA
     notify:       deep@multi-links.com
     mnt-by:       MLTL-INT-MNT
     changed:      deep@multi-links.com 20040416
     changed:      hostmaster@afrinic.net 20050205
     remarks:      data has been transferred from RIPE Whois Database 20050221
     source:       AFRINIC
     
     person:       Dwaipayan Ghosh
     address:      231, Adeola Odeku Street
                   Victoria Island
                   Lagos, Nigeria
     phone:        +23417751039
     e-mail:       deep@multilinks.com
     nic-hdl:      DG26
     notify:       deep@multillinks.com
     changed:      deep@multilinks.com 20030507
     changed:      hostmaster@afrinic.net 20050205
     remarks:      data has been transferred from RIPE Whois Database 20050221
     source:       AFRINIC
     
     person:       IP Admin-RIPE
     address:      Multilinks Telecommunications Limited
     address:      231 Adeola Odeku Str.
     address:      Victoria Island, Lagos, Nigeria
     e-mail:       ipadmin@multilinks.com
     remarks:      complaints/spam report : abuse@multilinks.com
     phone:        +2341774000
     nic-hdl:      RIA27
     changed:      techadmin@multilinks.com 20040331
     changed:      hostmaster@afrinic.net 20050205
     remarks:      data has been transferred from RIPE Whois Database 20050221
     source:       AFRINIC

WHOIS details for domain "eu-gamingcommission.net" (created 2005-01-27, complaints to abuse@msn.com)

Request: eu-gamingcommission.net
connected to whois.melbourneit.com [203.27.227.114:43] ... 

Domain Name.......... eu-gamingcommission.net
  Creation Date........ 2005-01-27
  Registration Date.... 2005-01-27
  Expiry Date.......... 2006-01-27
  Organisation Name.... Eu-Gaming Commission
  Organisation Address. 44 Wall Street 22nd Floor
  Organisation Address. 
  Organisation Address. new york
  Organisation Address. 10005
  Organisation Address. NY
  Organisation Address. UNITED STATES

Admin Name........... Eu-Gaming Commission
  Admin Address........ 44 Wall Street 22nd Floor
  Admin Address........ 
  Admin Address........ new york
  Admin Address........ 10005
  Admin Address........ NY
  Admin Address........ UNITED STATES
  Admin Email.......... info@eu-gamingcommission.net
  Admin Phone.......... +1.3473288775
  Admin Fax............ 

Tech Name............ MSN NOC
  Tech Address......... One Microsoft Way
  Tech Address......... 
  Tech Address......... Redmond
  Tech Address......... 98052
  Tech Address......... WA
  Tech Address......... UNITED STATES
  Tech Email........... MSN-PA-TECH@msn.com
  Tech Phone........... +1.4258828080
  Tech Fax............. 
  Name Server.......... pdomns1.msn.com
  Name Server.......... pdomns2.msn.com


Anti-Terrorism certificates
Drug-Free certificates
No such certificates actually exist. No such certificates are required for International wire transfers.

These fake documents are a tactical device 419 scams to tap victims for more money. They are supposedly issued by the International Court of Justice in Den Haag or by the local government in the country where the "lottery" or "bank" used in the scam claims to be located. Usually the criminals charge thousands of dollars for these fake certificates. Payment has to be sent by Western Union or MoneyGram, which means the recipient of the payment can't be traced. Any email that mentions these certificates and asks you to pay for them is a scam!

Example fraud emais:


EU Money Laundry Monetary Team

EU Money Laundry Monetary Team

Amsterdam Netherlands.



Phone: +31-64-921-6227

Fax: +31-84-729-0534

Date: 03/01/06,



Attention: Firstname Lastname,



Be informed that your transfer from Barclays Bank Ref #bls/227/444/wt is already on hold at the EU Apex bank and not even 0.1GBP can be realized from it without the issuance of your Anti-Terrorism certificate from the international court of justice Den Haag in The Netherlands.



Further more, I am sorry deductions can not be made from your funds and as such you would be required to make a personal payment of the required fees.



As soon as we are in receipt of your completed application form more details would be further communicated to you for your prompt attention.



Mr. Thomas Walkden (Sir)

Duty Officer EU MLMT.


--
___________________________________________________
Play 100s of games for FREE! http://games.mail.com/

Message headers:

Date: Tue, 03 Jan 2006 10:14:15 -0500
Subject: Attention: Firstname Lastname
Received: from [81.199.161.53] by ws1-6.us4.outblaze.com with http for
 thom_walkden@europe.com; Tue, 03 Jan 2006 10:14:15 -0500
X-Originating-Ip: 81.199.161.53

WHOIS details for sending network (IP 81.199.161.53):
This is a satellite ISP in Israel that connects a lot of African custoemrs to the internet.

inetnum:      81.199.160.0 - 81.199.161.255
netname:      IPPLANET-04
descr:        IP PLanet Network range
country:      il
admin-c:      TECH6-RIPE
tech-c:       TECH6-RIPE
status:       ASSIGNED PA
mnt-by:       AS12491-MNT
mnt-lower:    AS12491-MNT
mnt-routes:   AS12491-MNT
source:       RIPE # Filtered

person:         Tech IP Planet
address:        Yegia Kapaim St.
address:        Petach-Tikva
address:        Israel
phone:          +972 3 9255015
fax-no:         +972 3 9217938
abuse-mailbox:  abuse@ipplanet.com
nic-hdl:        TECH6-RIPE
mnt-by:         AS12491-MNT
source:         RIPE # Filtered

% Information related to '81.199.160.0/23AS12491'

route:        81.199.160.0/23
descr:        IP Planet Network Ltd
origin:       AS12491
mnt-by:       AS12491-MNT
source:       RIPE # Filtered

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