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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

• About the 419 (Advance Fee) scam
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• 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 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:
  • "claim agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
  • "00,000.00" (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 mobile phone numbers. Use of such numbers is typical for scams because they allow criminals to conceal their true location. They can receive calls in an Internet cafe from where they send you emails, while pretending to be in some office.
  • +2348032469543 (Nigeria, prepaid mobile phone)

Fraud email example:

From: "Email Award Australian Lottery" <lottery-australia16@mailbox.hu>
Date: Sun, 25 May 2008 17:05:21 +0100
Subject: Congratulations!!! Your Email Has Won (Contact Your Claims Agent)


Australia Lottery Inc.
6123 Cool Street Rd.,
somewher vulle Ax34587,
Date : 25/05/2008
Ref : 4758961725
Batch : ALLINC 70564943902/188
Winning No : FGNGB2701/LPRC


CONGRATULATIONS ....................


Dear Internet User,

We are delighted to inform you of your prize release on 25th
May,2008 from the Australian International Lottery program.
Which is fully based on an electronic selection of winners
using their e-mail addresses, your name was attached to
ticket number;47061725 07056490902 serial number 7741137002.
The online draws was conducted by a random selection of email
addresses from an exclusive list of 29,031 E-mail addresses of
individuals and corporate bodies picked by an advanced automated
random computer search from the internet. However, no tickets
were sold but all email addresses were assigned to different
ticket numbers for representation and privacy.The online cyber
draws was conducted from an exclusive list of 900,000 email
addresses of individuals and corporate bodies picked by an
advanced automated random computer selection from the web.

This batch draws the lucky numbers as follows 5-13-33-37-42
bonus number 17, which consequently won the lottery in the
second category.You hereby have been approved a lump sum pay of
$600,000.00 (SIX HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS) in cash credit file
ref:ILP/HW 47509/02 from the total cash prize of $4.8million
shared amongst eight lucky winners in this category. All
participant were selected through a computer balloting system
drawn from Nine hundred thousand E-mail addresses from Canada,
Australia,United States, Asia, Europe,Middle East and Oceania
as part of our international promotions program which is conducted
annually. The selection process was carried out through random
selection in our computerized email selection machine (TOPAZ) from
a database of over 900,000 email addresses drawn from all the
continents of the world.

This Lottery is approved by the British Gaming Board and also
Licensed by the The International Association of Gaming Regulators
(IAGR).This lottery is the 3rd of its kind and we intend to
sensitize the public. This Lottery was promoted and sponsored by
a conglomerate of some multinational companies as part of their
social responsibility to the citizens in the communities where
they have operational base. Further more your details(e-mail address)
falls within our African representative office in Nigeria, as
indicated in your won coupon and your prize of $600,000.00, will be
released to you from this regional branch office in Nigeria.

HOW TO CLAIM YOUR PRIZE : Simply contact our fiducial agent,

Name : MR.ANDREW OGUIKE
Email : claimsunit@australianlottery-promotion.com
Tell : +234-803-246-9543

to file for your claim.Please quote your reference, batch and
winning number which can be found on the top left corner of this
notification as well as your full name, address and telephone
number to help locate your file easily,.For security reasons,You
are to keep all lotto information away from the general public
especially your ticket number and ballot number. (This is important
as a case of double claims will not be entertained).

This is part of our security protocol to avoid double claiming and
unwarranted taking advantage of this programme by non-participant
,unofficial personnel and lottery inposters.Bear in mind that prizes
will strictly be remitted to winners that officially file in for
their claim within the given time frame. To begin your claim, you
are to forward this message to our accredited claim agent including
your full names and telephone numbers:

Note, all winnings MUST be claimed under two weeks of receiving
this message otherwise all funds will be returned as Unclaimed
and eventually donated to charity,Your prize award has been
insured with your email address and will be transferred to you
upon meeting the requirement of the gaming board authority which
includes your statutory obligations.

Congratulations once again on your winnings!!!
NIGERIAN CLAIMS CENTER : claimsunit@australianlottery-promotion.com
OFFICIAL NUMBER : +234-803-246-9543

BEST REGARD,
Mr.Mike Miller
Lottery Co.ordinator.







Copyright (c) 2008 Australian Lottery promotion. All rights reserved

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam