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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
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• 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:

• An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
• 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.
  • ricky_australialotto@yahoo.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: australian lottery winner <mays.hanson@list.ru>
Date: Wed, 05 Jul 2006 13:15:19 +0400
Subject: Congratulations. Claim Your Prize Immediately!!



THE PRESIDENT INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONS/PRIZE AWARDS DEPARTMENT AUSTRALIAN INTERNATIONAL SWEEP STAKE LOTTERY COP ORATION.Level 1 351 William Street West Melbourne, Victoria Australia 3003 Fax: 43-820-401177-593 Email:ricky_australialotto@yahoo.comDATE:5/7/2006 FIRST AWARD WINNER Attn: Winner,
We wish to congratulate you of the Australian International Lottery Pro gramme over your success in our free email computer balloting sweep stake held on 28Th June 2006 from the Australian International Lottery pro gramme.
This is a millennium scientific computer game in which email address were used. It is a promotional program aimed at encouraging Internet users; therefore you do not need to buy ticket to enter for the game.
However, your email address was attached to ticket number 675061725 9356460902 serial number 67749137002. This batch draws the lucky numbers as follows 4-22-09-24-30-41-20 bonus number 02, 03 which consequently won the lottery in the first category of the draws . You are here by have won the sum of $250,000.00 (TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY THOUSAND UNITED STATES DOLLARS) in cash credit file ref: ILP/HW 46704/03. Note that this program was largely promoted and sponsored by a group of philanthropist, industrialists from the Internet hardware industry and some other big multinational firms who wish to be anonymous.

You may wish to establish contact via e-mail with the particulars presented below citing the batch and reference numbers to this letter.
Ref No: 9420X/68,
Batch No: 074/05/ZY369

Our winners are assured of the utmost standards of confidentiality, and press anonymity until the end of proceedings, and beyond where they so desire. Be further advised to maintain the strictest level of confidentiality until the end of proceedings to circumvent problems associated with fraudulent claims..
Send your details(e-mail address) falls within our European representative office in Amsterdam,Holland, as indicated in your play coupon and your prize of US$250,000.00 will be released to you from this office.

Customer Service Unit
Email: ricky_australialotto@yahoo.com (http://us.f374.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=ricky_australialotto@yahoo.com)
Processing Manager:Mr Ricky Anderson
Please contact Mr Ricky Anderson with your Date of draw, Reference Number, Batch Number and Winning Number, which can be found on the top-left corner of this message.
We advice all winners to keep this information confidential from the public until your claim is processed and your prize has been released to you and also to the public.
Note, all prizes MUST be collected by winners before the 20Th of July 2006; otherwise all funds will be forfeited. Congratulations once again on your winning!
Best Regards
Mays Hanson (MRS)
(Lottery Coordinator)
PLEASE DO NOT REPLY TO THIS EMAIL. CONTACT YOUR CLAIMS AGENT AT : ricky_australialotto@yahoo.com (http://us.f374.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=ricky_australialotto@yahoo.com)
AUSTRALIAN LOTTERY Copyright 2006 Â Australian, lottery Inc.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam