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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:

Fraud email example:

From: "James Ross" <australinainternationallottery2@msn.com>
Reply-To: mrhowardgreg@yahoo.com.au
Date: Mon, 30 Jan 2006 23:50:08 +0000
Subject: CONGRATULATION:

Ref: 435062725
Batch: 7050470902/189
Winning no: GB8101/LPRC
CONGRATULATIONS!!

Dear,

We are delighted to inform you of your prize which was released on the 30th
of january 2006, from the Australian International Lottery programme,which
is fully based on an electronic selection of winners using their e-mail
addresses from some sites. Your email address was attached to ticket number;
47001725 07056490102 and serial number 7741134002. This batch draws the
lucky numbers as follows 5-13-33-37-42 and bonus number 17,which
consequently won the lottery in
the second category.

You hereb have been approved a lump sum pay of US$200,000.00 (TWO HUNDRED
THOUSAND DOLLARS) in cash credit file ref: ILP/HW 47509/09 from the total
cash prize shared amongst eight lucky winners in this category. All
participants were selected through a computer balloting system drawn form
Nine hundred thousand E-mail addresses from Canada, Australia,United States,
Asia, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Oceania as part of our international
promotion program which is conducted annually. This Lottery was promoted and
sponsored by a conglomorate of some multinational companies as part of their
social responsibility to the citizens in the commmunities where they have an
operational base. Furthermore, 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$200,000.00 will be released to you from
this regional branch office in NIGERIA. We hope that with part of your
prize, you will participate in our end of year high stakes for US$1.3
Billion international draw.To file for your claim, please contact our
director offinance.
Name :Mr.Howard Greg
E-Mail:mrhowardgreg@yahoo.com.au

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,
we advice all winners to 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 programme by non-participants or unofficial
personnel.Note: all winnings MUST be claimed by the 25th of february, 2006;
otherwise all funds will be returned as Unclaimed and eventually donated to
charity
organisations.

ANYBODY UNDER THE AGE OF 18 IS AUTOMATICALLYDISQAULIFIED.
YOURS SINCERELY,

Mr.James Ross
Autralian Lottery International (co-ordinator)


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