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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

• About the 419 (Advance Fee) scam
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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 fake company names, fake addresses, non-existent institutions/documents or other details have appeared in scams before:
  • "international lottery programme" (no such lottery exists)
• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "claims agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
  • "hundred thousand united states dollars" (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 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.
  • revgodsonpeters@yahoo.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "Australian Lottery" <australianlottoclaimsoffice@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 1 May 2007 11:26:55 +0100
Subject: Congratulations!


Ref: 475061725
Batch: 7056490902/188
Winning No: GB8701/LPRC

CONGRATULATIONS

Australian Lottery Bonanza

Dear Lucky Winner,

We are delighted to inform you of your prize release on the 20th of April
2007 from the Australian International Lottery Programme. This is fully
based on an electronic selection of winners using their e-mail addresses.
Your Name was attached to Ticket number: 575061725 8056490902, Serial
number: 6741137002. 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 here by have been approved a lump sum pay of US$300,
000.00 (THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND UNITED STATES DOLLARS) in Cash Credit File
Ref: ILP/HW 47509/02 from the total cash prize shared amongst eight lucky
winners in this category. All participants were selected through a computer
balloting system drawn from Nine hundred thousand E-mail addresses from
Canada, Australia, United States, Asia, Europe, Middle East, Africa and
Oceania as part of our International Promotions Programme which is conducted
annually. 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 European
representative office in Amsterdam, Holland, as indicated in your play
coupon and your prize of US$300,000.00 will be released to you from this
regional branch office in Africa. We hope with part of your prize, you will
participate in our end of the year High Stakes for US$1.3 Billion
international draw.

HOW TO CLAIM YOUR PRIZE
Simply contact our fiducial Claims agent and the African Regional Branch
Office Coordinator: Rev. Godson Peters: revgodsonpeters@yahoo.com to file
your claim.

Please quote your Reference number, Batch number and Winning number which
can be found on the top left corner of this notification as well as your
Full Name, Residential 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 possession of advantage of this programme by
non-participant or unofficial personnel.

NOTE:
All winnings MUST be claimed by the 14th of May 2007; otherwise all funds
will be returned as Unclaimed and eventually donated to Charity.
Congratulations once again on your winning.

Best Regards.

Management,
Australian Lottery Inc.
6th avenue,
North Precinct,
Melbourne
Australia.

BREACH OF CONFIDENTIALITY ON THE PART OF THE WINNERS WILL RESULT TO
DISQUALIFICATION.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam