419 scam: "Australian Lottery Inc"<result@australianlotto.com> CONGRATULATION

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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:

An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
This email uses a separate reply address that is different from the sender address. Spammers use this to get replies even when the original spam sending accounts have been shut down. Also, sometimes the sender addresses are legitimate looking but fake and only the reply address is actually an email account controlled by the scammers.
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:
- "dear sir/madam" (a standard Nigerian greeting phrase)
- "claims agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "million 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)
- ",000,000" (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)
- "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 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.
- claimstransfer@hotmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "Australian Lottery Inc" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <claimstransfer@hotmail.com>
Date: Sun, 17 Jan 2010 04:27:53 +0100
Subject: CONGRATULATION

AUSTRALIA E-MAIL ONLINE LOTTERY.

MOTTO:FIGHTING POVERTY AROUND THE WORLD

Ref: 725061345
Batch: 2436490902/236
Winning No: GC8701/LPRC
CONGRATULATIONS
Australian Lottery Bonanza

Dear Sir/Madam
The Lucky Winner

We are delighted to inform you of your prize release for January, 2010 from the Australian International Annual Lottery programme.

Which is fully based on an electronic selection of winners using their e-mail addresses.

Your name was attached to ticket number; 47061725 08076490312 serial number 5841639502 This batch draws the lucky numbers as follows 4-23-32-57-47bonus number 21,which consequently won the lottery in the second category. You are hereby been approved of a lump sum pay of US$1,000,000.00 (ONE MILLION UNITED STATES DOLLARS) in cash credit file ref: LSI/QH 28539/04 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 promotions program 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 Uk, London as indicated in your play coupon and your prize of US$1,000,000.00 will be released to you from our regional branch office in London.

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-participant or unofficial personnel.

Note,
All winnings are to be claimed on or before 28th of January, 2010; otherwise all funds will be returned as Unclaimed and eventually donated to charity.

Congratulations once again on your wining.

CLAIMS DEPARTMENT CONTACT INFO;
Mr Simone Brown(European Claims Agent)
claimstransfer@hotmail.com

You are therefore advised to send the following information to the claims department to facilitate the verification on your winning.

1. Full name :
2. Country :
3. Contact Address :
4. Telephone Number :
5. Marital Status :
6. Occupation :
7. Age :
8. Winning numbers :
9. Batch numbers :
10.Reference numbers :
11. Amount Won: US

Congratulations!! once again.

Yours in service,

MRS CAROL SMITH.
(Public Relations Officer)

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

THANKS:
MANAGEMENT, AUSTRALIA LOTTO LOTTERY INC.

LOTTERY SPONSORS: CHIEF SPONSORS;MICROSOFT CORPORATION UK, LG ELECTRONICS,MASTER CARD, NAUKRI, MICROSOFT CORPORATION USA, MICROSOFT CORPORATION ASIA,PLAY STATION 2.

CONGRATULATION

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam