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419 Scam – "ASTRA LOTO PRIZE INC"

"ASTRA LOTO PRIZE INC" is a label used by a fake lottery and fake "claims agent" in Canada and Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast). This is a check fraud scam run by a West African gang operating in Canada.

The whole point of the scam is to get the victim to cash a fake "certified check" and then wire funds for a "clearance fee" to the gang which will be money that comes out the victim's own account: Once the check bounces, it's full face value will be debited again from the account into which it was deposited. Any cash withdrawn before then and wired to the criminals is lost (see Newspaper article).

If you receive such "certified checks", contact the United States Secret Service field office in your state (if you're in the USA) or the RCMP (if you're in Canada).

Please send us replies by "claims agents", we will publish them here.

Please forward copies of fraud emails to the abuse department of the webmail address listed as the contact email for the "claims agent". Ask for the domains / addresses to be suspended because they are used in a 419 fraud (see 419 FAQ).

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Example email: 

From: LESLEY SCOTT [mailto:[email protected]] 
Sent: April 18, 2005 12:58 PM
Subject: Congratulations!

ASTRA LOTO PRIZE INC
FROM THE DESK OF THE PRIZE DIRECTOR
ASTRA PROMOTIONS / PRIZE AWARD DEPT

LOT # EMD987UYT

RE: AWARD NOTIFICATION 

Date: January 25th 2005

Good Day! My name is LESLEY SCOTT, the prize director representing the
International Lottery Incorporated
Un-Claim Department. On January 7th  2005 at approximately 3:45pm I tried
contacting you, but unfortunately was unable
to get a hold of you. The main reason for mailing you this letter is to
inform you the reason for my call. Every year we receive over 5,000 
Lottery names from different players worldwide.Precisely speaking, I was
just looking at our network and find out
that you were selected as a prize winner on December 27th 2004 and you
havent claimed your winnings, for the sum of
US$50,000.00 DOLLARS. Usually when a winnerdoesnt claim their money there
should be a note that says why the winner
has not claimed their money, and the client file will be closed.

So Im e-mailing this letter so that you can get it on  time in to know why
you have not made any effort to  claim your money. You have $50,000.00
sitting here, waiting for you. I dont know why somebody
will wait that long to claim there money? To elaborate more, this draw was
held in Vancouver British Columbia, where our
head office is located. Moreover, if we did not hear from you within 3 weeks
from the day this letter was sent, your file will be close and you will no
longer be able to claim
your winnings. Our main payment office is located in Ontario, Canada this is
where you will be receiving your amount of winnings US$50 THOUSAND DOLLARS.
Now, I would like to explain to you the Federal and
International Law Involving the personal collections of cash prizes.
According to the Federal and International Law,
prize winnings are released as soon as your  Clearance Fee is deducted. That
will be the day that your check will be released from our
office. Now, your Clearance Fee is a calculated amount and is required by
Federal and International law. Your clearance
fee will be deducted. Note that once your clearance fee is
deducted, you will receive your winnings in the form of a
certified check. 

So once again, Congratulations! For more information, please contacts our
branch office in Washington DC .

ATTN: Mrs.Lesley Scott or Murphey Green.

[email protected]

TEL: +1-202-7422873

Sincerely,
LESLEY SCOTT

Reply from the "claims agent":

Received: from [213.136.103.239] by ws1-5.us4.outblaze.com with http for
    [email protected]; Wed, 20 Apr 2005 09:35:30 -0500
From: "Scott Lesley" <[email protected]>
To: "Firstname Lastname" <emailaddress>
Date: Wed, 20 Apr 2005 09:35:30 -0500
Subject: Re: PRIZE CLAIM
X-Originating-Ip: 213.136.103.239
X-Originating-Server: ws1-5.us4.outblaze.com

WHOIS details for sending network (IP 213.136.103.239):

     inetnum:      213.136.103.0 - 213.136.103.255
     netname:      AVISONET
     descr:        ISP Cote d'Ivoire
     country:      CI
     admin-c:      ZJ59-AFRINIC
     tech-c:       AE496-AFRINIC
     status:       ASSIGNED PA
     notify:       [email protected]
     mnt-by:       CIT-DT
     mnt-lower:    CIT-DT
     changed:      [email protected] 20020924
     changed:      [email protected] 20050205
     remarks:      data has been transferred from RIPE Whois Database 20050221
     source:       AFRINIC
     
     person:       ZANO JEROME
     address:      CI2M
     address:      Avenue Houdaille
     address:      Bp 310 cedex 01 Abidjan
     address:      Ivoiry Coast
     phone:        +225 20 30 09 70
     fax-no:       +225 20 33 12 03
     e-mail:       [email protected]
     mnt-by:       CIT-DT
     nic-hdl:      ZJ59-AFRINIC
     changed:      [email protected]   20020924
     changed:      [email protected] 20050205
     remarks:      data has been transferred from RIPE Whois Database 20050221
     source:       AFRINIC
     
     person:       ASSI ERIC
     address:      CI2M
     address:      Avenue Houdaille
     address:      Bp 310 cedex 01 Abidjan
     address:      Ivoiry Coast
     phone:        +225 20 30 09 70
     fax-no:       +225 20 33 12 03
     e-mail:       [email protected]
     mnt-by:       CIT-DT
     nic-hdl:      AE496-AFRINIC
     changed:      [email protected]   20020924
     changed:      [email protected] 20050205
     remarks:      data has been transferred from RIPE Whois Database 20050221
     source:       AFRINIC

The scammers email got shut down, but they are back:

Received: from [213.136.101.86] by web31509.mail.mud.yahoo.com
 via HTTP; Fri, 29 Apr 2005 08:12:16 PDT
Date: Fri, 29 Apr 2005 08:12:16 -0700 (PDT)
From: lesley scott <[email protected]>
Subject: our new address
To: Firstname Lastname <emailaddress>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="0-166506758-1114787536=:59838"
Content-Length: 414

--0-166506758-1114787536=:59838
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Firstname,
 
We have closed our email address due to viruses that we received on daily 
basis. Henceforth, your mails should be forwarded to this email address.
 
Please be patience while we process your payment, we shall be advising 
you once your payment is ready, .
 
LESLEY Scott.


Received: from [213.136.101.86] by web31502.mail.mud.yahoo.com
 via HTTP; Fri, 29 Apr 2005 09:09:55 PDT
Date: Fri, 29 Apr 2005 09:09:55 -0700 (PDT)
From: lesley scott <[email protected]>
Subject: Advice
To: Firstname Lastname <emailaddress>
In-Reply-To: <messageid>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="0-1769770915-1114790995=:41665"
Content-Length: 659

--0-1769770915-1114790995=:41665
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii


Sir

Your information has been forwarded to the appropriate department for 
processing of your payment; note that we shall be providing you two 
checks in form of cashier's check from any of our paying centres, one 
represents the Federal deductible charges which you will be expected 
to cash and pay directly by yourself through the transfer instructions 
that would be provided to you in due course.

Upon payment, the rest of your winning amount will be sent; note that 
this measure is to help curb winners who cheat by refusing to pay 
these charges once their winning amount is wholly sent.

We shall be notifying you once the check for your payment is ready 
and despatched.

Cordially Yours

Lesley Scott

WHOIS details for sending network (IP 213.136.101.86):

     inetnum:      213.136.101.0 - 213.136.101.255
     netname:      AVISONET
     netname:      AVISONET
     descr:        ISP Cote d'Ivoire
     country:      CI
     admin-c:      ZJ59-AFRINIC
     tech-c:       AE496-AFRINIC
     status:       ASSIGNED PA
     notify:       [email protected]
     mnt-by:       CIT-DT
     mnt-lower:    CIT-DT
     changed:      [email protected] 20020924
     changed:      [email protected] 20050205
     remarks:      data has been transferred from RIPE Whois Database 20050221
     source:       AFRINIC
     
     person:       ZANO JEROME
     address:      CI2M
     address:      Avenue Houdaille
     address:      Bp 310 cedex 01 Abidjan
     address:      Ivoiry Coast
     phone:        +225 20 30 09 70
     fax-no:       +225 20 33 12 03
     e-mail:       [email protected]
     mnt-by:       CIT-DT
     nic-hdl:      ZJ59-AFRINIC
     changed:      [email protected]   20020924
     changed:      [email protected] 20050205
     remarks:      data has been transferred from RIPE Whois Database 20050221
     source:       AFRINIC
     
     person:       ASSI ERIC
     address:      CI2M
     address:      Avenue Houdaille
     address:      Bp 310 cedex 01 Abidjan
     address:      Ivoiry Coast
     phone:        +225 20 30 09 70
     fax-no:       +225 20 33 12 03
     e-mail:       [email protected]
     mnt-by:       CIT-DT
     nic-hdl:      AE496-AFRINIC
     changed:      [email protected]   20020924
     changed:      [email protected] 20050205
     remarks:      data has been transferred from RIPE Whois Database 20050221
     source:       AFRINIC

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