419 scam: "International Police Crimes Commission"<info@internationalatmcenter.com> International Police Crimes Commissions

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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 phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "dear sir/madam" (a standard Nigerian greeting phrase)
- "contact the atm card center" (this phrase is often used in the ATM card payment scam)
- "western union" (this will cost you money - be careful with upfront payments to anyone you only know through email, especially if they promise you a lot of money. NEVER send money by Western Union or MoneyGram to people you do not know personally - NO EXCEPTIONS! Instant wire transfer services are not meant to be used with strangers because they offer no protection against fraud. That is precisely why the criminals want you send money that way. )
- "money gram" (this will cost you money - be careful with upfront payments to anyone you only know through email, especially if they promise you a lot of money. NEVER send money by Western Union or MoneyGram to people you do not know personally - NO EXCEPTIONS! Instant wire transfer services are not meant to be used with strangers because they offer no protection against fraud. That is precisely why the criminals want you send money that way. )
- "hundred thousand us 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)
- "(efcc)" (This name is often mentioned in money recovery scams (re-scam): the real EFCC does not contact victims to offer to get their money back because that is near impossible. )
- "lagos" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Western Union money transfer is completely untraceable and therefore is *not* safe to use with anyone you do not know personally. It is the preferred method of online criminals to collect money from their victims.
This email lists mobile phone numbers. Use of such numbers is typical for scams because they allow criminals to conceal their true location. They can receive calls in an Internet cafe from where they send you emails, while pretending to be in some office.
- +2348126968500
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.
- atmcenterofficer_scott@yahoo.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "International Police Crimes Commission" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <atmcenterofficer_scott@yahoo.com>
Date: Tue, 18 Oct 2011 08:09:52 -1200
Subject: International Police Crimes Commissions

Dear Sir/Madam,

The Federal Government of Nigeria through provisions in Section 419 of the Criminal Code came up with punitive measures to deter and punish offenders.

The Advance Fee Fraud section deal mainly with cases of advance fee fraud(commonly called 419) such as obtaining by false pretense through different fraudulent schemes e.g. contract scam, inheritance scam, job scam, loan scam, lottery scam, “wash wash” scam (money washing scam), marriage scam. Immigration scam, counterfeiting and religious scam. It also investigates cyber crime cases.

This is to officially announce to you that some scam Syndicates were apprehended in Nigeria and United Kingdom few days ago and after several interrogations and tortures your details were among those mentioned by some of the scam Syndicates as one of the victims of their operations.

After proper investigations and research at Western Union Money Transfer and Money Gram office to know if you have truly sent money to the scam Syndicates through Western Union Money Transfer or Money Gram, your name was found in Western Union Money Transfer central database system amongst those that have sent money through Western Union Money Transfer to one of these countries, Nigeria, South Africa, United Kingdom and Spain. This proves that you have truly been swindled by those unscrupulous persons by sending money to them in the course of getting one fund or the other that is not real.

Right now we are working hand in hand with Western Union and Interpol to track every fraudsters down, do not respond to their e-mails, letters and phone calls any longer they are scammers and you should be very careful to avoid being a victim to fraudsters any longer because they have nothing to offer you but to rip-off what you have worked hard to earn.

In this regard a meeting was held between the Board of Directors of The I.M.F and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and as a consequence of our
investigations it was agreed that the sum of one hundred thousand US Dollars (US$100,000, 00) should be paid to you out of the funds due to you by I.M.F.

We have deposited your fund at Western Union Money Transfer agent location office in Lagos Nigeria. We have submitted your details to them so that your fund can be transferred to you, but they re-contacted us that the funds are too large to be transferred via western union or money gram, so the only option is to transfer these said amount to you, in form of an INTERNATIONAL ATM CARD, that will still contain the same amount.

To redeem your fund you are hereby advised to contact the ATM Card Center via email for the processing of your ATM CARD. Do contact Mr. Reeves Scott of the ATM Card Center via his contact details below and furnish him with your details.
Below are few list of:

Contact person: officer Reeves Scott
Contact phone No: +2348126968500
Email: atmcenterofficer_scott@yahoo.com

Remember that you are not the only scam victim, we have so many scam cases in our office but you are lucky to fall among one of the people that will be getting these compensation funds, so if you feel reluctant to claim it, we will cancel your name and sign it on the next scam victim waiting on line to claim his/her compensation funds.

Yours sincerely,
Reeves Scott
Assistant Investigation Officer.
The International police Crimes Commission (IPCC)
No.4 Rotimi close Ikoyi Lagos Nigeria

Anti-fraud resources:

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