419 scam: UNITED NATION <markmrs.julie@yahoo.cn> UNITED NATION TREASURE OFFICE

joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet

Try our spam filter!
Free trial for 30 days

Home

About Us

Spam

419/Nigeria

Fraud

Contact

"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:

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:
- "cotonou" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
- "certified bank draft" (Beware of any scheme that involves cashing checks or money orders and then wiring a portion of the funds somewhere - you'll be liable for the entire amount if the checks or money orders turn out to be fake, even after you have received and forwarded cash. If it's a lottery prize, remember that real lotteries do not pay large prizes by check. They wire the money directly to your bank account and you do not pay for that. Many scammers promise a large check only in order to then demand payment of courier fees for a fake courier service. )
This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.

Fraud email example:

From: UNITED NATION <markmrs.julie@yahoo.cn>
Reply-To: financialserviceunit@zbavitu.net
Date: Wed, 19 Dec 2012 02:48:03 +0800 (CST)
Subject: UNITED NATION TREASURE OFFICE

UNITED NATION TREASURE
OFFICE.
Office of the Commissioner, Sub-Headquarters
7 Rue Du La Rouge,
Cotonou.Republic of Benin.
E-mail: un_nation@zbavitu.net
Greetings from the United Nations (UN) Office.

Dated 18th December 2012.

I write
to notify you officially that after due verification on your payment file, a
total of US2.5 million which was originally meant to be released to you through
a certified bank draft or ATM Card have been converted to a payment via Wire
Transfer, since all the previous attempt to pay you through other methods
failed. Your total fund is now with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (FRBY),
therefore you are advised to contact the Director International Remittance for
the transfer update of your fund.

I have tried to reach you on phone
severally to no avail before I write this email to update you about the latest
situation about your fund total sum of 2.5 million USD. Your fund is in a bond
account therefore, I urge you to contact the remittance officer with below
information.

Contact Person: Dr. Kumar Pravin
Director Foreign
Remittance Dept.,
Federal Reserve Bank of New York (FRBY).
Email.:
financialserviceunit@zbavitu.net

It is very important that you
contact the Bank now and request for the FUND TRANSFER APPLICATION FORM so that
you will fill it out and submit to the Bank for the immediate transfer of your
fund into your Bank account. This is an intervention to checkmate the
bureaucratic ineptitude and administrative bottleneck most beneficiaries have
suffered in the hands of our local bankers and their international allies. Your
immediate payment instruction have been forwarded to the Paying Institution
(Federal Reserve Bank of New York (FRBY)) which was appointed specifically to
handle your payment in order to avoid further delay in releasing your payment.
.

We are working according to the constitution binding this committee as
well as helping the less privilege through this means. You will be required to
reach Dr. Kumar Pravin via email (financialserviceunit@zbavitu.net )
.

Regards,

Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon.

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam