419 scam: INTERNATIONAL POLICE CRIMES COMMISSION <admin@mail.com> YOU HAVE BEEN COMPENSATED WITH 2.5MILLION USD FOR BEING SCAMMED.

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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:

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:
- "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. )
- "economic and financial crimes commission" (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. )
- "(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. )
- "cotonou" (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 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.
- wilson_sarah@rocketmail.com (Rocketmail; can be used from anywhere worldwide)

Fraud email example:

From: INTERNATIONAL POLICE CRIMES COMMISSION <admin@mail.com>
Reply-To: <wilson_sarah@rocketmail.com>
Date: Wed, 13 Mar 2013 18:46:50 +0700
Subject: YOU HAVE BEEN COMPENSATED WITH 2.5MILLION USD FOR BEING SCAMMED.

The Federal Government of Cotonou Benin 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 pretence through different fraudulent schemes e.g. contract scam, credit card 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 Cotonou Benin 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 database amongst those that have sent money through Western Union Money Transfer to Nigeria and Cotonou Benin 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 Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and as a consequence of our investigations it was agreed that the sum of TWO MILLION AND FIVE HUNDRED THOUSDAND US Dollars (US$2.5m),should be transferred to you out of the funds due to you from Federal Government of Nigeria and Benin Republic. We have deposited your fund at Western Union Money Transfer agent location EMS Post office Cotonou Benin Republic. We have submitted your details to them so that your fund can be transferred to you,but they recontacted us that the funds are too large to be transfered via western union or money gram,so the only option is to transfer the said 2.5million usd to you ,in form of an INTERNATIONAL ATM CARD,that will still contain the same amount,so go ahead and contact the persenell that will help you make sure this ATM CARD gets to you but you are only required to send to her the delivery charges of 150usd (ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTHY UNITED STATES DOLLAR

CONTACT NAME:SARAH WILSON
Email:( wilson_sarah@rocketmail.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 waitiing on line to claim his/her compensation funds.

Yours sincerely, ISAAC MOHAMED Assistant Investigation Officer.

The International police Crimes Commission (I.P.U.C) Rue/056 akpakpa Cotonou Benin Republic

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam