419 scam: "Mr. Thomas J. Harrington" <monitor@kompromiss.ru> DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

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:
- "money laundering" ("anti-terrorist", "anti-money laundering" or "drug-free" certificates are a common way for criminals in fake lottery scams and other Advance Fee scams to get you to send money to them. There are no such certificates in the real banking world. )
- "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. )
- "mtcn" (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. )
- ",500,000" (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)
- "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.

Fraud email example:

From: "Mr. Thomas J. Harrington" <monitor@kompromiss.ru>
Reply-To: <honourgod25@yahoo.com>
Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2014 01:50:13 -0800
Subject: DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION.
FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C.
J. Edgar Hoover Building, 935 Pennsylvania Avenue,
NW Washington, D.C. 20535-0001 USA.

FBI.gov is an official site of the U.S. Federal Government, U.S. Department of Justice

Ref.: FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION FINAL WARNING

This is the final warning you are going to receive from this office and I hope you understand how many times this message has been sent to you?

We have warned you so many times and you have decided to ignore our e-mails or because you believe we have not been instructed to get you arrested and today if you fail to respond back to us with the payment then we would first send a letter to the mayor of the city where you reside and direct them to close your Bank Account until you have been jailed and all your properties will be confiscated by the Federal Bureau Of Investigation.

Your ID which we have in our database has been sent to all the Crimes Agencies in America for them to insert you in their website as Internet Fraudster and to warn people from having any deals with you; this would have been solved all this while if you had gotten the Certificate Signed, Endorsed and Stamped as you where instructed in the e-mail sent to you earlier.

This is the Federal Bureau Of Investigation (FBI) am using this medium to inform you that there is no more time left to waste; as stated earlier you must do all you can to have the Document Endorsed, Signed and Stamped without failure and you must adhere to this directives to avoid you blaming yourself at last when we must have arrested and jailed you for life and all your properties confiscated.

You failed to comply with our directives and that was the reason why we didn't hear from you on the 3rd as our Executive Director Mr. Thomas S. Mueller has already been notified about you getting the process completed and right now the Warrant Of Arrest has been signed against you and it will be carried out in the next 48hours.

We have investigated and found out that you didn't have any idea when the fraudulent deal was committed with your information's/identity and right now if your ID is placed on our website as a wanted person, I believe you know that it will be a shame to you and your entire family because after then it will be announce in all the local stations that you are wanted by the Federal Bureau Of Investigation.

As a good Christian and a honest man, I decided to see how I could be of help to you because I would not be happy to see you end up in jail and all your properties confiscated all because your information's was used to carry out a fraudulent transactions, I called the Supreme Court of Nigeria and they directed me to a private attorney who could help you get the process done and he stated that he will assist you securing the document at the sum of US$180 Only and I believe this process is cheaper for you.

You need to do everything possible within today and tomorrow to get this process done because our Executive Director Mr. Thomas S. Mueller has called to inform me that the warrant of arrest has been signed against you and once it has been approved, then the arrest will be carried out, and from our investigations we learnt that you were the person that forwarded your identity to one impostor/fraudsters in Nigeria when he had a deal with you about the transfer of some illegal funds into your Bank Account which is valued at the sum of US$10,500,000.00.

I pleaded on your behalf so that this agency could give you 72 hours so that you could get this process done because I learnt that you were sent several e-mail without getting a response from you, please bear it in mind that this is the only way that I can be able to help you at this moment or you would have to face the law and its consequences once it has befall you. You would make the payment through Western Union Money Transfer or Money Gram with the below details.

TRANSFER TO:-

NAME: ESHIN CHICHI
ADDRESS: LAGOS, NIGERIA
TEST QUESTION: GOOD
TEST ANSWER: GOOD
AMOUNT: US$180

MTCN NUMBER:
SENDERS FULL NAME:
SENDER FULL ADDRESS:
DIRECT TELEPHONE NUMBER

Make sure that you didn't hesitate in making the payment down to the agency by today or tomorrow so that they can secure the Certificate without any further delay. After all this process has been carried out, then we would have to proceed to the Bank for the transfer of your compensation funds which is valued at the sum of US$10,500,000.00 which was suppose to have been transferred to you all this while.

Note: all the crimes agencies have been contacted on this regards and we shall trace and arrest you if you disregard this instructions. You are given a grace today to make the payment for the document after which your failure to do that will attract a maximum arrest and finally you will be appearing in court for act of Terrorism, Money Laundering and Drug Trafficking Charges, so be warned not to try any thing funny because you are been watched.

Thanks for your co-operation.

Yours Faithfully.
For the FBI Office
Mr. Thomas J. Harrington
Associate Deputy Director
http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/executives/harringto

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam