419 scam: "Thomas A. Shannon Jr." <"www."@lilac.ocn.ne.jp> Attention

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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:
- "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. )
- "million united state 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)
- ",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)
- "you are advice to " (this email uses bad English)
- "united state dollar" (this email uses bad English)
- "(ecowas)" (the name of a person or institution often appearing 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.
- johnt.cfcstbankonline6@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "Thomas A. Shannon Jr." <"www."@lilac.ocn.ne.jp>
Reply-To: "Thomas A. Shannon Jr." <johnt.cfcstbankonline6@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 12 May 2017 06:18:13 +0900 (JST)
Subject: Attention

DIPLOMACY IN ACTION.
U.S. Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington, DC 20520
Dated: 1st Feb 2017

Attention:

This from the office of U.S Department of State, this is to inform you about the outcome of my meeting with the White House Board of Director in conjunction with European Union (EN),United nation (UN), World Bank Group and Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). It quite immensely believe that it will please you to know that your overdue payment in Africa/Europe & Middle East was brought to book for positive grant during the meet.

With our investigation, you have been dealing with impostor in Africa and Middle East who claimed the origin of other countries with promises to complete their duty with so much confident and trust you must have fixed you on them to release your funds to you. After proper investigation, It was confirm by the Western union and money gram head office in Washington DC that you have attempt to send cash or you must have sent some outrageous charges and nothing good has be the outcome till date.

I am writing you this massage to inform you that US$10.5M has been approved by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and Organization of West Africa to be paid to you as compensation, with lot of apologies for what you must have face to extract such amount of money from you. I have been appointed by Mr. Barack Obama and U.S attorney general to monitor every move in this transaction until the final funds are transferred to you. Be rest assure that with the aid of U.s attorney General all relevant documents to move the funds to you legally and effectively will be issue and signed by the U.S attorney general pointed by the U.S Head of State and cabinet of u.s congress.

I want to further inform you that Mr.John Thomas of Kenya, has been assigned to be in charge of transferring of the compensated total amount of US$ 10.5 Million United State Dollars to your nominate bank account. We come to the best payment solution to see Online banking as the best means of transferring the funds to you world wide. I want to let you know that Mr. John Thomas is presently in Kenya precisely Nairobi, On our discussion with Mr. John Thomas who is the transfer officer of CFC Stanbic to know the duration of time this transaction can be done without any error to avoid outrageous charges due to government policies, He gave us 100% guarantee that there can be possibility of transferring $10,500,000.00 to your nominated/designated account upon provision of your bank details to the bank transfer officer. For immediate release of the funds you are advice to contact Mr.John Thomas with the details below.

Mr Ehouman Kassi private contact E-mail Id: johnt.cfcstbankonline6@gmail.com

Contact Person Name; Mr.John Thomas
Telephone Number; +254 733 296 899

Please do open telephone communication with Mr.John Thomas with the above details for immediate renew of your file to enhance swift release of your payment to your active bank account.

Please note that upon your contact with the bank you are to provide them with your Fund Approval Code Number [LJR1/231/2016BDB] so that he can verify your identity with the details we sent over to their office a while ago on and In view of this whole information passed to you, please be informed also that the bank would require you to open an account with them so as to hasten the processing, don$B!G(Bt panic as this is one of the routine I informed you about earlier on this email, The account when opened with them must have a minimum balance of $100 and such balance must come from you, This is being done because the account must have a minimum balance to be able to accommodate such huge amount, this is also known as opening balance, The opening balance is still your money, as when you are transferring the money from the account you opened with them, you can transfer the total amount if you wish.

We believe this information is helpful to you and we do expect that you understand every aspect of it without being skeptic, doubtful or disbelief also ensure that you report back to us on every of your conversation with the bank as it will account for records purpose to avoid any misunderstanding.

Your follow up and full cooperation is highly anticipated.

Yours Sincerely

Thomas A. Shannon Jr.
U.S. Secretary of State

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam