419 scam: "Hon. Christopher A. Wray" <zionsbank826@gmail.com> $10.4 million dollars

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:
- "clearance certificate" (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. )
- "clearance certificate" (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. )
- "cashier's check" (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. )
- "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 fake lottery scam. Consider the following facts about real lotteries:
1. They don't notify winners by email.
2. You can't win without first buying a lottery ticket.
3. They don't randomly select email addresses to award prizes to.
4. They don't use free email accounts (Yahoo, Hotmail, etc) to communicate with you.
5. They don't tell you to call a mobile phone number.
6. They don't tell you to keep your winnings secret.
7. They will never ask a winner to pay any fees to receive a prize!
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.
- lovethandrew46@gmail.com (Gmail/GoogleMail; can be used from anywhere worldwide)

Fraud email example:

From: "Hon. Christopher A. Wray" <zionsbank826@gmail.com>
Reply-To: fbiagent156@gmail.com
Date: Tue, 3 Aug 2021 12:11:21 -0700
Subject: $10.4 million dollars

This e-mail has been issued to you in order to officially inform you
that we have completed an investigation on an International Payment in
which was issued to you by an International Lottery Company. With the
help of our newly developed technology (International Monitoring
Network System) we discovered that your e-mail address was
automatically selected by an Online Balloting System, this has legally
won you the sum of $10.4million USD from a Lottery Company inside the
United States of America. During our investigation we discovered that
your e-mail won the money from an Online Balloting System and we have
authorized this winning to be paid to you via INTERNATIONAL CERTIFIED
BANK DRAFT.

Normally, it will take up to 5 business days for an INTERNATIONAL
CERTIFIED BANK DRAFT by your local bank. We have successfully notified
this company on your behalf that funds are to be drawn from a
registered bank within the world wide, so as to enable you cash the
check instantly without any delay, henceforth the stated amount of
$10.4million USD has been deposited with IMF. We have completed this
investigation and you are hereby approved to receive the winning prize
as we have verified the entire transaction to be Safe and 100% risk
free, due to the fact that the funds have been deposited with IMF you
will be required to settle the following bills directly to the IMF
Agent in-charge of this transaction whom is located in Kennedy internal
airport
USA. According to our discoveries, you were required to pay for the
following,

1 Deposit Fee s $ 100 (IMF) INTERNATIONAL CLEARANCE CERTIFICATE
2 delivery Fee's $50 This is the charge for delivery the Cashier's Check to
your home address

The total amount for everything is $ 150 We have tried our possible
best to indicate that this $150 should be deducted from your winning
prize but we found out that the funds have already been deposited with IMF
and cannot be accessed by anyone apart from you the winner, therefore
you will be required to pay the required fee's to the Agent in-charge
of this your transaction In order to proceed with this transaction,
you will be required to contact the Agent in-charge in Untied State
Agent Loveth Andrew via e-mail. Kindly look below to find appropriate
contact information:

CONTACT AGENT NAME: Agent Loveth Andrew

Email: lovethandrew46@gmail.com

You will be required to e-mail her with the following information:
FULL NAME........................
ADDRESS............................
CITY..................................
STATE.....................................
ZIP CODE.....................................
DIRECT CONTACT NUMBER:............................
OCCUPATION............................................

Plan How to send the required $ 150 in order to immediately deliver
your prize of $10.4million USD via INTERNATIONAL CERTIFIED BANK DRAFT
from IMF, also include the following transaction code in order for her
to immediately identify this transaction EAUS

This letter will serve as proof that the Federal Bureau of
Investigation is authorizing you to pay the required $ 150 ONLY to
Agent Loveth Andrew information in which she shall send to you,

Federal Bureau of Investigation (F.B.I)
Hon. Christopher A. Wray, ,

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam