419 scam: "International Monetary Fund"<alistair.darling.uk@imf.org> INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND

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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.
This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
This email lists mobile phone numbers. Use of such numbers is typical for scams because they allow criminals to conceal their true location. They can receive calls in an Internet cafe from where they send you emails, while pretending to be in some office.
- +447024065817 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)

Fraud email example:

From: "International Monetary Fund" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <imf-europe@centrum.cz>
Date: Fri, 16 Apr 2010 14:40:14 +0100
Subject: INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND

INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND
20 FISKERTON ROAD LINCOLN,LN3 4LA
LONDON-UNITED KINGDOM
+44-702-406-5817.

GOOD DAY SIR,

THIS IS TO NOTIFY YOU THAT YOUR OVER DUE INHERITANCE/CONTRACT FUNDS HAS BEEN GAZETTED TO BE RELEASED THROUGH THE BANK OF AMERICA.

YOUR NAME WAS LISTED (IN THE CENTRAL COMPUTER AMONG THE LIST OF UNPAID BENEFICIARIES, CONTRACTORS, LOTTERY WINNERS, INHERITANCE NEXT OF KIN) THAT ORIGINATED FROM UNITED KINGDOM AMONG AS LIST OF INDIVIDUALS AND COMPANIES THAT THEIR UNPAID FUND WERE ALLOTED TO US FOR PAYMENT.

YOUR NAME APPEARED AMONG THE BENEFICIARIES WHO WILL RECEIVE A PART-PAYMENT OF $12.5MILLION, WHICH APPROVAL ALREADY HAS BEEN GIVEN. MEANWHILE, WE WANT TO INFORM YOU THAT A MAN CAME TO THIS OUR OFFICE A FEW DAYS AGO WITH AN LETTER OF AUTHORITY, CLAIMING TO BE YOUR TRUE REPRESENTATIVE.

HERE ARE HIS INFORMATION FOR YOU TO CONFIRM TO THIS OFFICE IF THE MAN IS TRULY FROM YOU OR NOT SO THAT WE WILL NOT BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR PAYING INTO A WRONG ACCOUNT NAME:

NAME: MR.BROWN JOHNSON
BANK NAME: CITI BANK
BANK ADDRESS: ARIZONA, USA.
ACCOUNT NUMBER: 6503809428.

PLEASE, DO RECONFIRM TO THIS OFFICE, AS A MATTER OF URGENCY IF THIS MAN IS FROM YOU.

I SINCERELY APOLOGIZE TO YOU ON BEHALF OF THIS ORGANIZATION (IMF- (INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND) ON OUR FAILURE TO RELEASE YOUR FUND IN TIME, WHICH ACCORDING TO RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM HAD BEEN LONG OVERDUE.

PLEASE GET BACK TO ME IMMEDIATELY TO ENABLE US FORWARD YOUR INFORMATION OF OUR PAYING BANK IN NEW YORK SO THAT YOUR FUNDS CAN BE TRANSFER TO YOU WITHIN 48 HOURS.

YOURS SINCERELY,

MR. ALISTAIR DARLING
IMF GOVERNOR, UNITED KINGDOM
(HTTP://WWW.IMF.ORG/EXTERNAL/NP/EXR/CHRON/MDS.ASP
NOTE: YOUR RETURN RESPONSE SHOULD BE THROUGH EMAIL TO KEEP RECORD.

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam