419 scam: "IMF"<imf@inMail.sk> Attn: Beneficiary

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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:
- "economic and financial crime 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. )
This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
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.
- maolaunh@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "IMF" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <maolaunh@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 4 May 2010 21:28:18 +0700
Subject: Attn: Beneficiary

Attn: Beneficiary,

How are you today? Hope all is well with you and your family?

You may not understand why this mail came to you.In regards to the recent meeting between the United Nations and the Present United States Government to restore the dignity and Economy of the Nations.

Based on the Agreement with the World Bank Assistance to help and make the World a better place for all with the sole aim of abolishing poverty.We have been having a meeting for the past 3months which ended 2 days ago with the present secretary general to the UNITED NATIONS Mr.Ban Ki-Moon,IMF and World Bank delegates.

This email is to all the people that have been scammed in any part of the World, the UNITED NATIONS and the World Bank has agreed to compensate them with the sum of US$850,000 (Eight Hundred and Fifty Thousand United States Dollars) This includes every foreign contractor that may have not received their contract sum,and people that have had an unfinished transaction or international businesses that failed due to Government problems etc.

Your name and email was in the list submitted by our Monitoring Team of Economic and Financial Crime Commission observers and this is why we are contacting you, this has been agreed upon and signed.

To ensure that these payments are made out to the rightful beneficiaries, we have assigned Mr. Mao Launh, a UN Representative in South-East Asia to monitor these payments. He will guide you to the right bank since all payment will be released through Singapore Banking Corporation located in that region. Your payment will be released to you by the above mentioned bank.

You are advised to contact Mr. Mao Launh. These payments would be released to you through online fund transfer for security purposes? Therefore you should send him your full Names and telephone number for easier correspondences and guidelines.

Contact Person:

Name: Mao Launh
Email: maolaunh@gmail.com

Thanks and God bless you and your family.

Regards,

Mrs. Rosane Smith
Regional Director, Debt Management Office [DMO]
International Monetary Fund
IMF External Relations Department
National Building Way
London, SW1E 3DH, United Kingdom

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam