419 scam: "Head Internet Fraud Unit."<info@unitedkingdom.org> Interpol Fraud Unit Payment (FILE CODE - HM/IMF/7890/121)rs And Sorrows.1RANPŒë¸"

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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.
The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "(efcc)" (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.

Fraud email example:

From: "Head Internet Fraud Unit." (may be fake)
Reply-To: <bello.daniels@live.co.uk>
Date: Tue, 16 Nov 2010 02:41:36 -0600
Subject: Interpol Fraud Unit

Beneficiary

This is the internet fraud unit of the Interpol police, we are been mandated by the British High Commission and the FBI to combat internet fraud and our monitoring device picked up several signal transaction on your server and since then we have been monitoring all your internet transactions and we have just discovered that you have been into series of transactions few months ago.

>From our investigation you have been contacted by the EFCC compensation department for the tune of ($1.5 million) which you turned down, we have discovered from our investigation team that the compensation funds ($1.5 million) been allocated to selected American and European citizens who have been scammed and harassed on the internet is real and also it is been backed up by the UNITED NATIONS. We have been monitoring email been directed to selected individual.

We want to use this medium to clear your doubts; you are to continue your transaction with Mr bello daniels of the (EFCC) compensation payment department immediately, Incase you have lost his contact you can still reach him with his current email: (bello.daniels@live.co.uk)You are to contact him with your full details:

NAME:

ADDRESS:

CELL PHONE NUMBER:

You are not to disclose this information to a third party as we are on the trail to get perpetrators of cyber crime.

Bryan Smith

Head Internet Fraud Unit.

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam