419 scam: Lesley Jones <drlesleyjones4@gmail.com> SCAM SYNDICATES HAVE CONFESSED THAT THEY STOLE YOUR MONEY

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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:

The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "dear sir/madam" (a standard Nigerian greeting phrase)
- "contact the atm card center" (this phrase is often used in the ATM card payment scam)
- "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. )
- "hundred thousand us 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)
- "(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. )
- "lagos" (a location commonly mentioned 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 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.
- +2348021054696 (Nigeria, prepaid mobile phone)

Fraud email example:

From: Lesley Jones <drlesleyjones4@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 22 Aug 2011 07:14:45 -0700
Subject: SCAM SYNDICATES HAVE CONFESSED THAT THEY STOLE YOUR MONEY

Dear Sir/Madam,

The Federal Government of Nigeria through provisions in Section 419 of the
Criminal Code came up with punitive measures to deter and punish
offenders.The Advance Fee Fraud section deal mainly with cases of advance
fee fraud(commonly called 419) such as obtaining by false pretence through
different fraudulent schemes e.g. contract scam, inheritance scam, job scam,
loan scam, lottery award scam, “wash wash” scam (money washing scam),
marriage scam. Immigration scam, counterfeiting and religious scam. It also
investigates cyber crime cases.

This is to officially announce to you that some scam Syndicates were
apprehended in Nigeria,South Africa and United Kingdom few days ago and
after several interrogations and tortures your details were among those
mentioned by some of the scam Syndicates as one of the victims of their
operations.

After proper investigations and research at Western Union Money Transfer and
Money Gram office to know if you have truly sent money to the scam
Syndicates through Western Union Money Transfer or Money Gram, your name was
found in their central database system amongst those that have sent money to
these scammers.This proves that you have truly been swindled by those
unscrupulous persons by sending money to them in the course of getting one
fund or the other that is not real.

Right now we are working hand in hand with Western Union and Interpol to
track every fraudsters down, do not respond to their e-mails, letters and
phone calls any longer they are scammers and you should be very careful to
avoid being a victim to fraudsters any longer because they have nothing to
offer you but to rip-off what you have worked hard to earn.

In this regard a meeting was held between the Board of Directors of The
I.M.F and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and as a consequence of our
investigations it was agreed that the sum of one hundred thousand US Dollars
(US$100,000, 00) should be paid to you out of the funds due to you by I.M.F.

We have deposited your fund at Western Union Money Transfer agent location
office in Lagos Nigeria. We have submitted your details to them so that your
fund can be transferred to you, but they re-contacted us that the funds are
too large to be transferred via western union or money gram, so the only
option is to transfer these said amount to you, in form of an INTERNATIONAL
ATM CARD, that will still contain the same amount.This ATM card will be used
to withdraw money from any ATM machine worldwide and your limit is $3000, 00
per day.

To redeem your fund you are hereby advised to contact the ATM Card Center
via email for the processing of your ATM CARD. Do contact Mr. Clive Ahmed of
the ATM Card Center via his contact details below and furnish him with your
details.

Contact person: Mr. Clive Ahmed
Contact phone No: +2348021054696
Email: cliveahmed_01@terra.com.co

Remember that you are not the only scam victim, we have so many scam cases
in our office but you are lucky to fall among one of the people that will be
getting these compensation funds, so if you feel reluctant to claim it, we
will cancel your name and sign it on the next scam victim waiting on line to
claim his/her compensation funds.

Yours sincerely,
Lesley Jones
Assistant Investigation Officer.
The International police Crimes Commission (I.P.C.C)
No.4 Rotimi close ikoyi Lagos Nigeria

Anti-fraud resources:

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