419 scam: "Mr. Robert S. Mueller III"<info@fbi.com> THE TRUTH ABOUT YOUR FUNDS (FBI)

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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.

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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:
- "inheritance funds" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "to your nominated bank account" (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)
- "transfer of your funds" (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)
- "hundred thousand united states 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)
- ",500,000" (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)
- "00,000.00" (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)
This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.

Fraud email example:

From: "Mr. Robert S. Mueller III" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <fbi_financialcrimeinvestigators2010@live.com>
Date: Thu, 23 Feb 2012 20:20:22 +0330
Subject: THE TRUTH ABOUT YOUR FUNDS (FBI)

Attn: Beneficiary, I am Thomas R. Cook, the personal secretary to the FBI Director; Roberts. Mueller III. After proper investigations, we discovered that your impending payment that have been withheld by imposters, claiming to be who they are not, But with the Help of FBI we have been able to trace them. Investigations revealed that you have spent a lot of your personal earned money just to conclude the successful transfer of your funds to your nominated bank account by obtaining transfer documents as requested by the impostors, costing you a lot of money but to no avail. The FBI had to send some financial crime investigators from our head quarters in Washington DC to London, Western Part of the World (Africa) in other to carry out proper investigation, after receiving series of other reports similar to yours as you are not the only person awaiting the legal transfer of funds from Africa. With the help of some of the best Internet investigators attached to the FBI, we traced your information from the Internet as one of the beneficiaries of this Inheritance Funds. I am pleased to inform you that a meeting was held as regards the best way to carry out with the compensation exercise for transparency and most especially to avoid re-occurrence of the delay in transferring your funds and the high cost of procuring transfer documents and came to a final conclusion as all head of organizations involved was duly represented. Your Funds worth $5,500,000.00 USD (Five Million Five Hundred Thousand United states Dollars) Only. It was approved to be issued to you via International Bank Draft written on your Name. Reconfirm your delivery information as stated below. DELIVERY INFORMATION; FULL NAME: DELIVERY ADDRESS: OCCUPATION: AGE: CELLPHONE NUMBER: We also advise that you stop further communications with these impostors and forward any correspondence/proposal you receive from them to my email address: (fbi_financialcrimeinvestigators2010@live.com) in other for the FBI to bring justice to them still at large. Regards, Mr. Thomas R. Cook For: Mr. Robert S. Mueller III FBI DIRECTOR

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam