419 scam: "FBI , Washington, D.C.Headquarters" <oceanic.bank@yahoo.cn> FBI Headquarters, Washington, D.C.

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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:
- "moneygram" (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. )
- "mtcn" (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. )
- "robert mueller" (This name is often mentioned in money recovery scams (re-scam): the real FBI will not tell you to contact some email address. If you are in any doubt, contact an FBI field office via www.fbi.gov. )
- "cotonou" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
This email message is a fake lottery scam. Consider the following facts about real lotteries:
1. They don't notify winners by email.
2. You can't win without first buying a lottery ticket.
3. They don't randomly select email addresses to award prizes to.
4. They don't use free email accounts (Yahoo, Hotmail, etc) to communicate with you.
5. They don't tell you to call a mobile phone number.
6. They don't tell you to keep your winnings secret.
7. They will never ask a winner to pay any fees to receive a prize!
MoneyGram money transfer is completely untraceable and therefore is *not* safe to use with anyone you do not know personally. Along with Western Union it is a 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.
- +22999351675 (Benin, probably a prepaid mobile phone)

Fraud email example:

From: "FBI , Washington, D.C.Headquarters" <oceanic.bank@yahoo.cn>
Reply-To: "FBI , Washington, D.C.Headquarters" <money_gram@56788.com>
Date: Mon, 19 Aug 2013 22:29:49 +0800 (CST)
Subject: FBI Headquarters, Washington, D.C.

Anti-Terrorist And Monetary Crimes Division
FBI Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
Federal Bureau Of Investigation
J.Edgar Hoover Building
935 Pennsylvania Avenue, Nw Washington, D.C. 20535-0001
www.fbi.gov

Attn: Benefciary.

How are you today as well as your family? This e-mail has been issued to you in order to Officially inform you that we have completed an investigation on an International Payment in which was issued to you by an International Lottery Company. With the help of our newly developed technology (International Monitoring Network System) we discovered that your e-mail address was automatically selected by an Online Balloting System, this has legally won you the sum of $2.8 million USD from a Lottery Company outside the United States of America. During our investigation we discovered that your e-mail won the money from an Online Balloting System and we have authorized this winning to be paid to you via MONEY GRAM MONEY TRANSFER under Eco Bank P.L.C Republic, it is under control of Mr. Jim Michael, The Money Gram General Manager and I told him that you will contact him with your full information where he will be transferring your money on daily basis at rate
of US$5,000.00 per a day until the total sum of US$2.800, 000.00M is completely received by you.

(1) Renew file fee ( Renovation file of your fund )
(3) Transfer Fee ( This is the charge for transferring your daily payment of $5,000.00 to your address)

The total amount for everything is $89.00 We have tried our possible best to indicate that this $89.00 should be deducted from your winning prize but we found out that the funds have already been deposited to Money Gram and cannot be accessed by anyone apart from you the winner, therefore you will be required to pay the required fee's to the Agent in-charge of this transaction.

We have completed this investigation and you are hereby approved to receive the winning prize as we have verified the entire transaction to be Safe and 100% risk free, due to the fact that the funds have been deposited with Money Gram under Eco-Bank you will be required to settle the following bills directly to the Lottery Agent in-charge of this transaction whom is located in Cotonou, Benin Republic. According to our discoveries, you were required to pay for the following,

Note: that you can only be required to pay them sum of $89.00 only for their transfer charge fee before they will start sending your daily payment of $5000.00 per a day ,Besides, my dear, these are the opportunity for you and you have to comply and your funds shall be transferred to your designated address. But remember that after ( four 4 days) if you did not make the payment then we will divert your funds to Government Fund, to avoid problem or we will cancel the transfer as for now until next year because this year is not like last year. So, contact the Money Gram director with below information listed and co-operate in good manner with him to enable the bank help you out get your wining fund.

Contact Person: Mr. Jim Michael, The Money Gram Manager.
Contact Phone#: +229 99351675
Contact E-mail:(moneygram136@yahoo.cn or money_gram@56788.com)

Go to Money Gram and sent to them the 89.00 only through this Information below,

1.RECEIVER NAME: ..... Tony Anekwe
2.COUNTRY: .......BENIN REPUBLIC
3.CITY: .........COTONOU
4.QUESTION: ...IN GOD?
5.ANSWER: ....WE TRUST
6.AMOUNT TO SENT ..$89
7.MTCN#..............................
8.SENDERS............................
These are the information you have to fill and send to them.
Full Name.............
Country..............
City................
Occupation........
Age.................
Phone number.......
Copy of your ID..........

You can contact them with above required information so that they will send your payment direct to you with your correct address. Hope to hear from you as soon as you got all your total funds of $2.8m from the Money Gram department.
Thanks for your patience.

Mr. Robert Mueller
Federal Bureau of Investigation F B I
Yours in Service,Photograph of Director
Robert S. Mueller, IIIRobert S. Mueller,
III Director Office of Public Affairs

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam