419 scam: "Mr. William C. Dudley" <officefile@info.com> From the desk of Mr William C.Dudley

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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:
- "from the desk of" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "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. )
- "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. )
- "outstanding contractors" (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)
- "fund beneficiary" (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)
- "headquater" (this email uses bad English)
- "cotonou" (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.

Fraud email example:

From: "Mr. William C. Dudley" <officefile@info.com>
Reply-To: bankofa96@gmail.com
Date: Tue, 28 Mar 2017 06:01:14 -0400
Subject: From the desk of Mr William C.Dudley

From the Desk Of Mr. William C. Dudley Federal Reserve Bank Today at 2:39 AM Headquater : New York, NY, United States of America Founded : 1914, New York City, New York, United States ADDRESS : 33 Liberty St New York , NY 10045-0001 From the desk of Mr William C.Dudley Good Day We apologies for the delay of your payment and all the inconveniences we might put you through, while we were having some minor problems with our payment system which in all case not meeting up with fund beneficiary payments, we apologies once again. From the records of outstanding contractors due for payment with federal Government of U.S.A your name was discovered as next on the list out of the 11 outstanding contractors who have not yet received their payments during the 3 years tenure of the previous administration in office please bear with us for making this initial contact through email. Meanwhile, a woman came to this bank a few days ago with a letter claiming to be your true representative and is willing to pay $50 the wire/transfer charge to have the fund delivered to her. Here is her information’s below. Name: Mrs.Annette stillman Bank name: Citibank , Arizona , USA . Account Number: 6503809008 Routing number: 322271627 Swift code#:WMSBUS66 Address: 1723 Palmdale Bulv Palmdale ca..93550 Please do reconfirm to this bank as a matter of urgency if this woman is from you or not so that the federal government will not beheld responsible for paying into wrong account, if this woman is not your representative, you requested to fill and send this information’s for verification purpose so that your fund valued ($4.700, 000.00 usd) will be remitted in to your nominated bank account. Kindly reconfirm to the bank the following 1. Bank Name: 2. Bank account number: 3. Route number: 4. Swift code: 5. Bank name: 6. Company name: 7. Position: 8. Address: 9. Working Id/ int’l Passport 10. Age: 11. Your telephone number Secondly,the only money you pay for the transfer to take place is just $50 being the approval payment certification from the government of Benin,and you are giving a limited time to send the payment and please be advise that you are to send the payment to American Embassy office in Benin and you are to use this information to send the $50 and please be informed that you are not going to pay any other payment to any body and do not be deceived by any body to send any other payment. As soon as the Payment information is received, your funds will be wired to your bank account directly from Federal Reserve Bank New York USA . We shall proceed to issue all payments details to the said Mrs. Annette Stillman if we do not hear from you within the next three working days from today. We are sorry for any inconvenience the delay in transferring of your fund must have caused you. Here is the information you will use to send the payment through Money Gram or Western union. Name Of Receiver: SAB TOCHI Country:Benin Republic City: Cotonou Question: when Answer: now Amount: $50 Send to me the following info once you send the payment. Senders Name: Location: MTCN / Reference #: You alerted reply urgent +19258856301 Yours Sincerely, Mr. William C. Dudley Director Federal Reserve Bank 33 Liberty St New York , NY 10045-0001

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