419 scam: "Mr. James Mark" <barbelio@alice.it> ATTENTION BENEFICIARY

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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:
- "clearance fee" (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. )
- "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)
- "we advice you" (this email uses bad English)
- "high court" (Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.)
- "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.
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.
- +22998688781 (Benin, probably a prepaid mobile phone)

Fraud email example:

From: "Mr. James Mark" <barbelio@alice.it>
Reply-To: federalsupremecourt55@gmail.com
Date: Thu, 22 Jun 2017 19:36:04 +0200 (CEST)
Subject: ATTENTION BENEFICIARY

Foreign policy: Benin is a State member ofÃ‚
ACP, AU, CD, FAO, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, ILO,
IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISOÃ‚
(Correspondent), OAS (observer), OIC, OIF, UN,
UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO

Economic data:
GDP: 7.565 billion USD (IMF 2012 EST.)

Official name: Republic of Benin

Government: Republic Ã‚
Area: 112,622 sq. km
Capital: Porto-Novo

Official languages: French etc (most common vernaculars in south)

Population: 9, 877,292 (est. July 2013)
Religions: Catholic 27.1%, Muslim 24.4%, Voodoo 17.3%, Protestant 10.4%
(Celestial 5%, Methodist 3.2%, other Protestant 2.2%), other Christian 5.3%,
other 15.5%

Political data:
Independence Day: 1 August 1960 (from France)

Judicial: Supreme Court, the Constitutional Court and the High Court of Justice
are the highest courts. The Supreme Court consists of the court president and 3
chamber presidents organized into an administrative division, judicial chamber,
and chamber of accounts. The Constitutional Court consists of 7 members
including the court president. The High Court of Justice consists of the
Constitutional Court members, 6 members appointed by the National Assembly and
the Supreme Court president.

The Supreme Court shall have power to award costs in all civil proceedings in
the Court, and to any other enactment or to rules of Court, it shall be in the
discretion of the Court to determine by whom and to what extent the same shall
be paid,Ã‚ Supreme Court is the highest court in Benin with appellate
jurisdiction in administrative, civil and criminal matters, as well as
litigation concerning local elections

This is to inform you that we have been working towards the eradication of
fraudsters and scam Artists in Africa with the help of the Organization of
African Unity (OAU) United Nations (UN), European Union (EU) and FBI.

We have been able to track down some scam artist in various parts of African
countries which includes (Nigeria, Republic of Benin, Ghana and Senegal with
Cote dÃ¢â‚¬â„¢Ivoire) and they are all in Government custody now, they will appear
at International Criminal Court (ICC) soon for Justice,Ã‚ during the course of
investigation, we were able to recovered some funds from these scam artists but
(IMF) organization have ordered the funds recovered from those scammers to be
shared among the 10 lucky people listed in our compensation file.

This notice directed to you because your email address was found in one of the
scam artists file and computer hard-disk while the investigation still on
process, maybe you have been scammed. And therefore you are compensated with
sum of $2 million three hundred thousand US Dollars valid into an (ATM Card
Number)

Now as your email address is among of the lucky beneficiaries who will receive
their compensation funds, we promise to arrange your payment to be paid to you
through ATM VISA CARD and it will deliver to your postal address with the Pin
Numbers as to enable you withdraw maximum amount of $4,000 per day on each
withdrawal, until all the funds are exhausted, and be aware that your atm card
with security Pin Numbers will deliver to your home address via Fed ex delivery
company, depending your choice.

So in order to proceed with this transaction, you will be required to pay for
settlement and clearance fee which will cost you $75 USD, and try to send it
before two days via western union, ria office or money-gram transfer office.

Receiver Name: mike eze
Country: Benin Republic
City: Cotonou
Text Quest: When
Test Awns: Soon
Zip Code: +229 98688781

FILL THIS FORM LISTED BELOW TO ENABLE FEDEX AGENT LOCATE YOUR ADDRESS

Full name.......
Country.......
City..........
Home address.......
phone number......
age...........

Please we advice you once again to stop all the communications you have with
everyone regarding your payment as we have shortly agreed to deliver your
package

Yours in Services
MR. James Mark
Cell +229 98688781

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam