419 scam: Citibank Group <frb@consultant.com> INSTRUCTION TO CREDIT YOUR ACCOUNT WITH THE SUM OF US$680,000.00

joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet

Try our spam filter!
Free trial for 30 days

Home

About Us

Spam

419/Nigeria

Fraud

Contact

"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:
- "dear beneficiary," (this SPAM email was probably sent to thousands of people)
- "offshore account" (Banks mentioned in 419 scams are always fake (real banks don't communicate using mobile phones or free webmail addresses))
This email message is a next of kin scam.

Fraud email example:

From: Citibank Group <frb@consultant.com>
Reply-To: groupcitibk@gmail.com
Date: Sat, 27 Jul 2019 09:16:57 +0000 (UTC)
Subject: INSTRUCTION TO CREDIT YOUR ACCOUNT WITH THE SUM OF US$680,000.00

CITI BANK INTERNATIONAL PLC
Address: 1775 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington, DC 20006
SWIFT (BIC): CITIUS33
Founded: 1812
U.S.A

RE: INSTRUCTION TO CREDIT YOUR ACCOUNT WITH THE SUM OF US$680,000.00

Dear beneficiary,

We at this bank wish to congratulate and to inform you that after thorough review and evaluation of your Inheritance/Compensation funds, in conjunction with the European Central Bank Auditor General and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) assessment reports, your payment file was forwarded to us for immediate transfer of the above quoted amount to your designated bank account from their offshore account with us.

The reports given to us shows that you have been going through hard times by paying a lot of money to see to the release of your funds, which has been delayed by some dubious officials. We therefore advice that you stop further communication with any correspondence outside this office since you do not have to pay any money or fee to receive your inheritance/Compensation funds as you have met up with the whole funds transfer requirements.

The only thing we require from you is to obtain an Approval Letter from the US department of the treasury to enable us credit your account directly via telegraphic transfer or through any of our corresponding banks and send copies of the funds transfer release documents to you and to your bankers for confirmation. Should you follow our directives, your funds will be credited and reflect in your account within One (1) bank working day from the day you obtain this Approval Letter.

For further details and assistance on this Remittance Notification, kindly forward reply to this email immediately indicating that this email has reached you.

Yours Faithfully
Mr. Albert Rudolf
Remittance Director.
CITI BANK INTERNATIONAL PLC

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam