419 scam: Mr John Kelly <thomasnoblin035@gmail.com> 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:
- "courier company" (Courier companies mentioned in 419 scams are always fake. They will have you send money to them, but won't deliver anything. )
This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.

Fraud email example:

From: Mr John Kelly <thomasnoblin035@gmail.com>
Reply-To: johnkelly66@aol.com
Date: Sun, 14 Nov 2021 10:27:16 -0800
Subject: Attention: Beneficiary

--

Greetings From The Internal Revenue Service.

We are hereby officially notifying you about the present arrangement
to pay you and every other beneficiaries, your over due Winning
Prize/inheritance fund which you could not complete the process for
release of your funds transfer through the Digitized Payment System,
and you have spent some money and a lot of time with different people
just to make sure that you receive your fund and after set and done
you received nothing.

We have decided to pay your funds through (ATM VISA Card), this
arrangement was initiated/constituted by the World Bank Group, United
Nation and Paris Club, due to fraudulent activities going on within
the world. The World Bank, United Nations and Paris Club introduced
this payment arrangement as to enable our Contract, Winning Prize,
inheritance beneficiaries receive their fund without anymore
interference.

Your total funds worth $17.5 million USD will be delivered to your
home address through any company of your choice from the below
mentioned, so kindly update us.

1) UPS=14hrs/$175

2) FedEx=19hrs/$150

3) DHL=22hrs/$100

To enable the delivery proceed immediately, note that you will be
liable to pay the delivery fee of your ATM VISA Card today with any of
the above courier company of your choice before the delivery will take
place to your destination address, Kindly provide me with the below
details in your response to this email and let me know which courier
company you would want us to use for the shipment of your ATM VISA
Card to you.

Send the fee through iTunes card

1. Full Name:
2. Mobile Phone Number:
3. Valid Delivery Address:

Signed,
Charles P. Rettig
US Commissioner of Internal Revenue

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam