Wow, lucky me! Apparently, there is an armoured briefcase containing two million dollars in cash waiting for me at Cedar City Regional Airport.
According to the email I received, this benefit has been “legally awarded’ to me as part of the United Nations Poverty Alleviation Scheme. And, claims the email, the scheme has been “completely and legally investigated by the International Monitory Funds (IMF) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)”.
To arrange the pick up of my money-filled case, I just need to supply some personal information to the courier and pay a $350 storage fee.
But, sadly, the email is just another advance fee scam. There is no money waiting for me at any airport and the United Nations has not awarded me any benefit.
If I contacted the courier as instructed and paid the supposed storage fee, I would soon be told that I would need to pay further upfront fees before my money could be released. These requests for fees would likely continue until I finally realized that I was being conned or ran out of money to send.
The criminals would then simply disappear with my money. Moreover, since, by that time, I would have likely given the criminals a large amount of my personal and financial information, I may also have my identity stolen.
This type of scam is very common. You can read more about it here.
An example of the scam email:
Subject: 2017 UNITED NATION POVERTY ALLEVIATION BENEFIT
Storage Facility
Cedar City Regional Airport (CCR)
2017 UNITED NATION POVERTY ALLEVIATION SCHEME BENEFIT
Following the Poverty Alleviation Scheme recently conducted World Wide by the United Nation (UN) and the European Union(EU), you have been legally awarded as one of the lucky beneficiaries a whopping sum of 2,000,000USD (Two Million United States dollars) contained in an armored brief case with all required documentation enclosed inside identifying you as the potential beneficiary. Your benefit has just arrived the Cedar City Regional Airport (CCR), via First Flight Couriers Airlines.
Furthermore, this is to inform you that your package and the funds contained therein 2,000,000USD (Two Million United States dollars) has been completely and legally investigated by the International Monitory Funds (IMF) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) SCAM ALERT UNIT. Therefore, your funds have been officially cleared for delivery to your residence, and due to security reasons have been deposited at the Airport Storage facility awaiting its delivery to your residence. Please be informed that the airport storage and security unit will be expecting you to clear up the $350 storage charge for the immediate release and delivery of your funds to your residence. This fee is not an extortion, but for the security services rendered on the safety of your funds while it awaits its delivery at the storage facility.
In order to recover your package, kindly contact Mr. Pete Akers of One World Couriers Ltd to assist you with the recovery of your benefit and its immediate delivery to your residence. You can contact him via his email at: (oneworldcouriers@yahoo.com) reconfirming the following delivery details (1). Full Name…. (2). Residential Address…. (3). Country…. (4). Occupation…. (5). Cell phone….Note that, failure to treat this email with all sense of urgency, we will be compelled to list your Package as an unclaimed funds and maybe forfeited and will be moved to the United States Treasury Department for holding without further delay.
Cargo and Storage Facility
Robin Adams
This Email has been verified by the US Homeland Security & the United State Treasury Department to officially affirm its Legitimacy. This was sent from a secured IP address to avoid being compromised or hacked by scammers. Every content of this email is classified and should be kept confidential until the courier successfully arrives your residence with your funds.
Importance Notice
After considerable thought and with an ache in my heart, I have decided that the time has come to close down the Hoax-Slayer website.These days, the site does not generate enough revenue to cover expenses, and I do not have the financial resources to sustain it going forward.
Moreover, I now work long hours in a full-time and physically taxing job, so maintaining and managing the website and publishing new material has become difficult for me.
And finally, after 18 years of writing about scams and hoaxes, I feel that it is time for me to take my fingers off the keyboard and focus on other projects and pastimes.
When I first started Hoax-Slayer, I never dreamed that I would still be working on the project all these years later or that it would become such an important part of my life. It's been a fantastic and engaging experience and one that I will always treasure.
I hope that my work over the years has helped to make the Internet a little safer and thwarted the activities of at least a few scammers and malicious pranksters.
A Big Thank You
I would also like to thank all of those wonderful people who have supported the project by sharing information from the site, contributing examples of scams and hoaxes, offering suggestions, donating funds, or helping behind the scenes.I would especially like to thank David White for his tireless contribution to the Hoax-Slayer Facebook Page over many years. David's support has been invaluable, and I can not thank him enough.
Closing Date
Hoax-Slayer will still be around for a few weeks while I wind things down. The site will go offline on May 31, 2021. While I will not be publishing any new posts, you can still access existing material on the site until the date of closure.Thank you, one and all!
Brett Christensen,
Hoax-Slayer
