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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:

Fraud email example:

From: "MELVIN GRAHA" <mgraha@connect.net>
Reply-To: mins@post.com
Date: Thu, 4 Aug 2011 02:22:46 +0600 (BDT)
Subject: CONTACT ME





Good-day,


I am Melvin Graha of Standard Bank Plc, United Kingdom. I am contacting
you concerning a deceased customer and an investment he placed under our
banks management three years ago, and I would respectfully request that
you keep the contents of this mail confidential and respect the integrity
of the information you come by as a result of this mail. I am contacting
you independently of our investigation and no one is informed of this
communication. I would like to intimate you with certain facts that I
believe would be of interest to you.

In the year 2004, the subjects matter; came to our bank to engage in
business discussions. He informed us that he had a financial portfolio of
Eight Million three hundred and seventy Thousand British Pounds Sterling,
which he wished to have us turn over(invest) on his behalf.

I decided to treat his case personally; I made numerous suggestions in
line with my duties as the de-facto chief Intermediary Sales department of
the bank, especially given the volume of funds he wished to put into our
bank. We met on numerous occasions prior to any investments being placed.
I encouraged him to consider various growth funds with prime ratings. The
favored route in my advice to customers is to start by assessing data on
6000 traditional stocks and bond managers and 2000 managers of alternative
investments. Based on my advice, we spun the money around various
opportunities and made attractive margins for our first months of
operation, the accrued profit and interest stood at this point at over One
million United States Dollars, this margin was not the full potential of
the fund but he desired low risk guaranteed returns on investments.

In November 2005, he asked that the money be liquidated because he needed
to make an urgent investment requiring cash payments in Finland . Where he
said,he is investing with a Firm that is building a housing estate outside
Helsinki for the government of Finland . He directed that I liquidate the
investment and deposit the funds with a security firm. I informed him that
Standard Bank Plc would have to make special arrangements to have this
done and in order not to circumvent due process, the bank would have to
make a 9.5 % deduction from the funds to cater for banking and statutory
charges. He complained about the charges but later came around when I
explained to him the complexities of the task he was asking of us.

Cash movement across boarders has become especially strict since the
incidents of 9/11. I contacted my affiliate and made the funds available
to a security firm. I undertook all the processes and made sure I followed
his precise instructions to the letter and had the funds deposited with
the security firm The Security Firm is a specialist private firm that
accepts deposits from high net worth individuals and blue chip
corporations that handle valuable products or undertake transactions that
need immediate access to cash. This small and highly private organization
is familiar especially to the highly placed and well-connected
organizations. In line with instructions, the money was deposited with the
security firm. The Customer told me he wanted the money there in
anticipation of his arrival from Norway later that week. This was the last
communication we had, this transpired around 25th February 2006.In June
last year, we got a call from the security firm informing us a bout the
inactivity of that .

This was an astounding position as far as I was concerned, given the fact
that I managed the private banking sector I was the only one who knew
about the deposit at the security firm, and I could not understand why the
Customer had not come forward to claim his deposit. I made futile efforts
to locate the Customer. I immediately passed the task of locating him to
the internal investigations department of Standard Bank Plc Four days
later, information started to trickle in, apparently our client was dead.
A person who suited his description was declared dead of a heart attack in
canne, in Southern part of France. The body was identified and the cause
of death was confirmed. The bank immediately launched an investigation
into possible surviving next of kin to alert them about the situation and
also to come forward to claim his estate. If you are familiar with private
banking affairs, those who patronize our services usually prefer
anonymity, but also some levels of detachment from conventional processes.

In his bio-data form, he listed no next of kin. In the field of private
banking, opening an account with us means no one will know of its
existence,accounts are rarely held under a name; depositors use numbers
and codes to kin. Private banking clients apart from not nominating next
of kin also usually in most cases leave wills in our care, in this case;
the deceased died without a t estate. In line with our internal processes
for account holders who have passed away, we instituted our own
investigations in good faith to determine who should have right to claim
the estate. This investigation has for the past months been unfruitful. We
have scanned every continent and used our private investigation affiliate
companies to get to the root of the problem. It is this investigation that
resulted in my being furnished with your details as a possible relative of
the deceased.

My official capacity dictates that I am the only party to supervise the
investigation and the only party to receive the results of the
investigation What this means, after investigating the last batch of names
forwarded to us as possible relatives, we have come to the conclusion that
Our dear late fellow died with no known or identifiable family member.
This leaves me as the only person with the full picture of what the
prevailing situation is in relation to the deposit and the late
beneficiary of the deposit.
According to practice, The Security Firm will by the end of this year
broadcast a request for statements of claim to Standard Bank Plc, failing
to receive viable claims they will most probably revert the deposit back
to Standard Bank Plc. This will result in the money entering the Standard
Bank Plc accounting system and the portfolio will be out of my hands and
out of the private banking division.

This will not happen if I have my way. What I wish to relate to you will
smack of unethical practice but I want you to understand something. It is
only an outsider to the banking world who finds the internal politics of
the banking world aberrational. The world of private banking especially is
fraught with huge rewards for those that occupy certain offices and
oversee certain portfolios. You should have begun by now to put together
the general direction of what I propose. There is Eight Million three
hundred and seventy Thousand British Pounds Sterling deposited in a
security firm,
I alone have the deposit details and they will release the deposit to no
one unless I instruct them to do so. I alone know of the existence of this
deposit for as far as Standard Bank Plc is concerned.

The transaction with our late customer concluded when I sent the funds to
the security firm, all outstanding interactions in relation to the file
are just customer services and due process. The security Firm has no
single idea of what's the history or nature of the deposit. They are
simply awaiting instructions to release the deposit to any party that come
forward. This is the situation. This bank has spent great amounts of money
trying to track this man's family; they have investigated for months and
have found no family. The investigation has come to an end.

My proposal; I am prepared to place you in a position to instruct the
security Firm to release the deposit to you as the closest surviving
relative. Upon receipt of the deposit I am prepared to share the money
with you. That is: I will simply nominate you as the next of kin and have
them release the deposit to you and share the proceeds with you in a
percentage we will arrive at taking into consideration our individual
level commitment. I would have gone ahead to ask that the funds be
released to me, but that would have drawn a straight line to me and my
involvement in claiming the deposit. But presenting you as a relative with
the right to claim the deposit as a next of kin will mask my involvement
and participation in diverting the deposit for personal use. You will get
all the documents needed to effect this claim immediately you notify me of
your acceptance to claim this deposit for our mutual benefit.

I assure you that I could have the deposit released to you within a few
days.I will simply inform the bank of the final closing of the file
relating to the deceased. I will then officially communicate with The
Security Firm and instruct them to release the deposit to you. With these
two things: all is done. The alternative would be for us to have The
Security Firm direct the funds to another bank with you as account holder.
This way there will be no need for you to think of receiving the money
from The Security Company. We can fine-tune this based on our
interactions. I am aware of the consequences of this proposal. I ask that
if you find no interest in this project that you should discard this mail.
I ask that you do not be vindictive and destructive.

If my offer is of no appeal to you, delete this message and forget I ever
contacted you.
Do not destroy my career because you do not approve of my proposal. You
may not know this but people like myself who have made tidy sums out of
comparable situations run the whole private banking sector.

I am not a criminal and what I do, I do not find against good conscience,
this may be hard for you to understand, but the dynamics of my industry
dictates that I make this move. Such opportunities only come ones' way
once in a lifetime. I cannot let this chance pass me by, for once I find
myself in total control of my destiny. These chances won't pass me by. I
ask that you do not destroy my chance, if you will not work with me let me
know and let me move on with my life but do not destroy me. I am a family
man and this is an opportunity to provide them with new opportunities.
There is a reward for this project and it is a task well worth
undertaking.

I have evaluated the risks and the only risk I have here is from you
refusing to work with me and alerting my bank. I am the only one who knows
of this situation, good fortune has blessed you with a luck that has
planted you into the center of relevance in my life. Let's share the
blessing. If you find yourself able to work with me, contact me through
this email account. If you give me positive signals, I will initiate this
process towards a conclusion. I wish to inform you that should you contact
me via official channels; I will deny knowing you and about this project.
I repeat, I do not want you contacting me through my official phone lines
nor do I want you contacting me through my official email account. Contact
me only through the numbers I will provide for you and also through this
email address. I do not want any direct link between you and myself. My
official lines are not secured lines as they are periodically monitored to
assess our level of customer care in line with our Total Quality
Management religiously.

Please, again, note I am a family man; I have a wife and children. I send
you this mail not without a measure of fear as to what the consequences,
but I know within me that nothing ventured is nothing gained and that
success and riches never come easy or on a platter of gold. This is the
one truth I have learned from my private banking clients. Do not betray
my confidence.

Sincerely,

Melvin Graha.
mins@post.com

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