joewein.net   joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet
Try our spam filter!
Free trial for 30 days
  jwSpamSpy

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:

Fraud email example:

From: "Qin Wang" <qin_wang000@hotmail.com>
Date: Thu, 20 Oct 2005 10:15:46 +0000
Subject: CONFIDENTIAL PROPOSAL

Qin Wang
Lloyds TSB Pacific Limited
Hong Kong Branch
Two Exchange Square
Central,Hong Kong.
Fax:852-301-67289
852-301-66221
http://www.lloydstsb.com.hk

Thank you for giving me your time, it is of great importance for you to
take care and understand every word which I have written down below;
please be patient and read my email.

I am a staff of Lloyds TSB Group Plc here in Hong Kong attached in
Private Banking Services. I am contacting you concerning a customer and
an investment placed under our banks management; as a matter of fact it
was 3 years ago. I would respectfully request that you keep the
contents of this mail private and also to kindly respect the integrity
of the information you come by as a result of this email. I contacted
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 2000, the subject matter; Ref: FI/TSB/958/042/0500 came to our bank
to engage in business discussions with our Private Banking Services
Department. He informed us that he had a financial portfolio of 11.37
million United States Dollars, which he wished to have us turn over
(invest) on his behalf. I was the officer assigned to his case; I made
numerous suggestions in line with my duties as the de-facto chief
operations officer of the Private Banking Services Department,
especially given the volume of funds he wished to put into our bank. We
met on numerous occasions prior to any investments being placed, and
however 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 600 traditional stocks and bond managers and 200
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 with interest included,
stood at this point at over 13.2 million United States Dollars, this
margin was not the full potential of the fund but he desired low risk
guaranteed returns on investments. In mid 2001, he asked that the money
be liquidated because he needed to make an urgent investment requiring
cash payments in Europe. He directed that I liquidate the funds and had
it deposited with a firm in Europe. I informed him that our bank 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 borders has become especially strict since the incidents of
9/11. I contacted my affiliate in Europe and had the funds available in
mainland Europe, I undertook all the processes and made sure I followed
his precise instructions to the letter and had the funds deposited in a
security consultancy firm, the 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; he 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 February 25th 2002. In June last year, we
got a call from the security firm informing us of the inactivity of
that particular portfolio. 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, and I could not
understand why he had not come forward to claim his deposit. I made
futile efforts to locate him I immediately passed the task of locating
him to the internal investigations department of our bank. Four days
later, information started to trickle in, that he was apparently dead,
a person who suited his description was declared dead of a heart attack
in Cannes, South of France; we were soon enough able to gather more
information and the cause of death was confirmed. The bank immediately
launched an investigation into possible surviving next of kin to alert
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 make the accounts anonymous.
This bank also gives the choice to depositors of having their mail sent
to them or held at the bank itself, ensuring that there are no traces
of the account and as I said, rarely do they nominate next of kin.
Private banking clients apart from not nominating next of kin also
usually in most cases leave wills in our care, in this case; he died in
testate.

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 for
several months were futile. 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 decision to
obtain your contact details and contact you, being as a foreigner or
rather non-Asian, as a potential benefactor of the estate even if you
are in no way affiliated with this individual (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, with you being a foreigner, I have
considered the fact 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 firm will by the end of this financial year broadcast a request for
statements of claim to our bank, failing to receive viable claims they
will most probably revert the deposit back to our bank. This will
result in the money entering our bank's accounting system and the
portfolio will be out of my hands and out of the Private Banking
Services Department. This will not happen if I have my way.

What I wish to relate to you might be a 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 who 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 USD$ 11,991,674 deposited, 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 the finance firm is concerned, the
transaction with our deceased customer concluded when I sent the funds
to the firm, all outstanding interactions in relation to the file are
just customer services and due process. The finance 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 comes
forward, and this is the situation. This bank has spent great amounts
of money trying to track the family of the deceased; they have
investigated for months and have found no family but however the
investigation has come to an end. My proposal; I am prepared to place
you in a position to instruct the finance firm to release the deposit
to you as the closest surviving relation. Upon receipt of the deposit,
I am prepared to share the money with you in half and no more; that is:
I will simply nominate you as the next of kin and have them release the
deposit to you; afterwards we share the proceeds 50/50.

I would have gone ahead to ask the funds be released to me, but that
would have drawn a straight line to me and my involvement in claiming
the deposit, but on the other hand, you as a indifferent foreigner
would easily pass as the beneficiary with the rights to claim, I assure
you that I could have the deposit released to you in a few days. I will
simply inform our bank of the final closing of the file relating to the
customer, I will then officially communicate with the finance company
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 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 firm.
We can fine-tune this based on our interactions, I am aware of the
consequences of this proposal and I ask that if you find no interest in
this project that you should discard this mail. I ask also, that you do
not be vindictive or destructive, if my offer is of no appeal to you,
delete this message and forget I ever contacted you; please not destroy
my career because you do not approve of my proposal. You may not know
this but people like me 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 and I hope you
understand, because for once I found myself in total control and face
to face with 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 please let me
know, and hence move on with my life, but do not destroy me; I am a
family man and this is an occasion 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 will bless you
and plant you into the center of relevance in my life, let’s share the
blessing.

If you find yourself interested to work with me, please contact me
specifically, through this email account (qin_wang000@primposta.com ), if
you give me positive signals, I will initiate this process towards a
conclusion. It is necessary to inform you that under no condition
should you contact me via official channels; I will simply deny knowing
you and about this project. I repeat, I do not want you contacting me
through our official lines neither do I want you contacting me through
my official email account. Contact me only through this email address
above; I do not want any direct link between you and me. My official
lines are not secure lines as they are periodically monitored to assess
our level of customer care in line with our Total Quality Management
policy, please observe this instruction religiously. Please, again,
note I am a family man; I happily married with two kids, I send you
this mail not without a measure of fear as to what the consequences
might be, 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. If we can be of one accord, I shall have
the pleasure of meeting you after this task has been completed plan a
meeting, soon.

I await your response.

Yours Sincerely,

Qin


Anti-fraud resources: