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: "universalassurance" <universalassurance@terra.com.mx>
Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2006 10:59:56 -0600
Subject: HIGH PRIORITY.


( OFFICE OF MR.Stephan Aris) A LETTER TO YOU
I am Stephan Aris, Greek citizen and Principal
assurance manager for the HSBC BANK bank in London. A
staff of Yokozona consultancy firm got in touch with me
regarding the estate of Philip Mutaf. And an investment
placed under our banks management 3 years ago.
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 contact 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 1997, the subject matter; Philip Mutaf came to our bank
to engage in business discussions with our private banking
division. He informed us that he had a financial portfolio
of 8.35 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, 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 10 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 1998, he asked that the money be liquidated because
he needed to make an urgent investment requiring cash
payments in United Kindom. He directed that I liquidate the
funds and had it deposited with STANDARD Assets Management UK (in their
Securities Trading Firm).
I informed him that HSBC London 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 in United Kingdom and had the funds available in
STANDARD Assets Management. I undertook all the processes
and made sure I followed his precise instructions to the letter
and had the funds deposited at STANDARD Assets Management
UK United Kingdom. STANDARD Assets Management UK is a
specialist bank 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.
In Line with instructions, the money was deposited with
STANDARD Assets Management Uk (in their Securities Trading Firm).
Philip Mutaf told me he wanted the money there as soon as
he got into the United Kingdom,This was the last
communication we had, this transpired around 25th February
1999.
In Sept last year, we got a call from STANDARD Assets
Management Uk informing us about the inactivity of that
particular portfolio. This was an astounding position as
far as I was concerned, given the fact that I managed the
International private banking sector I was the only one who
knew about the deposit at STANDARD Assets Management Uk,
and I could not understand why Philip Mutaf had not come
forward to claim his deposit. I made futile efforts to
locate Philip Mutaf. Four days later, information started to trickle
in, apparently Philip Mutaf was dead. A person who suited his
description was declared dead of AUTO ACCIDENT TRAUMA in
Birmingham England. We were soon enough able to identify
the body and 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.
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; Philip Mutaf 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 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. You have
unfortunately declared, and I know that you are in no way
affiliated with this individual. What this means, you being
the last batch of names we have considered is 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, STANDARD Assets Management Uk will
by the end of this quarter broadcast a request for
statements of claim to HSBC in London, failing to
receive viable claims they will most probably revert the
deposit back to HSBC in London. This will result in
the money entering the HSBC in London 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 off
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
US$ 8,370,000.00 deposited in STANDARD Assets Management
Uk, 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 Assets Management Uk is concerned, the transaction
with Philip Mutaf concluded when I sent the funds to STANDARD Assets
Management Uk, alloutstanding interactions in relation to the file are
just
customer services and due process. STANDARD Assets
Management Uk has no single idea of the history or nature
of the deposit.
They are simply awaiting instructions to release the
deposit to any party that comes 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 as the next of kin
in a position to instruct STANDARD Assets Management Uk 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. That is: I will simply nominate you
as the next of kin and have them release the deposit to
you. 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 in my involvement in claiming the deposit. 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 Philip Mutaf I will
then officially communicate with STANDARD Assets
Management Uk and instruct them to release the deposit to
you. With these: all is done. 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 controlof my destiny. These chanceswont 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 name that has planted you into the
center of relevance in my life. Lets share the blessing.
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 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 have 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. If we can be of one accord, we
should plan a meeting, soon.
Kindly respond
I await your response.
Respectfully,
Stephan Aris
NB; PLS. EMAIL ME BACK THROUGH THIS MY PRIVATE EMAIL ADDRESS; reassuredfinanceinc@yahoo.com OR
reassureduniversaltrust002@yahoo.it

Anti-fraud resources: