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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: "MICHAEL LEYDEN" <WEBDNXIEV401@prodigy.net>
Date: Fri, 09 Feb 2007 09:54:34 -0800
Subject: LET ME KNOW........


Good day,

I am a, staff of Private Banking Services at the Bank
of China (BOC) United Kingdom. I am contacting you
concerning our customer 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 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 2002, the subject matter; ref: bb/boc/bank/0012
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 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 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. 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 2004, 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.
I informed him that the 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 and had the funds available. 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 9th October, 2004.

In January last year, we got a call from the security
firm informing us that 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 the bank of china. Four
days later, information started to trickle in,
apparently he was dead. A person who suited his
Description was declared dead of a heart attack in
Cane, South of France. 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. 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
Intestate.

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.
The investigation did not ever yield any result 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. 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
BOC, failing to receive viable claims they will most
probably revert the deposit back to BOC. This will
result in the money entering the BOC 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 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 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, 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 BOC 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. 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 in a position
to give instruction for the release of 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 to me
and 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 the customer
I will then officially communicate with 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 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. 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 name 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 same 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 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 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.
If we can be of one accord, send me your response on
this email: micleyden02@yahoo.com.cn to enable us
commence this line of discussion.


I await your response.

Michael Leyden.




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