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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: Afred Kone <afred_kone2@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: alfredkone20084u@yahoo.com
Date: Thu, 11 Oct 2007 13:29:32 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: I NEED YOUR URGENT ATTENTION


BANK OF AFRICA
30 COCODY ROAD,
ABIDJAN COTE D'IVOIRE


Goodday,

I am Alfred Kone, Staff, Bank of Africa .I am contacting you concerning a deceased customer and an investment he placed under our banks management three 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 2000, the subject matter;came to our bank to engage in business discussions with our private banking division. He informed us that he had a financial portfolio of Fifty 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 sector, 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 advise 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 ten 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 here in Abidjan Cote D'Ivoire. He directed that I liquidate the funds and deposit it with a security firm In Europe. I informed him that Standard Life House 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 the 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 in Europe. The Security Firm is a specialist private firm in Europe 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 deceased 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 2003.In June last year, we got a call from the security firm from Europe 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 at the security firm in Europe, and I could not understand why the deceased had not come forward to claim his deposit. I made futile efforts to locate the deceased. I immediately passed the task of locating him to the internal investigations department of Standard Life House.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, 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; the deceased died without a 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. 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, The Security Firm will by the end of this financial year broadcast a
request for statements of claim to Standard Life House,failing to receive viable claims they will most probably revert the deposit back to Standard Life House.This will result in the
money entering the Standard Life Bank 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 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 Fifty Million
Dollars deposited in a security firm in Europe, 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 Life House is concerned,the transaction with our late customer concluded when I sent the funds to the security firm in Europe, 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 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; you share the same surname With our late client; I am prepared to place you in a position to instruct The security 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. That is:I will simply nominate you as the next of kin and have them release the
deposit to you. We share the proceeds 60% for me, 40% for you Should you be interested please send me your full names,privatephone/fax number and A valid identification,The only thing that you are going to do is to go there to the security company and have them release the money to you. I will prefer you reach me on my private email And finally after that i shall provide you with more details of this transaction.Your earliest response to this letter will be highly appreciated.

I await your response.

Mr Alfred Kone.



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