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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: "Bank Of China (UK)" <luckydaynl1473@sify.com>
Date: Tue, 29 Jan 2008 08:19:52 +0530 (IST)
Subject: Without prejudice

Good day,

I am Simon James Hobbys, 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 4 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 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; 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
immediately to enable us commence this line of discussion.

I await your response.

Yours sincerely,
Simon James Hobbys.
Bank Of China, UK Branch




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