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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: (sent from abused email account)
Reply-To: stewart_barculo1013uk@yahoo.com.hk
Date: Mon, 20 Oct 2008 18:40:39 +0200 (CEST)
Subject: REPLY IMMEDIATELY.



Standard Life Bank,
30 Lothian Road,
Edinburgh EH1 2DH
EMAIL:email is:stewart_barculo1020uk@yahoo.com.hk.

Good Day,

I am Stewart Barculo a member of staff of Standard Life Bank Limited, 30 Lo=
thian Road, Edinburgh EH1 2DH, United Kingdom.

I sincerely apologize for the manner with wish I have contacted you, I know=
that the internet is unsecured for information=E2=80=99s of vital importan=
ce but I have decided to take the chance seeing that no other means could h=
ave been faster and more efficient than the E-mail.

I am contacting you concerning a deceased customer and an investment he pla=
ced under our banks management eight years ago. I would respectfully reques=
t that you keep the contents of this mail confidential and respect the inte=
grity of the information you come by as a result of this mail.

I contacted you independently of our investigation and no one is informed o=
f 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 divisi=
on. He informed us that he had a financial portfolio of Fifty million unite=
d states dollars, which he wished to have us turn over (invest) on his beha=
lf, I was the officer assigned to his case.=20

Around 25th February 2003 the deceased told me he wanted the money in antic=
ipation of his arrival from Norway later that week, this was the last comm=
unication we had, I waited and never heard from him then I immediately pass=
ed the task of locating him to the internal investigations department of St=
andard Life Bank. Four days later, information started to trickle in, appar=
ently our client was dead. A person who suited his description was declared=
dead of a heart attack in Cannes, South of France, we were soon enough abl=
e 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 =
funds. If you are familiar with private banking affairs, those who patroniz=
e our services usually prefer anonymity, but also some levels of detachment=
from conventional processes. In his bio-data form, he listed no next of ki=
n. 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.

My official capacity dictates that I am the only party to supervise the inv=
estigation 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 t=
hat 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 prevail=
ing situation is in relation to the deposit and the late beneficiary of the=
deposit.

My proposal you share the same surname with our late client, 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 pro=
ceeds 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 with the same very name as the ori=
ginal depositor would easily pass as the beneficiary with right to claim th=
e funds.

I am a family man; I have a wife and children, I send you this mail not wit=
hout a measure of fear as to what the consequences, but I know within me th=
at nothing ventured is nothing gained and that success and riches never com=
e easy or on a platter of gold, I have evaluated the risks and the only ris=
k 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 w=
ith a name that has planted you into the center of relevance in my life, I=
am a family man and this is an opportunity to provide my family with new o=
pportunities.=20

If my offer is of no appeal to you, delete this message and do not bother =
to respond, do not destroy my career because you do not approve of my propo=
sal.

Please don=E2=80=99t respond to this email if you find yourself not able to=
assist me, my private email is:stewart_barculo1020uk@yahoo.com.hk.

Sincerely,
Stewart Barculo.



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