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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: kamin57@hotmail.com
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 20:31:13 -0800 (PST)
Subject: With Due Respect


I have a new email address!You can now email me at: kamin0005@yahoo.com



- Good Day, Mr.Khan Amin, staff of Kleinwort Benson. I am contacting you concerning a deceased customer and an investment he placed under our banks management three years ago. I am contacting 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 the year 2004, 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 Six Million United States Dollars, which he wished to have us turn over (invest) on his behalf. In mid 2005, he asked that the money be liquidated because he needed to make an urgent investment requiring cash payments in Helsinki- Finland. He directed that I liquidate the funds and deposit it with a security firm. I informed him that my Bank would have to make special arrangements to have this done and in order not to circumvent due process. 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. The Security 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 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 of November 2005. In June last year, and we got a call from the security firm informing us about the inactivity of that particular portfolio. I made futile efforts to locate the deceased. I immediately passed the task of locating him to the internal investigations department of Kleinwort Benson. 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 Cannes, in Southern part of France. We were soon enough to identify the body and cause of death was confirmed. 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 investigation has for the past months been unfruitful; we’ve 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. 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 that 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 Six Million dollars deposited in a security firm, 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 my Bank is concerned. My proposal: I now seek your permission to present you as a next of kin to the deceased, as all documentations will be carefully worked to make you the beneficiary to the funds $6,000 000 (Six Million United States Dollar); 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 proceeds 60/40.I would have gone ahead to ask that the funds be released to me, but that would have drawn a straight line to me and my involvement in claiming the deposit. We can fine-tune this based on our interactions 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. 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 myself. My official lines are not secured 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. Do not betray my confidence. Kindly send your response to my private email: kamin57@hotmail.com I await your response. Mr.Khan Amin


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