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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: "John Wan" <Johnwanbankofchina@myway.com.cn>
Reply-To: wangyan69@yahoo.com.cn
Date: Sun, 21 Jun 2009 22:45:14 -0600 (MDT)
Subject: PLEASE READ CAREFULLY




Good Day,

Greetings to you and your family, I am a staff of Private Banking Services
at the Bank of China (BOC). 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 8.370
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 incident 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 this 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 the 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 the 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 to enable us commences this
line of discussion.

Best regards,

John Wan.


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