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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: "MR.FANI TITI" <frfrdefgf@yahoo.co.jp>
Reply-To: ftiii009@yahoo.co.jp
Date: Wed, 30 Dec 2009 15:36:46 -0600
Subject: RE INQUIRY FROM FANI TITI


With due respect,

I am Fani Titi of Investec Private Bank Limited, London branch, United
Kingdom. I am contacting you concerning a deceased customer and an
investment he placed under our banks management three years ago, and 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 am contacting you independently 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 2007, the subject matter;
came to our bank to engage in business discussions (Name withheld), He
informed us that he had a financial portfolio he wanted us to turn over
(invest) on his behalf. I decided to treat his case personally; I made
numerous suggestions in line with my duties as the de-facto Director of
Operations in the bank, 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. 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 Two
million United States Dollars, this margin was not the full Potential of
the fund but he desired low risk guaranteed returns on investments.

In December 2007, he asked that the money be liquidated because he needed
to make an urgent investment requiring cash payments in Accra Ghana. Where
he said, he is investing with a Firm that is building a housing estate
outside Accra for the Ghanaian government. He directed that I liquidate
the investment and deposit the funds with a reliable and secured security
firm. I informed him that Investec Private 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 boarders become strict since the incidents of 9/11. I
contacted my affiliate and made the funds available to a 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 highly placed individuals and blue chip corporations that handle
valuable products or undertake transactions that need immediate access to
cash. This small and highly respected private organization is familiar to
well-connected organizations. In line with his instructions, the money was
deposited with the security firm ($20, 0000.00) Twenty Million United
States Dollars. The Customer 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 26th May 2008.In December
last year, we got a call from the security firm informing us about 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, and I could not understand why the
Customer had not come forward to claim his deposit. I made futile efforts
to locate the Customer. Immediately I passed the task of locating him to
the internal investigations department of Investec Private Bank. Ten 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, in Southern part of France. The body was identified and the cause
of death was confirmed. The bank immediately launched an investigation for
a possible surviving next of kin to alert them 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. Investec Private Bank also gives
the choice to depositors of having their mail sent to them or held at the
bank itself, to ensure 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.

My official capacity dictates that I am the only party to supervise the
investigation, the only party to receive and declare the results of the
investigation. After investigating the last batch of names forwarded to us
as possible relatives, we have come to the conclusion that our dear late
fellow died with no 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 year
broadcast a request for statements of claim to Investec Private Bank,
failing to receive viable claims they will most probably revert the
deposit back to Investec Private Bank. This will result in the money
entering the Investec Private 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 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 ($20, 0000.00) Twenty
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 knew the existence of this deposit as far as Investec
Private Bank is concerned.

The transaction with our late customer concluded when I sent the funds to
the security firm, 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 come
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 member. The investigation has come to an end.

My proposal; I am prepared to place you in a position to instruct the
security Firm to release the deposit to you as the closest surviving
relative. Upon receipt of the deposit I am prepared to share the money
with you. That is, I will simply nominate you as the next of kin and have
them release the deposit to you and share the proceeds with you in a
percentage we will arrive at taking into consideration our individual
level of commitment I would have gone ahead to ask that the funds be
released to me, but that will draw a straight line to me and my
involvement in claiming the deposit. But presenting you as a relative with
the right to claim the deposit as a next of kin will mask my involvement
and participation in diverting the deposit for personal use. You will get
all the documents needed to effect this claim immediately you notify me of
your acceptance to claim this deposit for our mutual benefit.

I assure you that I will have the deposit release to you within a few
days. I will simply inform the bank of the final closing of the file
relating to the deceased. I will then officially communicate with The
Security Firm and instruct them to release the deposit to you. With these
two things all is done, I have the power to do this. The alternative would
be for us to have The Security 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 Security Company. We can fine-tune this based
on our interactions. Or have them shipped to you through diplomatic means
to any country of your choice. 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 me 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 one's 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 that is
aware of this situation; good fortune has blessed you with a luck 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 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 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.

Please, again, note I am a family man; I have a wife and children. I send
you this mail 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.

Thanks for your anticipated cooperation

Sincerely,

Fani Titi







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Servicio de Correo Unidad Tonala - CETI - http://www.ceti.mx


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