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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: QIN YANJUN II <qyjunnoreply@bocn.com.cn>
Reply-To: yanwany2005@yahoo.com.cn
Date: Mon, 12 Apr 2010 13:15:46 -0500
Subject: INFORM ME ASAP

PERSONAL EMAIL: yanwany2005@yahoo.com.cn

Good day,

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 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 2005, 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 direc

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 patron!
ize our services usually prefer an

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 acco!
unting system and the portfolio wi

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 gre!
at amounts of money trying to trac

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 fam!
ily man and this is an opportunity

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 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 ea!
sy or on a platter of gold. This i


I await your response.

QIN YANJUN.

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