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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: "Taylor S. Smith" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <s.taylorsmith@terra.com>
Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2010 04:18:02 +0100
Subject: Joint Venture!

BARCLAYS BANK PLC,
LONDON, EC1N 8DN,
UNITED KINGDOM.

It is my pleasure to contact you after satisfactory appraisal and acceptance of
your proven track records. I am Taylor S. Smith, Director; Head of Portfolio
Management, Barclays Bank Plc, London, United Kingdom.

Following an opportunity in my office, I have a proposition I want to share with
you, that will be of immense benefit to both of us.

Herewith are the details of this proposition:

On May 6th 2005, an estate developer and one of the richest woman in Hong Kong,
Late Mrs. Nina Wang, deposited ?15,000,000GBP (Fifteen Million British Pounds
Sterling) under our portfolio management department for a period of Two (2)
years, and the deposit matured on the 13th of June 2007 with much significant
growth which amounted to a total of ?20,500,000GBP (Twenty Million, Five Hundred
Thousand British Pounds Sterling).

Prior to the maturity of the said deposit, we got some news that Mrs. Nina Wang
died of cancer in April 3rd 2007 and upon maturity, a routine notification was
sent to her forwarding address but without responses. After a month, another
reminder was sent from my desk and I discovered that the fund was deposited by
her without informing anyone of her immediate family as this is peculiar to high
profiled individuals. No next of kin was declared in her official papers
including the paper work of her bank deposit and she also confided in me the
last time she was at my office that no one except me knew of her deposit in my
bank.

This sum of ?20,500,000GBP (Twenty Million, Five Hundred Thousand British Pounds
Sterling) is still in my possession in my bank lifeless and unnoticed because
there will never be a claim on the funds. All material, immaterial documents and
certificates relating to the funds is also in my possession. We cannot release
the funds unless somebody applies as the next of kin or relation to the deceased
and to this end; we have secured from the probate registry an order of mandamus
to locate any relative of Late Mrs. Nina Wang.

Against this backdrop, I am proposing to you to stand in as the next of kin to
Late Mrs. Nina Wang. Our banking policy here stipulates that at the expiration
of five (5) years such funds will be transferred into banking treasury as
unclaimed funds. The money will be approved into your account and subsequently,
we shall share in the ratio: 60% for us and 40% for you as gratification for
assistance rendered. I will visit your country for the disbursement, according
to the percentages indicated once this money gets into your account.

Please note that all our correspondences and communications will be strictly via
email for now, as my official telephone lines are periodically monitored to
assess our level of customer care in line with our quality management policy. Do
not contact me through my official phone numbers nor do I want you contacting me
through my official email account. Please observe these instructions
religiously.

Let me crave your indulgence in portraying sincerity towards this matter, as
trust stands to be our watchword in this transaction. Our assurance is that your
role is risk free to accord this transaction the legality it deserves as with
all modalities in place we are certain in actualizing a hitch free transfer of
the funds without any complications. My position in my bank already guarantees
the successful execution of this project.

We will discuss much in details when I do receive your response. In the
meantime, kindly signify your willingness to assist by sending me a message via
my personal email: s.taylorsmith@terra.com for further procedures relating to
this transaction. If for some reasons you find no interest in this project I
want you to disregard this message and forget I ever contacted you.

For more information about late Mrs. Nina Wang, click the link below:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6524861.stm

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/04/04/news/obits.php

Thanks in advance for your early reply.

Kind regards,
Taylor S. Smith.


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