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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.John Michael" <john@michael.ord>
Reply-To: suzanamendoza@aim.com
Date: Wed, 5 Jan 2011 22:28:43 +0545 (NPT)
Subject: Happy New Year.

Name: John Michael


Good Day,

I know this is an unconventional way of introducing a big and profitable
business deal, but i however want you to take your time to read my letter
carefully, you will understand the necessity for my action. I got your
email address from the Ministry of Commerce Directory. I am John Michael,
staff of International Private Banking at HSBC Bank. I am contacting you
concerning a deceased customer and an investment he placed under our banks
management three 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 2001, 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
Forty Eight Million Three Hundred and Fifty Thousand United States Dollars
($48,350,000.00 USD), which he wished to have us turn over(invest) on his
behalf. I was the officer assigned to his case; I was made numerous
suggestions in line with my duties as the de-facto chief operations
officer of the private banking sector, 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 accured profit and interest stood
at this point at over ten 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 2002, he asked that the money be liquidated because he needed to
make anurgent investment requiring cash payments in here in the United
Kingdom. He
directed that I liquidate the funds and deposit it with a security firm
here in London. I informed him that HSBC 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 has become especially strict since
the incidents of 9/11. I contacted my affiliate in here in London 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 at the London based
security consultancy firm,Pat Green Securities Co. Pat Green Securities Co
is a specialist private firm that accepts deposits from high net worthy
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 Pat Green Securities Co. 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
June 2003. In June last year.

we got a call from Pat Green Securities Company informing us that the
activity 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 Pat Green
Securities Co, and I could not understand why the deceased had not come
forward to claim his deposit. I made futile efforts to locate the
deceased. I immediately passed the task of locating him to the internal
investigations department of HSBC 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, 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; the deceased died
without a testament .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. It is thisinvestigation that resulted in
my being furnished with your details as a possible relative of the
deceased. 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. What this means, you being the last batch of names we
have considered, is that our dear late fellow died with no known or
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, Pat Green Securities Co will by the end of this
financial year broadcast a request for statements of claim to HSBC,failing
to receive viable claims they will most probably revert the deposit back
to HSBC. This will result in the money entering the HSBC 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 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. 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 HSBC is concerned, the transaction
with our late customer concluded when i sent the funds to corporate
securities, all outstanding interactions in relation to the file are just
customer services and due process.Corporate Securities Co has no single
idea of what the history or nature of the deposit. 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 mans family; they have investigated for months and
have found no family. The investigation has come to an end. My
proposal;you share similar details to the late fellow; I am prepared to
place you in a position to instruct Pat Green Securities Co to release 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 deceased I will then officially communicate with Pat Green Securities
Co and instruct them to release the deposit to you. With these two things:
all is done. The alternative would be for us to have Corporate Sec unities
Co 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 Pat
Green Securities Company. 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
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
wouldn’t 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 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 learnt from my
private banking clients. Do not betray my confidence. If we can be of one
accord, we should plan a meeting,soon.Now before we move any further,i
wish to know if you will be able to travel down to canada in a short
notice for the purpose of transferring the funds from Pat Green Co.
personally or you think that transferring the funds via bank to bank
transfer will be convenient for you.Thank you so much for your time.


I look forward to hearing from you soonest.


I await your response.



John Michael.


N/B
Kindly send your response to my direct email


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