419 scam: "Royal Bank of Scotland"<royalbankscotland@rbs.com> RBS: Next of Kin

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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:

This email uses a separate reply address that is different from the sender address. Spammers use this to get replies even when the original spam sending accounts have been shut down. Also, sometimes the sender addresses are legitimate looking but fake and only the reply address is actually an email account controlled by the scammers.
The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "dear friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "million dollars" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- "await your urgent response" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
This email message is a next of kin scam.

Fraud email example:

From: "Royal Bank of Scotland" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <hesterstephen50@hotmail.com>
Date: Sun, 25 Sep 2011 22:23:30 +0700
Subject: RBS: Next of Kin

Mr.Stephen Hester (Chief Executive/Foreign Transfer Officer)
Royal Bank of Scotland Group
St Andrew Square Edinburgh SCO EH22YB
United Kingdom.

Dear Friend,

In my department during auditing to various accounts, I discovered an abandoned sum of US$26.633 million dollars ( TWENTY SIX MILLION SIX HUNDRED AND THIRTY THREE THOUSAND UNITED STATES DOLLARS) in an account that belongs to one of our foreign customer ( MR. ANDREAS SCHRANNER From Munich, Germany) for an investment program in UNITED KINGDOM. This late Foreign Customer died along with his entire family in july 2000 in a plane crash for more information about the crash you can visit this site::(http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/859479.stm)

Since i got information about his death, I have personally carried out an investigation about this matter for one year (1year) to finalized and was made to understand that all his supposed next of kin or relation died alongside with him at the plane crash leaving nobody behind for the claim. And in accordance with our banking guidelines and laws such funds without next of kin/beneficiary coming forth for the claiming will go into the bank treasury as unclaimed bill.

It is therefore upon this i decided to contact you and to seek your assistance for the claiming and transferring of the funds in your name as the next of kin/beneficiary, as i don't want the money to go into the bank treasury as unclaimed bill, If you are interested i can present you as the next of kin/beneficiary with proper documentation that will qualify you to have the funds claimed and on doing this, our establishment will not question the release of the funds to you as the next of kin/beneficary, as i will make sure that we comply with the banking laws and ethics of claiming the funds in your name as the next of kin/beneficiary. Our sharing ratio will be 60% for me and 40% for you.

Thanks for your kind Co-operation, I await your urgent response.
Yours faithfully,
Mr.Stephen Hester.
Chief Executive/Foreign Transfer Officer
ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND GROUP
St Andrew Square Edinburgh SCO EH22YB
United Kingdom

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam