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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: "Veronica Lin Wong" <vlinwon@asia.com>
Reply-To: webnet_003@yahoo.com
Date: Fri, 7 Sep 2012 01:25:06 -0000
Subject: I am Veronica Wong




Good-day,
I am Veronica Wong of Hang Seng Bank, Hong Kong Ltd. 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 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 the year 2004, the subjects matter; came to our bank to engage in
business discussions. He informed us that he had a financial portfolio of
Eight Million three hundred and seventy Thousand United States Dollars,
which he wished to have us turn over(invest) on his behalf.
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 One million United States
Dollars, this margin was not the full potential of the fund but he desired
low risk guaranteed returns on investments.
In November 2005, he asked that the money be liquidated because he needed
to make an urgent investment requiring cash payments in Finland, Where he
said, he is investing with a Firm that is building a housing estate
outside Helsinki for the government of Finland. He directed that I
liquidate the investment and deposit the funds with a security firm. I
informed him that Hang Seng 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.
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 money was deposited with the security firm. 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
25th February 2006, In June 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, 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; 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, 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 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, The Security Firm will by the end of this year
broadcast a request for statements of claim Hang Seng Bank, failing to
receive viable claims they will most probably revert the deposit back to
Hang Seng Bank. You should have begun by now to put together the general
direction of what I propose. There is Eight Million three hundred and
seventy United States 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 know of the existence of this deposit for
as far as this matter is concerned.

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. 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.
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 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
without Total Quality Management Policy. Please observe this instruction
religiously.
Please, again, note I am a family woman, I have a Husband 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 learned from my private banking clients. Do not
betray my confidence. If you are interested send email back to me

Sincerely,
Veronica Lin Wong



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