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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: Timothy N Briggs <padanyi.zsolt@upcmail.hu>
Reply-To: timothy.briggs@aol.co.uk
Date: Sat, 30 Nov 2013 11:13:41 +0100 (CET)
Subject: Business Proposal


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 e mail
address from the Ministry of Commerce Directory.

My name is Timothy N Briggs, staff of Royal Bank Scotland PLC. I am contacting
you concerning a deceased customer and an investment he placed under our banks
management eight 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 2004, 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 five Million Three Hundred and
Fifty Thousand United States Dollars($5,350,000.00 USD), which he wished to have
us turn over (invest) on his behalf. I was the officer assigned to his case; I
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
accrued 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 2006, he asked that the money be liquidated because he needed to make an
urgent 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 the 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
borders has become especially strict since the incidents of 9/11. I contacted my
affiliate here in London and made the funds available to the bank. 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 Bank, this bank is a
specialist private firm that accepts deposits from high net worth 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 the Bank,
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 2006. In June last year, we got a call from the Bank
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 the
Bank, and I could not understand why the deceased ha d 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 the Bank.
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 this
investigation 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, The Bank will by the end of this financial year 12th day
of September, 2012 broadcast a request for statements of claim to the Bank.
Failing to receive viable claims they will most probably revert the deposit back
to the Bank. This will result in the money entering the Bank 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 the
Bank is concerned, the transaction with our late customer concluded when I sent
the funds to the bank, all outstanding interactions in relation to the file are
just customer services and due process. The Bank 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 the bank 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 the Bank and instruct them
to release the deposit to you. With these two things: all is done. The
alternative would be for us to have the Bank 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 Bank. 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 chances, 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 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 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.

Mr.Timothy Briggs

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