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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.

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Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: (sent from abused email account)
Reply-To: <consult.andrew@aol.com>
Date: Sun, 2 Feb 2014 09:21:33 +0100
Subject: Read

Hi,

My name is Andrew Weir Sr. Senior Consultant for PCAM (Premier Capital Assets Management). I am getting in touch with you regarding the Estate of a deceased client named Alfred and an investment portfolio placed under my management 8 years ago.

I would respectfully request that you keep the contents of this letter confidential and respect the integrity of the information you come by as a result of this correspondence. I have contacted you independently and no one is informed of this communication. In 2007, the subject matter; Alfred came to our bank to engage in business discussions with our private banking division PCAM. He informed us of his financial portfolio worth $21.7M United States Dollars, which he wished to have us invest on his behalf. The source of funds where duly verified to be clean funds earned from various construction contracts handled and earth moving equipment supplied to and within Asia, Eastern Europe and Africa.

FYI; Alfred was introduced and advised to deal with us by Timothy A. Pahman, Sr. of Hantz Group.

Based on my advice, we spun the money around various opportunities and made attractive margins for our first one year and eight months of operation, the accrued profit and interest at this point were over 4M United States Dollars. In mid 2009, he instructed that the principal sum ($21.7M) be liquidated because he needed to make an urgent investment requiring cash payments in Singapore and China. We got in touch with a specialist bank in China, the China Bohai Bank Co., Ltd. (CBBC) who agreed to receive this money for a fee and make cash available to Alfred. However China Bohai Bank Co., Ltd. got in touch with us this year that this money has not been claimed and no instruction was received from Alfred on further remittance. On further inquiries we found out that Alfred was involved in an accident in Mainland China, which means he died intestate, meaning he died without a will, He has no next of kin on file against these lodgement.

What I propose is that since I have exclusive access to his file, you will be made the beneficiary of these funds. Your nomination will require some verification, which will be the details I make available to (CBBC), I will instruct CBBC to make payments to you. You do not have to have known him (the late client). I'm aware this might be a bit heavy for you but please trust me on this. For all your responsibilities I propose that we split the money equally between the two of us. In the banking circle this happens every time (they are usually tagged unclaimed funds). If the money is not claimed, the other option is that the money will revert back to the United States Treasury since there is no valid will. Nobody is getting hurt; this is a lifetime opportunity for us. I hold the KEY to these funds, and considering the fact that the payout Bank is based in China, we see so much cash and funds being re-assigned daily within the Asia region with no hitch. If it's possible I would respectfully request we keep communication for now strictly by telephone and fax.

Please, again, note I am a married man; with a wife and three kids. I send you this mail not without a measure of fear as to the consequences, but I know within me that nothing ventured is nothing gained. This is the one truth I have learned from my private investors. Do not betray my confidence. If we can be of one accord, we should act swiftly on this. Pardon my letter of intent if it did intrude on your privacy.

I await your response.

Warm Regards,

Andrew Weir Sr, CFP, ChFC, CASL
Senior Consultant
Registered Principal

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