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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: "FENG WEI"<online@saoluis.ma.gov.br>
Reply-To: feng.1wei@qq.com
Date: Sun, 27 Apr 2014 09:06:30 +0200
Subject: I CONTACTED YOU AFTER A SERIOUS THOUGHT KINDLY REPLY ASAP

Good Day,



I must apologize for invading your privacy. I actually contacted you
during my research for a capable hands for this transaction.
I am Feng Wei, a staff of Private Banking Services at the Bank of China
(BOC) United Kingdom. I am contacting you concerning our customer and,
an investment placed under our banks management 5 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 2005, the subject matter; ref: bb/boc/bank/0012 came to our bank to
engage in business discussions with our Private Banking Services
Department. He informed us that he had a financial portfolio of 8.35
million United States Dollars, 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 Services Department, 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 accessing 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 10 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-2005, he asked that the money be liquidated
because he needed to make an urgent investment requiring cash payments in
Europe. He directed that I liquidate the funds and had it deposited with a
firm. 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 in and had the funds
available. I undertook all the processes and made sure I followed his
precise instructions to the letter and had the funds deposited in a
security consultancy firm, the firm 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 . He
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 9th October, 2005.



In January last year, we got a call from the security firm informing us
that 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 , and I could not understand why he had not come forward to claim
his deposit. I made futile efforts to locate him I immediately passed the
task of locating him to the internal investigations department of the bank
of china. Four days later, information started to trickle in, apparently
he was dead. A person who suited his description was declared dead of a
heart attack in Canne, 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; he died intestate.
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. The investigation did not ever yield any result 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. 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 firm will by the
end of this financial year broadcast a request for statements of claim to
BOC, failing to receive viable claims they will most probably revert the
deposit back to BOC. This will result in the money entering the BOC
accounting system and the portfolio will be out of my hands and out of the
Private Banking Services Department. 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. There is US$ 8,370,000.00 deposited , 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 BOC
is concerned, the transaction with our deceased customer concluded when I
sent the funds to the firm, all outstanding interactions in relation to
the file are just customer services and due process. 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 man's family; they have investigated for months
and have found no family. The investigation has come to an end.
My proposal; I am prepared to place you in a position to give
instruction for the release of 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 customer I will then officially communicate with
the firm and instruct them to release the deposit to you. With these two
things: all is done. The alternative would be for us to have firm 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 firm. 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's 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 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 learned from my private banking
clients. Do not betray my confidence. If we can be of one accord, send me
your response to enable us commence this line of discussion.



I Await Your Response.


Mr Feng Wei

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