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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: Anne Faye Sakura <pvt1@annfs.onmicrosoft.com>
Reply-To: <mrsannesdesk01@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 12 Nov 2014 11:23:00 +0000
Subject: I anticipate your prompt response


Hello ,

Thank you for giving me your time, it is of great importance for you to take care and understand every word which I have written down below; please be patient and read the explanation in my email. I am Anne Faye Sakura a staff of Lloyds TSB Group Plc. here in Hong Kong attached in Private Banking Services, I am contacting you concerning a customer and an investment placed under our banks management; as a matter of fact it was 3 years ago. I would respectfully request that you keep the contents of this mail private and also to kindly respect the integrity of the information you come by as a result of this email. 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.

I contacted you concerning a deceased customer Aziz Musa Numan (An Iraqi Crude oil merchant), and an investment he placed under our banks management. Once again 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 on you independently 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 June 2001, Aziz Musa Numan came to our bank to engage in business discussions with our private banking division. He informed us that he had a financial portfolio of 18.3 million United States dollars, which he wished to have us turn over (invest) on his behalf. I was the officer assigned to his case because of his high net worth profile; 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 favoured route in my advice to customers is to start by assessing data on 600 traditional stocks and bond managers and 300 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 22.5 million United States dollars, this margin was not the full potential of the fund but he desired low risk guaranteed returns on investments.

Upon maturity several notice was sent to him, even during the war (U.S and Iraqi war), Eleven years ago (2003). Again after the war another notification was sent and still no response came from him. I immediately passed the task of locating him to the internal investigations department of Lloyds TSB Bank Ltd. Information started to trickle in that Aziz Musa Numan and his family had been killed during the war in a bomb blast that hit his home at Mukaradeeb where his personal oil well was. 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 even 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; our now deceased client died in-testate. 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 quite clear now that our dear client 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 portfolio and the late beneficiary of the deposit. According to practice, the Private banking sector will by the end of this year broadcast a request for statement of claim to Lloyds TSB Bank Plc, failing to receive viable claims they will most probably revert the deposit to Management of Lloyds TSB Group Plc. This will result in the money entering the Lloyds TSB accounting system and the portfolio will be out of my hands and out of the private banking division. What bothers me most is that according to the laws of my country at the expiration of Nine {9} years the funds will revert to the ownership of the Hong Kong Government if nobody applies to claim the funds. This will not happen if I have my way.

What I wish to relate to you will smack off 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 sit upon certain chairs and oversee certain portfolios. You should have begun by now to put together the general direction of what I propose. There is US $22,500,000.00 (Twenty Two Million Five Hundred Thousand United State Dollars) deposit just lying unclaimed. This bank has spent great amounts of money trying to track the deceased's family; they have investigated for several months and have found no identifiable family member. The investigation has come to an end.

My proposal; I am prepared to furnish the necessary details to you as the closest surviving relation. I am also proposing that after successful execution of the business deal and the money in your account, the funds be disbursed in the ratio 50/50; 50% of the funds will go to you for offering yourself as the next of kin and providing a foreign account especially an offshore account for safe transfer of the funds and 50% will be for me. Please let me know in your next correspondence if the above sharing ratio is okay by you because we can fine-tune this based on our interactions incase you have any problem with it. Following the master plan for this deal I am looking at a bank that have transaction understanding with my bank as first point of transfer to put off eyebrows that may be raised or to avoid unnecessary questioning.

I am aware of the consequences of this proposal. Once more, I ask that if you find no interest in this project that you should discard this mail and forget I ever contacted you, I ask that you do not be vindictive and destructive. Do not destroy my career because you do not approve of my proposal. 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 one's way once in a lifetime. I cannot let this chance pass me by. For once I find myself in total control of my destiny. This chance won't pass me by and please do not let me miss my chance, if you will not work with me let me know and let me move on with my life. If you give me positive signals, I will give you the relevant modus operandi to initiate this process towards a conclusion.

Please, again, note I am a family woman; I am happily married with kids, I send you this mail not without a measure of fear as to what the consequences might be, 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 I shall have the pleasure of meeting you, after this task has been completed plan a meeting.

I await your response.

Yours Sincerely,
Mrs. Anne Faye Sakura.

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