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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: Mr.Jiang Hong <jhong8079@gmail.com>
Reply-To: jianghong67980@qq.com
Date: Thu, 4 Dec 2014 03:28:13 +0100
Subject: Re.Business Proposal!



--
Dear Intending Partner,

My names are Jiang Hong; I'm an Account Officer with (BOC) Bank of China,
United
Kingdom. I need you a foreigner to assist in transferring the money below.
Please, read this Letter to understand what this business is about.

In 2003, 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 18.370 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 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 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$
18,370,000.00
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 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 on this email immediately to enable us commence this line of
discussion.

I await your response.

Jiang Hong.


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