419 scam: "Mr. Richard Hallman"<offshoregbf@consultant.com> Update. From Bank Of Switzerland, UBS AG

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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:

This email uses a separate reply address that is different from the sender address. Spammers use this to get replies even when the original spam sending accounts have been shut down. Also, sometimes the sender addresses are legitimate looking but fake and only the reply address is actually an email account controlled by the scammers.
The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "dear friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "million us dollars" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- "top secret" (scammers urge victims to keep the transaction secret because they don't want anyone to point out to them that it is a scam)
- "dormant account" (Banks mentioned in 419 scams are always fake (real banks don't communicate using mobile phones or free webmail addresses))
This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.

Fraud email example:

From: "Mr. Richard Hallman" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <richardhallman@live.com>
Date: Wed, 9 Dec 2009 09:51:20 -0800
Subject: Update. From Bank Of Switzerland, UBS AG

Dear friend,

I am an investment consultant working with Bank Of Switzerland, UBS AG. at their offshore department Zurich Switzerland. I will be happy to work this deal out with you if you have a corporate or personal Bank Account and if you are capable to keep TOP SECRET.

I need strong Assurance that you will never let me down, if I transfer this money to your account? During one of our periodic auditing I discover a dormant account with holding balance of 232,000.000.00 {Two hundred and thirty two million US Dollars only} this account has not been operated for the past years. As at this moment, I am constrained to issue more details about this business until your response is received.

If you are not familiar with my Bank profile, please take a moment of your very busy schedules to read about my Bank website;www.ubs.com and I look forward to hearing from you as soon as possible if you are interested, on replying send me the followings.

1. Your Name:

2. Your Home/ office address

3. Your Telephone/ Fax

4. Any form of a work id card, Drivers License

Thank you for your time and attention.
Warmest regards,

Richard Hallman,
Chief investment Consultant,

UBS AG Postfach
8098 Zürich
Switzerland
www.ubs.com

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam