419 scam: "Mr. Frank Stratford"<info@providentcharteredb.com> GOOD DAY.

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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:
- "from the desk of" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "million pounds" (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)
- ",000,000" (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)
- ",500,000" (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)
- "00,000.00" (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)
This email message is a next of kin scam.

Fraud email example:

From: "Mr. Frank Stratford" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <frankstratford@live.de>
Date: Thu, 25 Feb 2010 23:03:31 +0100
Subject: GOOD DAY.

PROVIDENT CHARTERED BANK PLC
12 Portland Street
Portland
United Kingdom
M1 3LF

FROM THE DESK OF: Frank Stratford

I wish to introduce myself to you.Am Frank Stratford a staff of a private offshore bank(Provident Chartered Bank plc) London office. I am the head of the
Accounts department. I am pleased to get across to you for a very urgent and profitable business proposal which I believe will profit the both of us
After completion. I contacted you after a careful thought that you might be capable of handling this business transaction, which I will explain
Below. The sum of (£15,500,000.00 Million Pounds) is floating unclaimed in my bank as all efforts to get across to the relatives of our client who deposited the money have hit the stones.

There is this client Mr.Roger Ian Wright a US businessman, founder of a Sao Paulo-based investment company. On the 22nd of May 2009, Mr. Roger Ian Wright, his wife and his two children all died in a King Air B350 plane crash seaside resort town of Trancoso,in the state of Bahia. You can find below the links pertaining to this accident.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/05/23/2579118.htm?section=justin

All attempts to trace his next of kin were fruitless. My position here at my office requires me to investigate and I therefore made further investigations and discovered that Mr.Roger Ian Wright did not declare any next of kin or relation in all his official documents, including his bank deposit paperwork in my bank. According to the British Law the money will revert to the ownership of the British government if nobody applies to claim the fund. To prevent this from happening i have decided to seek your assistance to have you stand as his next of kin so that the said fund (£15,500,000.00 million pounds), would be released in your name as the next of kin and paid into your account. All documents and proof that will have you claim this fund without stress will be forwarded to you upon your response to this mail.

I agree to offer you £6,000,000 million of the total sum for the assistance and role you are going to play in this transaction while the remaining would be for me.
Please send your personal information’s (full names, address, and country of residence, state, zip, sex, age, occupation, confidential telephone and fax
Number) in your reply to this business transaction.

PLEASE CHANNEL YOUR RESPONSE

TO: frankstratford@live.de

Kind regards,
Mr. Frank Stratford.

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam