419 scam: MR. ANDY TAN <info@rbsm.com.my> GOOD DAY

joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet

Try our spam filter!
Free trial for 30 days

Home

About Us

Spam

419/Nigeria

Fraud

Contact

"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 united states 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)
- "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. ANDY TAN <info@rbsm.com.my>
Reply-To: mrandytan2010@hotmail.com
Date: Tue, 16 Mar 2010 05:51:12 +0800
Subject: GOOD DAY

Dear Friend,

My name is Mr. Andy Tan. I trained and work as an external auditor, with Royal Bank of Scotland Malaysia. On routine audit check last month, I happen to find some investment accounts that had been dormant for over fourteen years.

All the accounts belong to a single one account holder with monies totaling a little above $17.9 million United States Dollars. Further investigations of the said account reveal that the investor had died in 1995-the exact time the account was last operated. I also can confirm with absolute certainty that the said investor died interstate, and no next-of-kin to his estate has been found or come forward all these years. Now, banking regulation/legislation here in Malaysia demand that I do notify the fiscal authorities of dormant accounts of this type! Indeed after a statutory time span of fifteen years, dormant accounts of this type are called in as unclaimed funds by the monetary regulatory body of Malaysia.

The above set of fact is the reason why I have contacted you. I am of the settled conviction that using our insider leverage, we (I am working on this with one other Auditor), working with you can secure the funds instead of allowing it pass as unclaimed funds into the coffers of the Government of Malaysia. This is especially possible as we will present you as a business partner to the said investor.

I have all relevant information to validate our claim presenting you as next-of-Kin and all we will do shall be within the confines of all Malaysia regulating Statutes. All I ask is your co-operation and trust and all I can say at this time is that the compensation will be worth every effort and commitment that you will bring into this transaction. . On receipt of your response, I shall provide you with my private telephone number with which we shall speak and upon which I shall furnish you with greater details of this transaction.

I do expect to hear from you.

Yours sincerely,
Mr. Andy Tan.

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam