419 scam: "Equitorial Trust Bank Plc"<info@equitorialtrustbank.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:
- "huge deposit" (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)
- "to your nominated bank account" (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)
- "is 100% risk free" (almost true for the criminal trying to scam you - arrests of online criminals are rare)
- "lagos" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
This email message is a next of kin scam.

Fraud email example:

From: "Equitorial Trust Bank Plc" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <johndaramola11@hotmail.com>
Date: Thu, 20 Oct 2011 11:22:51 +0530
Subject: Good Day

Equitorial Trust Bank Plc
91, ALLEN AVENUE, IKEJA, LAGOS STATE
CONOIL STATION, OPP. GENERAL HOSPITAL,
GRA IKEJA, LAGOS.

Good Day,

I must apologize for barging into your mail box without any formal introduction due to the urgency and confidential of this issue.

I am Mr. John Daramola Branch Manager with EQUITORIAL TRUST BANK PLC LAGOS NIGERIA,I discovered an abandoned sum of $8.711 million u.s. dollars) in anccount that belongs to one of our foreign customers Late Engineer.Renold,a contractor with an Oil Development company in Nigeria (NIGERIA NATIONAL PETROLUEM CORPORATION)and who here-in after shall be referred to as my client,on Sunday 2ND February,2003,18:50 GMT my client,and his family were involved in Ikeja bomb blast unfortunately they lost their lives in the process of the bomb blast.

I cease this medium to make it known to you that since then ,I have made several inquiries to your embassy to locate any of my clients extended relatives, this has also proved unsuccessful,hence my contact with you,I have contacted you to assist in repatriating the money and property left behind by my client before they get confiscated or declared unserviceable by the Bank where these huge deposits were lodged,particularly with the EQUITORIAL TRUST BANK PLC,where the deceased had an account valued at about ($8.711 million U.S. Dollars).The bank issued me a notice to provide the Next Of Kin or have his deposit with them confiscated within the next Ten official working days.

Since i have been unsuccessful in locating the relatives for over 4 years now,I seek your consent to present you as the next of kin to the deceased so that his funds left behind with the bank valued at about ($8.711 million U.S. Dollars) will be paid to your nominated bank account within the next ten (10) official working days.The reason for contacting you is because you are a foreigner and can act in the capacity of the next of kin to my deceased client, I will share the money in this ratio 50% to me,50% to you. For clarity,this transaction is 100% risk free and you have nothing to worry about as all necessary machineries will putted in place to make sure this funds is paid to you as the legitimate beneficiary.

To commence this transaction,I require you to immediately indicate your interest by a return e- mail and enclose your private contact telephone number and fax number full name and address to enable me file letter of claim to the appropriate departments for necessary approvals before the transfer can be made.

Note also, this transaction must be kept STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL because of its nature. For confirmation of this transaction please refer to these sites:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/2718295.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/2698081.stm

All I require is your honest co-operation to enable us see this deal through.I guarantee that this will be executed under a legitimate that will protect you and me from any breach of law.

I look forward to hear from you.

My Best Regards
Mr.John Daramola.

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