419 scam: "Richard Wong" <maria@footloosecolumbus.com> Hi

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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.

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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:
- "million british 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)
- "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)
- "there is no risk involved" (almost true for the criminal trying to scam you - arrests of online criminals are rare)
This email message is a next of kin scam.

Fraud email example:

From: "Richard Wong" <maria@footloosecolumbus.com>
Reply-To: ricwong22@qq.com
Date: Thu, 07 Aug 2014 15:37:11 -0500
Subject: Hi

Hello,

I am Richard Wong a staff of one of highly reputable financial institution (HSBC) here in Manchester, United Kingdom, and I am pleased to get across to you for a very urgent and profitable deal which I believe will profit both of us on completion. I contacted you after a careful thought that you might be capable of handling this business transaction which is explained below. I would respectfully request that you keep the contents of this mail confidential and respect the integrity of the information you come by as a result of this mail. I contact you independently and no one is informed of this communication.

The sum of (84,000,000.00 Million British Pounds), has been floating as unclaimed since 2000 in my bank as all efforts to get across the relatives of our client who deposited the money have hit the stones. There was this immigrant by name Mr. Andreas schranner, property magnate who was based in the U.K, who happens to be one of our clients. On the 25Th of July 2000, Mr. Andreas Schranner, his wife Maria , their daughter Andrea Eich, her husband Christian, and their children katharina and maximilian all died in the air France concord plane crash bound for New York in their plan for a world cruise, see the link for more details of the plane crash http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/859479.stm

The issues at hand is that late Andreas Schranner did not declare any next of kin/beneficiary in his official papers including the paper work of his bank deposit. What bothers me most is according to the laws of my country at the expiration of 14 years the funds will be revert to the ownership of the British government if nobody applies to claim the funds, Against this scenery, I have all the information needed to claim these funds and I want to present you to the bank as the beneficiary to the deposit. There is no risk involved in this matter as I hold the key to the funds and we are going to adopt a legitimate method as I have all paper works to make you the beneficiary to the funds.

I send you this mail not without a measure of fear as to 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, we should act swiftly on this. Please pardon any writing mistakes.

I await your prompt reply on this.

Kind regards
Richard Wong

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam