419 scam: "HANG SENG BANK LTD, HONG KONG"<hongkonghsb4@gmail.com> GOOD NEWS FOR YOU..IT'S URGENT!

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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)
- "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)
- "confidential business" (scammers urge victims to keep the transaction secret because they don't want anyone to point out to them that it is a scam)
This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.

Fraud email example:

From: "HANG SENG BANK LTD, HONG KONG" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <hongkonghsbhk5@yahoo.com.hk>
Date: Tue, 26 Aug 2014 04:03:16 -0700
Subject: GOOD NEWS FOR YOU..IT'S URGENT!

Dear Friend,

I am Mr.Chan a South Korean citizen and the Executive Directors of a prime major bank here in Hong-Kong, SAR,China,i have a profitable and yet confidential business-deal worth US$18.500,000 from our bank which i and some other senior staffs of our bank intends to transfer to your nominated bank account for investment or sharing purposes.

This business offer is a DEAL but yet still legal, but for our safety and security you are required to keep this business offer secret and highly confidential too. I will oblige you more details of this business-deal offer in my next e-mail correspondence and also scanned copies of my international passport, my bank official I.D card and the official web link of our bank’s web site, where you will see my full names,position{status}, picture and full resume.

Meanwhile, kindly send to me now, your full names, private e-mail address {if it is different from this one i use},your age, occupation and nationality.

As it is said,"the taste of the pudding is in the eating"-seeing is believing, so give this business-deal offer all the attention and urgency it deserves.I thank you as i wait for your positive reply now.

Mr.N.Chan
Hong-Kong-SAR,

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam