419 scam: George Michael <chriswallace@videobank.it> BUSINESS PROPOSAL

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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:

An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
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:
- "money laundering" ("anti-terrorist", "anti-money laundering" or "drug-free" certificates are a common way for criminals in fake lottery scams and other Advance Fee scams to get you to send money to them. There are no such certificates in the real banking world. )
- "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)
- "international remittance department" (Banks mentioned in 419 scams are always fake (real banks don't communicate using mobile phones or free webmail addresses))
- "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 next of kin scam.
This email lists mobile phone numbers. Use of such numbers is typical for scams because they allow criminals to conceal their true location. They can receive calls in an Internet cafe from where they send you emails, while pretending to be in some office.
- +447045702938 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)
This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- georgemicheal40@yahoo.co.uk (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: George Michael <chriswallace@videobank.it>
Reply-To: georgeoffice001@yahoo.co.uk
Date: Sat, 22 Nov 2014 16:35:23 +0100
Subject: BUSINESS PROPOSAL

From:MR:George Micheal,
AN External Auditor.
The International Remittance Department
No. 70 Wig-more Ave.
W1U 2SF, London UK.

ATTENTION PLEASE:

Please do accept my sincere apologies if my mail does not meet your
personal ethics although, I

wish to use this medium to get in touch with you first because it's fastest
means. My name is

Mr.George Michael, I am an external auditor of a well known bank here in
the United Kingdom.

In one of our periodic auditing I discovered a dormant account with holding
balance of Â£26,000,000

(Twenty six Million British Pounds Sterling) which has not been operated
for the past Six to seven

years. From my investigations and confirmations,I confirmed that the owner
of this account, a

foreigner by name Mr.John Shumejda died in plane crash on the 4th of
January 2002 and since then

nobody has done anything as regards the claiming this money because he has
no family members who

are aware of the existence of neither the account nor the funds. For more
details
visit: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/1742404.stm

I got your mail from the internet through my secretary when I told her that
I need an email

address where I will send a confidential message because she knows how to
browse internet but she

is not aware of this business.

You should know that I am not doing this business because of the large
amount that is involved on

it but rather the success of this business will benefit both families from
generation to

generation as far as you follow the instruction which I will be getting
from our Insider in Bank,

and you should know that never a business to succeed without building trust
to each other. I

promise you that I will never let you down in this business either now in
the future and you

assure me that as well. In-fact , I am very much interested to know whether
you will be capable to

do this business with me in full confidence trusting that you will never
let me down in future.

I have secretly discussed this matter with a top senior minister official
of the federal ministry

of finance here and we have agreed to find a reliable foreign partner to
deal with us although due

to his position, he did not want to take active part but as soon as you
follow my instructions

everything will be successful because we will be working hand in hand with
him and there will be

documents of transfer to prove that the money going into your a/c is free
from Drug/terrorist and

money laundering, once I received your a/c information for processing of
the Documents.

We thus propose to do business with you, standing in as the next of kin of
these funds from the

deceased and after due legal processes have been followed, the fund will be
released to your

account without delay and we will use it for investment and to assist the
less privileged in the

Society because if we left the fund with the government it will be
fortified for nothing and will

be used to suppress the poor masses in the society.

This transaction is totally free of risk and troubles as the fund is
legitimate. Upon the

successful transfer of the fund to your account, you will be given 40% of
the total amount while

60% will be for me.

I look forward to hear from you as soon as possible if you are interested.
Regards,
you can contact me on my yahoo account at georgemicheal40@yahoo.co.uk,
+44 7045702938
Mr.George Michael.

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam