419 scam: "Dr Aref Safiah"<thwealth2@gmail.com> LETTER OF INTEREST

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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:
- "hundred thousand us 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)
- "utmost confidentiality" (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.
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.
- arefsafiah@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "Dr Aref Safiah" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <aref1safiah@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 28 May 2019 13:38:23 +0100
Subject: LETTER OF INTEREST

Hello

I am a senior Accountant with the Bayern LB Bank based in London UK, This private and confidential letter is an official
legal notice, meant to intimate you of the untimely death of one Mr. Michael, a US national who was killed with his
only 24 year old daughter in a terrible automobile accident in 2014. His total investment assets with the bank are in
excess of Twenty Five Million, Seven Hundred thousand US Dollars’ ($25,700.000.00).

In my possession is the file with all the account details and placing your name as a possible next of kin or relative
to the deceased makes any claim to this account most credible with your last name being exactly same with the deceased
and failing to claim these funds by a Next of Kin means that the estate of the deceased will become unclaimed and
abandoned and therefore will be turned over to the state after exactly Five years according to Law. And no one has
come forward to lay claim to this deposit since the deceased died and all efforts to locate any of his relatives have
proved unsuccessful that is why I took it upon myself to contact you based on your surname.

Upon your acceptance, I ask to present you before the bank as a Next of Kin to the deceased since you have same last
name and I will establish your name in his file as the only available next of kin to the deceased and I will furnish you
with every legal details you need to make a claim to this account. I will carefully guide you in every step to make sure
you get the banks approval to release funds to you as Next of kin. To achieve this goal however, I compel you to treat
this with the utmost confidentiality imaginable. With me and my colleague working inside the bank I am giving you a
100% assurance that this claim process will go smoothly without any hitch, and there will be no legal consequences
after the claim. I propose you take 40% of the funds upon completion while I and my colleague who works inside the bank
keeps 60%.

Furthermore, you are not compelled in any way to participate in this process if you do not feel comfortable, which means
you are not under obligation to accept this proposition. if this proposition is acceptable to you please respond back to
me urgently via email and I will send you more details regarding the process. I look forward to your urgent response by
email.

Dr Aref Safiah
Financial Senior Auditor
Tel + 44 741 8427 628
arefsafiah@gmail.com

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam