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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:

Fraud email example:

From: "Mr. Karefa Johnson Kingbo" <karefaking1@netscape.net>
Reply-To: karefaking@netscape.net
Date: Tue, 10 Jan 2006 14:14:07 +0100
Subject: BUSINESS TRANSACTION.


MR. KAREFA JOHNSON KINGBO
STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL.

Dear Friend,
You may be surprised to receive this letter from me since you don't know me personally.I am Mr. Karefa Johnson Kingbo,the first son of Late David Kingbo,who was made to drink diesel oil and later mudered in a land dispute in Zimbabwe.I got your contact through an internet trade journal here in Italy and I decided to contact you as a matter of fact.I did not know your person but I relied on faith to see me through.Before the death of my father,he had deposited the sum of US$20.5Million (Twenty Million Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars),in his
Escrow Account with the Reserve Bank Of South Africa (SARB ) in South Africa,as if he foresaw the looming danger in Zimbabwe.
This money was deposited in a box as valuable items to avoid much demurrage from the security company.This fund was meant for the purchase of new machinery and
agro-chemicals for the new farms in Swaziland. This land problem came when our President Robert Mugabe introduced a new land act "Modi Operadus" reform which wholly affected the rich white farmers and some black farmers as well.A lot of people were killed because of this land reformed "Act" which my late father was one of the victims. Based on this,my family were scattered. I am staying here in Italy as a refugee while my mother ( Maria Kingbo) and my younger sisters are staying in South Africa as refugees.We decided to contact you to assist
us in transfering this money to your country for investment.The monetary/investment Law of South Africa and Italy prohibt refugees(assylum seekers) to run bank accounts or be involved in any business transaction/investment.It is on this that we contacted you hoping that you will assist us.

As the only son,I am saddled with the responsibility of seeking a genuine and an honest person who will assist us in transfering this fund out of South Africa without the knowledge of my country (Zimbabwe) government who are bent on taking everything that my late father had after confiscating all his farm lands and investment in Zimbabwe.We are left with nothing here.
For your kind assistance my Mother and I are offering you 20% of the fund after the succesful transfer of the fund to your account.5% will be set aside for any expenses that might result in the process of this transaction,while the remaining 75% will be for my family which will be used for investment in your country under your direction as we don't know anything about investment.

Contact me with this e-mail karefaking@netscape.net, if this proposal is of interest to you, while I implore you to maintain absolute confidentiality required in this transaction.
Yours truly,
Mr.Karefa Johnson kingbo.
(For the Family)

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