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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: "catherine bongani" <catherine_bongani32@hotmail.com>
Date: Wed, 18 Jan 2006 13:20:37 +0200
Subject: From Catherine (Attn:Director / Ceo)

From Mrs Catherine Bongani
E-mail:catherine_bongani40@hotmail.com
Or my elder son email address (jacob24bongani@yahoo.com)
                                        

                       CONFIDENTIAL STRICTLY

Attn:Director/C.E.O.,

Don’t be surprise to receive this letter from me, I’m Mrs catherine Bongani, the wife late  of Mr Koyo Bongani  from Zimbabwe. I got your contact from the Internet website here in South Africa, after due consideration from your profile, I became aware of your credibility of you to help me and my two children .

My husband was among the rich black farmers in Zimbabwe, who was murdered in acid blood by the agent of the ruling party of President Robert Mugabe, because my late husband  was against the method adopted by the government of the new land reform that wholly affected the white farmers in Zimbabwe.

Before the invention, my husband  took me to South Africa, as if he foresaw the loaming danger in Zimbabwe, he deposited the sum of US$15,000,000.00 (FIFTEEN MILLIOM DOLLARS) with a security and a financial company, please verify the information I gave to you from this website: {www.zimbabwesituation.com.} This money was for buying farmland in Lesotho, Swaziland, and also machinery for the farmyards.

Head of governments from the western world, especially, Britain UN and the U.S.A. have voiced their consideration about Mugabe’s new land reform act. It‘s against this background that my family has mandated me to seek assistance to transfer this money out from South Africa to a foreign account for investment purpose. Presently I’m residing in South Africa.

We can’t invest this money here in South Africa but due to how close the two countries are and they have almost the same political history, and with the financially law of South Africa, as an asylum seeker, I do not have any right to open or own a bank account in my name here in South Africa.

From the above you can understand that my entire life and my family’s future depend on this money. I shall be grateful if you help me and family  transfer this money into your company’s account for investment purposes as my next of kin and as my late father’s partner. Please note that this transaction is 100% risk free, and for your effort, I’m prepared to offer you 25% of the total sum, also I have decided to use 5% of the money to settle any expenses that may occur during the process of the transfer.

The balance I intended to invest in a profitable venture in your country or anywhere you may advice me and my family, the major thing I expect from you is absolute assurance that this money will be safe when it gets to your account. If this proposal is been accepted by you, please reply urgently to me or my elder son email address  to enable us furnish you with more details. Also please my dear  feel free to contact my son JACOB through his private number +(27-73-0777-248) for more clearification and information.

I will appreciate if you maintain the confidentiality of this matter because of the happenings in my country-Zimbabwe.

Hoping to hear from you soonest
Yours sincerely
Mrs Catherine Bongani


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