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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: "Mrs. Susan Khumalo" <susankhumalo49@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: <mrs.susankhumalo@hotmail.com>
Date: Wed, 10 Oct 2007 12:16:52 +0200
Subject: My Family Needed Your Urgent Assistance



FROM: MRS.SUSAN KHUMALO,
14th Floor Embassy Building Cnr Smith Aliwal
Street Albertan Branch Johannesburg 2000,
South Africa

(URGENT & CONFIDENTIAL)




You may be surprised to receive this strange letter from me. I am Mrs. Susan Khumalo, the wife of Mr. John Khumalo of Zimbabwe . I got your address in my desperate search to get someone overseas to assist my family. My husband was among the rich black farmers in Zimbabwe who were murdered in cold blood by the agent of the ruling government of president Robert Mugabe because my husband was against the method adopted by the government on new land reform act that wholly affected the white farmers in Zimbabwe. Before the Invasion, my husband took me to South Africa as if he foresaw the looming danger in Zimbabwe and deposited US$8,000,000.00 (Eight Million United States Dollars) with a security and financial company in South Africa . This money was for buying farmlands in Lesotho , Swaziland , and also machinery for the farm. Heads of government from western world, especially Britain and the U.S.A, have voiced their condemnation against Mugabe's new land reform act. It is against this background that my family has mandated me to seek assistance to transfer this money to a foreign account for investment purposes. Presently, I am residing in South Africa as an asylum seeker. However, I cannot invest this money here in South Africa because of economic and political instability all over Africa and with the financial laws of South Africa, as an asylum seeker, I have no right to own or open a bank account in my name here in South Africa.

>From the above, you can understand that my entire life and family's future depends on this money. I shall be grateful if you can assist me transfer this money out of South Africa into your company or personal account for investment purposes as my next of kin and my late husband's business partner. Please note that this transaction is 100% risk free, and for your effort, I am prepared to offer you 20% of the total sum. The balance I intended to invest in a profitable venture in your country or anywhere you may advice. The major thing I expect from you is absolute assurance that this money will be safe when transferred to your account before my arrival to your country for sharing and investing of the fund. Therefore if you accept to assist my family, we are willing to accept any reasonable condition you may deem necessary, and we can as well go into partnership business with you. Please reply immediately to facilitate immediate action toward the transaction with my private email: mrs.susankhumalo@hotmail.com yours sincerely Mrs. Susan Khumalo
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