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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.

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Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: Mr.Johnson Chitsungo <johchitsungo@gmail.com>
Reply-To: joh_chitsungo@hotmail.com
Date: Wed, 02 Sep 2015 16:31:18 +0900
Subject: GOOD DAY SIR

From: Mr.Johnson Chitsungo
Johannesburg, South Africa
Tel: +27 785702690
E-mail: joh_chitsungo@hotmail.com

Dear Friend,

My name is Johnson Chitsungo, the eldest son of Mr. Lawrence Chitsungo of Zimbabwe. It might be a surprise to you, where I got your contact address. I got it from the International business directory.

During the current crisis against the Caucasian or White Farmers in Zimbabwe by the members of the ruling Party (ZANU-PF) or supporters of our president Mr. Robert Mugabe to claim all the white owned farmers in our country, he ordered all white farmers to surrender their farms to his party members and their followers.

My father was one of the best Black farmers in my country of origin Zimbabwe and also a member of the opposition party ( MDC ) and known for his non-support of the president’s political ideologies, was attacked by the president’s supporters and his farm invaded and burnt down including our house and belongings, my father was shot and died a few days later as a resulting of the gunshot wounds.

After his death, my mother and I together with my siblings decided to move out of Zimbabwe for the safety of our lives to South Africa.
Before my father death, he left me a note, which reads: “My beloved Son, I wish to draw your attention to the sum of US$12.5Million which I lodged in a Security Vault of a Security Company in South Africa called the BIDVEST PROTEA COIN GROUP for safe keeping. I made you the beneficiary of the Safe Deposit Box containing the funds and it can be claim by me alone with the deposit code, my mother has the entire documents for the Safe Deposit Box.

>From the above, you will understand that the lives of my family depend on this money and as such, I will be very grateful if you can assist us move this money out of South Africa to your country for investment. Presently we are living here in South Africa as political asylum seekers and the financial and Immigration laws of South Africa do not permit us to work or operate a bank account.

In view of this, I cannot invest this money in South Africa hence I am seeking your assistance to transfer this money out of South Africa for investment in your country, and for your efforts, I am willing to offer you 20% of the total sum, while 80% will be kept for my family and I for investment.

Finally, modalities on how the transfer will be done will conveyed to you once we establish trust and confidence between ourselves. I look forward to your urgent reply.

Best Regards,


Johnson Chitsungo
(For the family)


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