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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.

 

 

Fraud email example:

From: "Williams Samora" <williamssamora@zwallet.com> (may be fake)
Reply-To: williamssamora@netscape.net
Date: Tue, 21 Sep 2004 13.42.56 +0200
Subject: Dear Friend.

STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL
You may be surprised to receive this letter from
me,since you don't know me personally.I am Mr.Williams
Samora the only son of Late Dr Richard
Samora,who was recently mudered in a land dispute
in Zimbabwe.I got your contact through an internet
trade directory here in Italy during my search for a
reputable person to handle a very confidential
transaction which involves a transfer of fund to a
foreign account and I decided to contact you.I don't
know your person but I relied on faith to see me
through.
My late father Dr Richard Samora was among the
few black rich Zimbabwean farmers that were murdered
in cold blood by the agents of the ruling government
of president robert mugabe for his alleged support and
sympathy for the zimbabwean opposition party
controlled by the white minority.He was in support of
the white monority and he has paid the highest prize
for that before his untimely death,he had deposited
the sum US$20.5million (twenty million, five hundred thousand Dollars). This
money was deposited in a box as a family valuables to
avoid demurrage with a private security company in
South Africa in Johannesburg.This fund was meant for
the purchase of new machinery, agro-allied
chemicals and establishment of new farms acquired in
lesotho Swaziland.
This land problem came when our president,Sir Robert
Mugabe introduced a new land "Act" Modi Operadus
reform which wholly affected the rich white farmers
and some few blacks.A lot of people vehemently
rejected the whole excercise and this resulted in
rampant killings and mob action by the war veterans
and some political thugs, of which my late father was
one of the victims,My father was solely killed because
of his support for the white farmers.Precisely more
than thirty people have been killed so far Heads of government from the western
World especially Britain and United States of America have voiced their
condemnation of Mugabe's plan.Subsequently South Africa Development community
(SADC)has continously supported Mugabe's new land act.
Based on this my family were scattered,I am staying in
Italy as a refugee while my mother and my two younger
sisters are staying in South Africa as refugees as
well.We decided to contact you to assist us in
transfering this money to your account in your country
or any part of the world for investment as the
monetary/investment laws of South Africa and Italy
prohibit refugees from running bank accounts or be
involved in any transaction/investment.Based on
this,we are hoping that you will assist us with the
Name of God.
As the only son,am saddled with the responsibility of
seeking a genuine and honest person who will assist us
in transfering this money out of South Africa without
the knowledge of my country government who are bent on
taking everything my late father had,after
confiscating all his farm lands and investments in
Zimbabwe.We are absolutely left with nothing except
this money.
For your kind assistance,we are offering
you 20% of the total fund after the successful
transfer of the fund to your account.5% will be set
aside for any expenses that we might incure at the
course 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.you can Contact me
back if this proposal is of interest to you,while I implore
you to maintain absolute confidentiality required in
this transaction.
Yours Truly,
Mr.Williams Samora.
(for the family)


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