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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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Fraud email example:

From: "Takura Makoni" <makoniexcel@yahoo.co.uk> (may be fake)
Reply-To: makoniaa@yahoo.co.uk
Date: Mon, 4 Apr 2005 15:47:05 -0700
Subject: WHY I WRITE YOU

From:Takura Makoni

To err is human they say and to forgive is divine; but how
do you start to forgive the killers of your younger brother
if you do not know who the faceless persons are and if you
are still living in fear ofthem?

I am Takura, Simba Makoni's son; I'm a student at the
University of Cape Town in South Africa where my two
brothers and I were schooling;In line with the
prevailing festive seasons, I feel it is not out of order
to wish you and yours a happy festive season and God's
blessings and abundance in this year.

My younger brother was was pushed in front of an oncoming
train that crushed the life out of his young body.
We know he was murdered because my other brother and I have
also had attempts made on our lives twice now and we have
told our father about it.

Kindly allow me digress a little bit, I am not telling you
all of this to scare you please, I made my mind over and
decided to write to you after having given much thought to
our situation; My Father Dr.Simba Makoni, was the former
Minister of Finance and Economic Development in Zimbabwe
under the Government of Mugabe, his so called policies were
not too popular with the other zombie-like cronies of our
so-called president who openly questioned his loyalty to
Mugabe. That was when the problems all started, he got
death threats from people we did not know but suspected to
be party loyalists, his car was burnt on one occasion when
we were on a visit in Zimbabwe last year. The police did
not even bother trying to investigate the matter; Mugabe
finally removed him for openly and honestly declaring to
the world that Zimbabwe faced a major and crippling food
crisis at the height of the state-sponsored illegal land
invasions.

My younger brother varnished from our flat in Cape Town one
afternoon and his body was found drugged and battered and
all through his life he never smoked a stick of cigarette,
not even a stimulant. It was obvious that die-hard
supporters of Mugabe murdered him to spite or break my
father's spirit, for my father loved him the most like we
did.

This brings me back to why I write you; I write to solicit
for your help. My father was a successful businessman
before he was called to serve in Mugabe's cabinet and he
had business interests all over Africa, over here in South
Africa our family has US$14.7 Million held in trust on our
behalf by a Holden Agency, this was made possible by our
father years ago with the help of his advisor who runs a
finance company based here in South Africa.

According to my father, the deposit was not made in his
name but in the name of a company that was registered by
him and leaving room for another partner with 82%
controlling shares in the business; then the business was
registered both in South Africa and in Zimbabwe, so that no
one can claim that he was the owner of the money. My father
cannot travel down to South Africa as he is being watched
by agents of the state back home, he consulted with his
advisor who is in South Africa and came up with this idea
to help claim the funds and ferry my brother and I out of
South Africa to a place of relative safety like the United
States or England where we can continue with either
schooling or working.If you decide to assist us, you will
be required to discuss with us on Tel/Fax:+27 73-599-3635;
we has been authorized by our father to open discussions
with you if you signify your interest in assisting us.

I can also be contacted on makoniexcel@yahoo.co.uk.
Currently, my brother and I are living in South Africa and
after deliberating with our father, he sees no need for us
to return to Zimbabwe.

Please note that by your offering to assist us we will on
your contacting us by phone or Fax, discuss a suitable
compensation for you and also I would like to mention too
that this transaction must be conductedwithin a legal
framework as we have our father's good name to protect and
another major thing I demand from you is an honest answer
if you have handled any transaction of this kind of
magnitude before and assurance from you that our family
has your complete trust and assurance that the funds will
be safe once transferred to your account.

We thought that the recent elections in Zimbabwe would
maybe oust Mugabe and give us new hope to go back, but the
outcome of it has left us with a stronger resolve NEVER to
go back to Zimbabwe again.

So you see that we are really in dire need of assistance to
begin our lives anywhere away from Zimbabwe.

Please assist us.

Yours Sincerely,


Takura Makoni.


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