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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: "john zuma" <john_zuma_55@hotmail.com>
Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2006 09:45:44 +0200
Subject: UPDATE FROM JOHN ZUMA.

MY Dear Maria,

Greetings from Johannesburg, South Africa.

I tried several hours yesterday to call you, but after ringing it will go
into answering machine. I dropped a voice mail message for you to call me
back. I waited for your call back but to no avail.

As it stands now, I will be proceeding to the High of Johannesburg, South
Africa this morning to obtain an affidavit of facts for the change of the
next of kin and beneficiary of this fund to your name. This document will
confer all the privileges and all the powers appartaining thereto to you. If
I obtain this document today, I will forward it to you accordingly.

With this document, I will then make formal application to the bank for the
transfer of the fund to your nominated bank account in your country. As soon
as this is done, the bank will then contact you as part of their
verification excercise prior to the remittance of the fund to your account.

I wish to re-assure you that if the transferring bank is satified with all
the information and details provided to them, they will remitt this fund to
your account in the next 7 business days.

Sincerely Yours,

Mr. John Zuma.

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