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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: idriscollinscollins@yahoo.com
Date: Fri, 28 Jul 2006 17:19:23 +0200
Subject: FROM MRS TINA/URGENT CALL

Dear Sir,

A family friend in the diplomatic corp., who for reasons of his present
Assignation in government will prefer to remain anonymous, recommended you to me. My name is Mrs. Tina Zuma. My husband Dr Lucas Zuma, an intellectual and seasoned administrator was the chairman of Zimbabwe's land reform committee until last year when one of his strong member was murdered by members of the war veteran association who are being sponsored by the government of Dr Robert Mugabe to forcibly take over white owned farms.

My husband was murdered because he believed in due process and the right of others and this was evident in the manner in which he handled the issue of land reforms in Zimbabwe which totally disagreed with the agenda as set out by Dr Robert Mugabe who wanted to exploit the issue of land reform to perpetuate himself in office even though he has been ruling Zimbabwe for so long.

The original mandate under which the land reform committee was set up was to liaise between government and white farmers where each farmer will be expected to release a few thousand hectares not exceeding twenty percent of land holdings to government for which the farmer will be paid the market value. The land acquired from this process will then be redistributed to small farmers to cultivate. Everybody agreed that this was a laudable concept that they failed to see was Dr Mugabe's hidden agenda to perpetuate himself in office.

Dr Mugabe who was under pressure not to run for office again saw the land reform situation as a prime weapon to exploit in building support for himself. So rather than follow the original agenda as set out for the land reform committee, Dr Robert Mugabe covertly organized and financed a group of hoodlums who call themselves war veterans to attack white farmers and forcibly take over their farms.

Publicly the president showed his support for these war veterans and before long the situation degenerated to the extent hundred of farms were now being forcibly occupied by thousands of poor folk who see it as their chance to own their own piece of land. What we have now is a crisis that has almost brought the economy of Zimbabwe to its knees. Please and threat from the international community fell on deaf ears and as a result foreign investment is almost zero.

This was what prompted my husband to spearhead a serious opposition to Dr Mugabe's selfish agenda. He resigned his chairmanship of the land reform committee and publicly denounced the illegal occupation of white owned farms. Please pardon me for bordering you with this.

My husband and David Stephen were among the people that was abducted, savagely assaulted and brutally murdered by the so-called war veterans. During and after his burial I received death threats and the last straw was when they tried to burn my house down with my children and I sleeping inside. After this incident, my children and I escaped to South Africa where my husband had deposited the sum of $50.5million with a security company, which he had planned to use in financing his opposition to the destructive agenda of Dr Mugabe. Ordinarily being his next of kin and heir, the money should be released to me but my status as a refugee makes this impossible, as I do not own a bank account to which the money could be remitted into. I will be very much happy if you can assist us to receive this money in your account, please do not be afraid as the money belongs to my family and I have all the depository documents which is on my son name. If you can receive this money into your account on my behalf and help overse
e its investment in profitable stocks and shares. This of Course will be for reasonable commission. If you are willing to help us, please contact my son Mr. Frank Zuma, who will be working directly with you on this e-mail him on idriscollinscollins@yahoo.com He will give you more information on our arrangements. Looking forward to meeting with you as soon as arrangements is completed.

Best Regards
Mrs. Tina Zuma.



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