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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.

 

 

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

Fraud email example:

From: "Good News" <goodnews87@gazeta.pl>
Reply-To: freshfact@mighty.co.za
Date: Wed, 25 Jun 2008 10:16:35 -0700
Subject: STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL


STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL
Date: 25th June, 2008

Dear friend,


A certain Mr. Williams Garcia, was a first generation immigrant to South
Africa during the apartheid regimes. Williams Garcia, became very successful
here in South Africa, as a big time contractor to the successive apartheid
regimes in South Africa and he has banked with a certain commercial bank
here in South Africa, for decades. Today I am the Head of the Treasury
Department of this same bank, where Williams Garcia, has been banking with.
I have worked with this same bank, which is a commercial bank located here
in Johannesburg South Africa, for the last 15years and have been Williams
Garcia's account manager in this bank for the last 10 years. My name is Mr.
John Letemu, and I am a citizen of South Africa.


Painfully and unfortunately too, Mr. Williams Garcia, his wife Alice and
only son Charles, all died in Thailand, where they were on holiday, on 26th
December 2004, as victims of the unfortunate Indian ocean Tsunami of that
year. Before his death, Williams Garcia, had a substantial amount of money
left in his account with our bank and unfortunately he died without a will,
or survivor. As a result of these two facts, his account has remained
inactive ever since and nobody has come forward to ask for this money,
whether as either his next of kin, or the administrator of his estate, or
anything. As things stand now, if nobody asks for this money very soon, then
my bank will legally appropriate to itself the whole money in this account,
as a fund, whose owner has been untraceable.


Therefore, my purpose of writing you this letter, in your position and
capacity as a foreigner and a non-resident, and non-citizen of South Africa,
is to request for your cooperation and collaboration with me, for you and I
to demand for and indeed claim the money in this his bank account with my
bank to ourselves, instead of allowing the bank to do same. Our moral
justification for doing so is that if we fail to do so, the bank will
certainly claim the money, as it's own. However, the best thing would have
been to pay the money to any living relation of the deceased customer, to
whom it would rightly have belonged to, but there is absolutely no such
known existing relation, { haven searched for same in vain, since January
2005}; thus leaving the money now at the mercy of whoever is able to claim
it first, between you and I on one hand andthe bank on the other hand, as we
are the only two parties that know about anything surrounding the said fund.



Friend, your cooperation/collaboration with me in this venture is inevitable
to it's success, because this money can only be released to a claimant that
is not a South African citizen and one that is domiciled outside South
Africa. No doubt, you fit the criteria perfectly well. My idea here is that
our two sides will share this amount with the accrued interests, in agreed
ratios, after it is paid to you as the supposed authentic next-of-kin to the
Williams Garcia, because we need each other to make this happen. We may also
choose to reinvest the money too and own such investments jointly upon
agreed ratios too.


Please take notice and get the understanding that I never wrote, implied,or
insinuated that the late Williams Garcia, was your dead relation,or related
to you in any other way, or even known to you, as I have no such evidence,
or any reason to suggest that. I am simply, confidently telling you that the
combination of the fact that your are a foreigner domiciled outside the
Republic of South Africa and my strategic position in the subject bank, are
more than sufficient for me to cause the above money that he left in his
account since 2004, to be legitimately, genuinely and lawfully paid in your
favour, as if you were indeed related to him actually; the fact that you are
not, notwithstanding. I am also guaranteeing that this project will be done
according to internationally accepted standards of practice and morals only.



Essentially I need you to organize the reception and custody of the money in
any country outside South Africa, which may, or may not be your home
country, or country of your normal domicile. My own duty is to arrange and
cause our bank to effect, the hitch-free movement of the funds from the bank
here to such your chosen destination and doing so in the most legitimate,
lawful and ethically acceptable way. To do this effectively, I have also
gotten the cooperation of the Director in charge of the International
banking Dept of this our bank, whom I have co-opted in this project and who
is already working with me here on the project now. What is even more
interesting about this project is that you are not required to put up, or
pay even a dime of your own money in the project. Therefore, what else can
you ask for, or could one wish for,better than this?

There is currently $22,150,002.00, (Twenty Two million, one hundred and
fifty thousand, two US Dollars) in the said account, plus the compounded
interests that have accrued to it since January 2005, all of which we will
move to your instructed bank,or chosen destination outside Africa, by Swift
transfer, or cashier?s cheques. This US$22,150,002.00 plus interests, is the
amount I am telling you that we have to move over to you and share, or
re-invest and own upon mutually agreed ratios. The above amount will be to
our mutual benefits and be ours legitimately too. Out of this amount, I am
proposing for your consideration, that you will be entitled to one third of
the $22,150,002.00, (Twenty Two million, one hundred and fifty thousand, two
US Dollars), Plus1/3 of all interests that have accrued on this sum from
January 2005 to date, as your commission/share, on the completion of the
project. Again, in order not to run foul of the Patriot Act, or any other
such laws that may be in force anywhere, we can as well move this fund in
many installments of smaller bits of say $2.0m, or less at a time, if you
want. However, appropriate documentations and clearance will accompany any
sum being sent to you, to show the legitimacy and legality of the payment.


Moreover everything about this transaction will be done in a most civilized
and non-criminal way, which must be according to internationally acceptable
standards of practice and morals. In addition there is no risk of failure,
or legal, or security problems, or prosecutions etc, foranybody in this
transaction both now and in the future. Therefore, need I say again that you
will indeed not regret your choice of doing this transaction with me at all?



I therefore very earnestly solicit your sincerest cooperation in this
project and I will be very glad to give you some specifics as you may demand
from me, as soon as you have confirmed your interest in this proposal.
Please give me your urgent reply in very strict confidence, by email at:-
johnletemu@mighty.co.za first and we will proceed from there.


Yours very Sincerely.

Mr. John Letemu.

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