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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: charles botha <charlesbotha_011@msn.com>
Reply-To: <charlesbotha01@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 2 May 2009 09:00:11 +0000
Subject: REQUEST FOR URGENT TRANSFER




FROM: MR. CHARLES BOTHA
TEL : +277 193 694 12
EMAIL:charlesbotha01@gmail.com


REQUEST FOR URGENT TRANSFER

I am Mr. Charles Botha the manager of Auditing and Accounting department of a prime bank in South Africa . In my department, I discovered an abandoned sum of US$26 Million dollars (twenty six million dollars) in an account that belongs to one of our foreign customers who died of heart attack.
I need someone with a foreign account to be able to receive this money, even an empty account can serve to claim this money. Should you be willing to complete this transaction, send to me your private telephone and fax number for easy and effective communication and location on my private email:charlesbotha01@gmail.com
As soon as the transfer is concluded you are entitled to 25% of the total fund.
Upon receipt of your reply, I will give you more details on this transaction trusting to hear from you.

I await your response.

Best regards,

MR.CHARLES BOTHA

Anti-fraud resources: