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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: "SOUTH AFRICAN DEPT OF MINING &ENERGY" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <festusmavimbela@sify.com>
Date: Thu, 18 Mar 2010 06:44:39 -0500
Subject: YOUR ASSISTANCE IS NEEDED(CONTACT ME IMMEDIATELY)

Engr. Festus Mavimbela
Pretoria
South Africa
Email: festusmavimbela@sify.com



I am Engr. Festus Mavimbela, a Native of Cape Town in South Africa working with the South African Department of Mining & Energy.

First and foremost I apologize for using this medium to reach you for a transaction of this magnitude but this is due to confidentiality and prompt access reposed on this medium.

Be informed that a member of the Trade and Investment South Africa (TISA) Promotion Agency, who was part of my government delegation to your country during a recent Trade Exhibition, gave your enviable credentials/particulars to me while assuring me on your competence to handle a business transaction involving a large sum of money with absolute confidentiality.

Therefore I have decided to seek a confidential co-operation with you in the execution of the deal described hereunder for the benefit of all parties and while hoping you will keep it as top secret because of the nature of this transaction.

Within the Department of Mining & Energy where I work as a Director and with the cooperation of two other top officials, we have in our possession an overdue contract payment bills totaling Sixteen Million, Four Hundred Thousand united states dollars (16,400,000.00).This money which we intend to process its transfer as a form of contract payment into a reliable company/individual account depending on your convenience.

Your assistance and co-operation is required due to the circumstances surrounding our work as government officials whereby the South African Civil Service Code of Conduct does not allow us to operate a foreign Bank account hence your importance in the whole transaction.

Presently, this amount (16.4M) representing the balance of the total contract value executed on behalf of my Department by a foreign contracting firm which we the officials over-invoiced deliberately is lying unclaimed in the government escrow bank account with Reserve Bank of South Africa. We hereby seek your assistance and co-operation that will enable us to process this sum of money to you as a form of contract payment.

We have the necessary authority to validate and forward approvals of outstanding contract claims to the government for final payment on approval through the Reserve Bank of South Africa (RSBA).

All partners agreed while mandating me to propose that should you be willing to assist us in the transaction, your share of the sum will be 25% of the 16.4 million,70% will be for us and 5% for any expenses incurred in the course of this project including telephone and fax bills.

The business itself is 100% safe on your part provided you treat it with utmost secrecy and confidentiality. Also note that your area of specialisation is not a hindrance to the successful execution of this transaction.

I have reposed my confidence in you while awaiting your prompt response through the private email address: festusmavimbela@sify.com above to notify me of your capability to assist us in achieving success in this transaction.

Finally on your part, we will appreciate you treat this transaction as a very confidential one while we assure you of a 100% safe and full proof free transaction provided you follow our instructions totally.

I await your confirmation of my message while praying that this will be the beginning of a lifelong partnership between us.

Thank you for your co-operation.

Yours faithfully,

Engr. Festus Mavimbela


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