419 scam: "Dr. Silas Hungwe"<drhungwe@comcast.net> RE: VERY IMPORTANT

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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:

This email uses a separate reply address that is different from the sender address. Spammers use this to get replies even when the original spam sending accounts have been shut down. Also, sometimes the sender addresses are legitimate looking but fake and only the reply address is actually an email account controlled by the scammers.
The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "dear friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "million united states dollars" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- ",000,000" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- "00,000.00" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- "robert mugabe" (the name of a person or institution often appearing in 419 scams)
This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.

Fraud email example:

From: "Dr. Silas Hungwe" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <drsilashungwe@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 30 Sep 2010 10.47.30 +0200
Subject: RE: VERY IMPORTANT

Dear Friend,

Greetings to you! I am contacting you with regards to a possible partnership in any viable project underway.

I am Dr. Silas D. Hungwe the chairman of the Farmers Association of Zimbabwe. As a recap, this Association consists of white and coloured farmers that grows Tobacco, Maize, Cotton, Soybean and Rice in very large quantities and controls vast expanses of land for cultivation and farming purposes all over Zimbabwe.

As you may be aware, in the recent times the Government of Zimbabwe under the leadership of Robert Mugabe has been forcefully nationalizing and exciting our members from their various farm holds and giving same out to political cronies.

However, before the Government started their sinister and ill-advised vendetta against our members, our friends in government had tipped us off and we took proactive measures to protect our investments and money. With the assistance of friendly countries through their embassies we have been able to move a whole lot of cash running into Two Hundred and Fourthy-Five Million United States Dollars (US$245,000,000.00) through Diplomatic Bags into Madrid, Spain for safe keeping.

Now, our members have been able to acquire up to 3.6 Million Hectares of land in Costa Rica, South America and Thailand to continue our business of large scale farming. However, our consultants informed us that it will take about 6 Years to get the lands ready for cultivation. That means that the funds in bank vault in Madrid will remain idle for the equivalent period. Hence we have decided to invest such funds for about 5 years pending when they are needed. We are willing to invest the funds in any good and viable business or projects underway for that period of time as long as you have a very good business ideas and plans.

If this letter is agreeable and for any question, please do not hesitate to contact me for further information.

Thanks for your anticipated cooperation.

Dr. Silas D. Hungwe

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What can you do when you receive 419 spam