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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: "Richard P. Smith" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <paulsmith3ca@globomail.com>
Date: Wed, 27 Apr 2011 12:04:19 -0400
Subject: **SPAM** Re: I need your urgent help.

From: Richard Paul Smith.
Marondera Province,
Zimbabwe.

My Dear Friend,

I am Richard Paul Smith, a white Zimbabwean Farmer. I am presently contacting you on a very urgent issue. My younger brother, David Smith was brutally assassinated by hoodlums loyal to the government of President Robert Mugabe. He was murdered barely one week after one of our farm lands situated on a landmass of 10,000 hectares was taken away from us by the Government. After the brutal murder of my brother David, I had to move members of our family out of Zimbabwe to Uganda to give me time to relocate and resettle. The death of my brother was also reported on CNN and BBC. You can view and read more about this through the link below:

http://livingzimbabwe.com/2009/03/white-farmers-you-are-not-welcome-in-zimbabwe.html

Before David's assassination, the fight against the white farmers by the black loyalist to Mugabe's government became so fierce that we had to sell off most of the tractors and farm machinery we had, withdrew all our savings from the bank in preparation to run away from the country. We deposited all our money in a security company. The security company had the money defaced to look like plane black carbon papers just to make sure they beat security operatives at the airport during shipment via cargo. It was at the point of conclusion with immigration requirements for our departure from Zimbabwe that the unfortunate incident of David's murder took place.

I am appealing to you in trust to lay claims to our money, which is all we have left as a family to survive on. The money deposited with the security company is $9.7 Million Dollars. The security company moved it to a safe location. I will disclose this location to you after I get your positive response to help us. For your assistance and acceptance to help us, you will get 30% of the total sum and keep the balance for us while we make arrangement to meet with you in your country if your country's government policies would allow us room to start up our farming business.

If you are ready to help my family, the security company would need from you, the following information to contact you:


1. Your Full names.
2. Personal Phone number.
3. Personal Fax number.
4. Occupation.
5. Sex.
6. Age.
7. Nationality.
8. City and Country of residence

As soon as I have this information, I will pass it on to the security company before you contact them as our family trustee to lay claims to the funds. God bless you as you help us.

Regards,

Richard Paul Smith.



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