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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: Vincent Chombo Jr <kumari@tuttopmi.it>
Reply-To: <vincentchombza@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 23 Sep 2016 12:31:41 +0200
Subject: FAMILY LETTER ATTACHED

                                                                                  We Humbly Need Your Assistance
From: Vincent Chombo
Human Rights Commission
29 Princess of Wales Terrace,
Cnr York and St Andrews Street, Parktown, Johannesburg
Private Bag 2700, Houghton, Johannesburg 2041
 
Good Day ,
 
I hope you would not be embarrassed to read such a traumatizing mail from someone you do not know and have not met before. My name is Vincent Chombo, the only son of Mr. Jerold Chombo from Zimbabwe currently residing in South Africa as asylum Seekers. I am contacting you on behalf of my father, who is currently paralyzed and my mother Mrs. Anna Chombo and two sisters Maria and Jane, we seek your assistance for a new life and the investment of US$ 20, 200, 000.00 (Twenty Million, two hundred thousand United States Dollars).
 
The story of Zimbabwe, as I believe is no more news but probably has made headlines on almost all countries national news papers. But you can read more from the URL below, generated from the Human Right Watch.
 
Our farm was invaded on the 23rd of January 2003 by the war veterans of the ZANU-PF being the electoral party of the current president Robert Mugabe. At first there was an understanding that we should share the land equally with them, which my father peacefully agreed and shared the land to maintain peace and to remain in his tobacco business, but the story changed after the last election of March 29 2008, which the whole supporters of the opposition party of MDC (Movement for democratic change) believed that the ZANU-PF has lost the election and also many country believed the same and the delay in the release of the presidential result.
 
This caused more problems with the MDC supporters which my family as one of the families that supports the MDC was asked to evacuate our family business and everything that we own to the ZANU-PF war veterans and many other families where affected.
 
Let me not go further in touching my wounds. This news shocked my father causing him a brain stroke and half of his body is paralyzed till date. We left to South Africa and upon our arrival my mother made a deposit of the above mentioned amount into one of the Private Banks. but to our greatest surprise we were expecting the President of South Africa where most Zimbabweans has ran to secure their lives, to intervene in the case, since he is the Mediator and to the worlds greatest surprise he made it clear on a National Conference that there was no crisis in Zimbabwe. This has posed a lot of questions to our security in this neighboring country.
 
Coupled with the recent xenophobic attack on foreigners in South Africa, we have come to a conclusion that this is not a safe place for us to be, as many foreign investors are pulling out there Investment from this country, and we cannot continue with any form of investment. The above funds were moved from Zimbabwe through the Eagle Security Services and with documents of clean background it was accepted and deposited as investment fund under my name (Vincent Chombo) as the beneficiary. As it stands we cannot move this fund out of this country via security services anymore as it has being deposited into an account already and our status as refugees has limitations to certain financial obligations and operations.
 
Please my family would really appreciate it if you could help us; we only need your help to stand as our Overseas Family Business Partner and the fund would be transferred to you on Investment Ground and I would fly my family out of this country to meet with you and start up a new life and a proper medical attention for my father.
 
This is a clean fund from our family business. All we need is a new life somewhere that is secure
I would give you more details on how this could be achievable as soon as I get your favorable response via Email or telephone number.
I would appreciate if you respond to me via my personal email: vincentchomb@gmail.com
 
Yours Faithfully
Vincent Chombo (Son)
For the Family

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