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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

• About the 419 (Advance Fee) scam
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• Company names mentioned in 419 spam:
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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.

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:

• An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "a security company " (this will cost you money - that's what the scam is about)
  • "trunk box" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
  • "huge sum of money" (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)
  • "million us 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)
  • "your humble assistance" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
• This email message is a "Zimbabwe" scam.
• This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
  • tan_zubaro@yahoo.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "Tanko Zubaro" <tanko_zubaro22@yahoo.co.in> (may be fake)
Reply-To: tan_zubaro@yahoo.com
Date: Thu, 24 May 2007 23:37:04 -1200
Subject: Urgent bussiness assistance

From: Tanko Zubaro
Email: tan_zubaro@yahoo.com
Dear Sir,

You will be surprised to read from me, but please consider this letter as a genuine request from a family in dire need of your humble assistance. Firstly, I must introduce myself. I am Tanko Zubaro, A Citizen of Zimbabwe, but I am contacting you from Bangkok Thailand where I am now seeking political assylum. I got your contact through the Thailand Information Exchange Online.I am the only son of Musa Zubaro,

a wealthy black farmer and senior politician with the opposition political party in my country, Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). Our wicked President Robert Mugabe murdered my father, before I ran way from my country because I have become his next target to eliminate. My father was a fighter for Justice and a moving force in The MDC, a party wanting to end the several years of brutal Dictatorship government of President Robert Mugabe.

You will read more stories about President Mugabe's brutal acts by visiting this web site: http://www.rte.ie/news/2000/0418/zimbabwe.html

My father was accused of assisting the White farmers in fighting the government. Few weeks after his arrest, he was reported dead. The government claimed he died of heart attack and his body was never seen for proper autopsy, they buried him in the government cemetery. My father's associate Mr. Martin Olds a White farmer from Britain assisted me in fighting my father's death through the Court and media.

The Government saw us as a big threat to them and decided to eliminate us. Mr. Olds was attacked and murdered in his House, but fortunately, before they came looking for me, I received the news and I left the country through the border to South Africa to save my life, before my arrival here in Bangkok Thailand.

Here is my reason for contacting you. Before the death of my father, he deposited the sum of Ten Million US Dollars (US$10,000,000.00) with a security company when he went to Thailand to purchase his farm machinery equipment, as if he foresee the looming danger in Zimbabwe. The money was deposited as a gem/precious stone in a metal trunk box to avoid seizure and much demurrage from the security company organization.

This money was earmarked for the purchase of new machinery and chemicals for the farms and the establishment of new farms in Lesotho and Swaziland.

The government seized my father’s farms and bank account before his arrest and Murder. He told me everything concerning the funds while he was still in detention. This is why I need your assistance in securing the funds there in your Country, so that I can arrange on how to come over to your country for the investment of the fund, I am willing to offer you 25% of the US$10,000,000.00 Million for your assistance and you are to provide

an account where the funds will be transferred into because I am faced with the dilemma of investing this amount of money in Thailand as the financial law and regulations of the government of Thailand does not give we assylum seekers financial rights to such huge sum of money. In view of this, I cannot invest the fund in Bangkok, Thailand. Moreover, the Thailand monetary policy/law does not allow such investment by an asylum seeker or refugee.

Please, let me know if you can assist me, so that I can give you more details on how we shall proceed. As I wait for your urgent Response, please treat this information as top secret.

Yours truly,
Tanko Zubaro

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam