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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: MADAMZINAB HASSAN <hassanzinab2@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 4 Jan 2014 10:42:29 -0800
Subject: DEAR I NEED YOUR HELP

--
Dear Friend,
I hope my mail will fine you and your family in good health. My name is
Zinab Hassan, i know it will be a big surprise for you to receive my email
because email like these fly over the internet telling people about funds
and every other things. but my self always receives offer from the internet
which i normally delete because i believe it will be scam letter but
please i beg you and i swear to the Allah i worship that what am telling
you is not a joke or a scam, if you follow everything i have said in my
letter both of us will be happy for the rest of our life.

am from Libya and my husband is one of the late Gaddafi sons driver. it was
my husband who took Gaddafi family to Niger and Algeria when they ran from
Libya. but he came back to Libya and died when their convoy was hit by NATO
bomb. but he told me something very important when he was alive. he told me
how he took some money from Gaddafi son and kept it in a secret place.

he said the money is in Us Dollars 13.6 million Us Dollars and all kept in
a big suitcase kept in a secret hide out. and also 86 kilos of gold which
he kept somewhere else. I will want to give you information about all what
am saying because seeing is believing. i am presently out of Libya because
we ran out during the war.

why am written you is because i want you to take ownership of the funds and
gold which my husband kept because if people knows that it belongs to my
late husband they will size it and report to the Libyan government. my
husband fight and died for his master so please i have to keep everything
secret until i hear from you. and please all what am saying is just known
by the both of us and nobody else.

i have 6 children for my husband and nothing to feed them here until i can
get hold of what i just told you but i still have to be very carefully not
to lose the money or the gold. i will share the money and the gold with you
if you will assist me.

just for you to claim ownership of the money and the gold i will give you
half of the money and half of the gold when it is under your control. i
will tell you how you can receive the money and the gold when i hear from
you. also every other details will be given when i see your seriousness to
help us receive the both items. please send me your direct details and
phone number so we can talk. my first son speak English very well. please
reply with your information.

i also want you to know that the money and the gold are not in Libya both
of them are kept in different countries. i will let you know the countries
as soon as i hear from.this my email Address (madamzinabhssann@yahoo.com)
i will wait for your reply
REgards
Madam Zinab

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