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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: "Mrs Bahija El Ayeb" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <bahijaelayeb@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 24 Mar 2011 03:38:06 +0800
Subject: Hello My Dear

My Dear,

My Name is Mrs Bahija Mahmoud El Ayeb from Libya,I am writing from Libya. Please in the news you can hear or see what is going on about the uprising in my country Libya about the citizens to remove the President, President Muammar Gaddafi. Please you can check in the news about the uprising in Libya.

My Husband was one of the financial advisers to the president and due to the problem in Libya, he was killed about two weeks ago, I have been in hiding here in Libya due to the problems and killings which have made me to contact you to help me secure the sum of US$6,000,000 (Six Million United States Dollars) which the President Muammar Gaddafi gave to my husband when they were still in good terms for investment purposes.

The money is in a trunk box. Everybody thinks I died with my husband in the explosion that killed my husband and my children but I escaped by grace of God.

Please I am contacting you for you to assist me claim the money and have it shipped to your country for a better investment and am ready to give you 40% of the total money if you are ready to help me. Reply me through this email address: bahijaelayeb@gmail.com

Mrs Bahija Mahmoud El Ayeb

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