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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: "Mrs. Melissa Muammar Gaddafi" <Mrs.MelissaMuammarGaddafi101@hotmail.com>
Date: Fri, 6 Dec 2013 14:01:27 +0200
Subject: From:Mrs. Melissa Muammar Gaddafi.



Greeting,

My Name is Melissa Gaddafi And am contacting you due to the resent
televised tragedy in Uttarakand country.Am suffering from cancer which
might take my life,so i decided to help the poor and needy in your
country. I don’t have any other option than to tell you as I was
touched to open up to you, I am married to Mr. Muttasin Muammar
Gaddafi who worked with Libyan embassy in London for ten years before
he died in the year 2005.we were married for eleven years without a
child. He died after a brief illness that lasted for only five days
Since his death I decided not to remarry again, when my late husband
was alive he deposited the sum of US $ 8.5m (Eight Million Five
hundred thousand dollars) in a Bank in Thread needle St, London EC2R
8AH, United Kingdom presently this money is still in Bank. He made
this money available for exportation of gold from London mining.

As soon as I receive your reply I shall give you the contact of the
bank in London and I will send authority letter that will prove you
the present beneficiary of the money that is if you assure me that you
will act accordingly as I stated herein.

Yours sincerely,
Mrs. Melissa Muammar Gaddafi.

Anti-fraud resources: