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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: "Mariam Ibrahim" <i.mariam331311@yahoo.fr>
Reply-To: i_mariam331311@yahoo.fr
Date: Mon, 16 Nov 2015 21:36:33 -0500
Subject: From Mariam Ibrahim


Hello Dear,
=

I am Mariam Ibrahim, widow to late Mr. Yusuf Ibrahim from Libya who was kil=
led during the Libya civil war. I and my only child are presently living in=
Benin Republic at the moment as a refugee. we are residing here in Benin r=
epublic, as a result of the civil war that was fought in our country Libya,=
I have a sum of $18.500.000.00 USD million deposited in an offshore financ=
ial house and i plead for your help to transfer this money from the present=
financial house to another bank of your choice in your name for investment=
in your country. Please this transaction requires immediate attention beca=
use of the political situation in our country (Libya) and i do not want to =
lose this money to the rebels or government, because this is the only thing=
left for me and my child now and I want to start a new life with it. My la=
te husband was the then managing director of a Gold & Mine Ind in Libya bef=
ore rebels attacked our house and killed him in cold blood.
=

It is a huge sum of money which i can't afford to lose that is why i am ple=
ading for you to stand as the beneficiary and transfer to your bank account=
of your choice; i will offer you 30% of the total sum as soon as it confir=
med pay into your account. I believe you can help me, but on the contrary p=
lease forgive my indulgence and delete this e-mail content without sharing =
with anyone, as i am writing without any other person(s) pre-knowledge of m=
y contacting you.
=

But if you are interested and able to handle this for me in all honesty wit=
hout any betrayal of trust that I shall repose on you, please contact me fo=
r more details.
=

I am waiting to hear from you.
Thank you,
Ms. Ibrahim.

Anti-fraud resources: