Not all Nigerian letters come from Nigeria, some of them appear to come from Libya, although merely because the email refers to a particular country does not mean that the email actually originated in that country. What we call the Nigerian email scam did not even originate in Nigeria.  The scam has been with us for hundreds of years, first appearing in the 1500s and was originally dubbed the Spanish Prisoner scam because the victim was told that a Spanish nobleman was being held prisoner and that if the unsuspecting victim would just help with the ransom, he would be rewarded not only with a substantial amount of money, but also the Spanish nobleman’s daughter’s hand in marriage.  The gist of the scam remains the same today.  Generally it starts with an email to you that under any of a number of pretenses promises you great riches, initially without any expenditure of your own funds, but as the victim gets drawn into the plot, funds are required from the victim for fees, bribes, or other costs in order to get the funds being dangled in front of the victim.   Below you will find a typical email that turned up in my email box this week.

TIPS

The first thing you should always consider when receiving an email such as the one below is “why me.”  As just about always in these situations, if it sounds too good to be true it usually is phony.  Don’t try to outsmart the scammers.  That could possibly lead to serious trouble.  The best course of action is to just get a good laugh at the email and then hit “delete.”

“FOR YOUR PERUSAL,

I am Engineer Luis Edward a petrochemical/oil
exploration engineer with ARABIAN GULF EXPLORATION COMPANY (AGECO)  one of the
registered oil & gas exploration company in Libya.  I need your
collaboration to investing in your country. Can you assist me and two other
colleagues to “RECEIVE” some funds raised from sale of crude oil? Get back to me
for more details. Thank you for your anticipated partnership while your response
is expected if you are capable.

Waiting for your response.

Engr. Luis Edward
ARABIAN GULF
EXPLORATION COMPANY (AGECO) LIBYA”