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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: "Bank of America Alert" (may be fake)
Date: Sun, 19 Dec 2010 10:07:44 -0800
Subject: Bank of America Alert: Access To Online Banking Blocked


Exclusively for: Bank of America Customer

Online Banking Alert:

Online Banking Profile Locked

Security Checkpoint:
You last signed in to Online Banking on 12/17/2010.



For your security, access to online banking has been locked because the number of attempts to sign in exceeded the number allowed.
You must update you account profile. Please click, download and open the above Bank of America Attachment
and follow the instructions to be able to update and regain access to your online banking.


This Alert relates to your Online Banking profile, rather than a particular account. The account listed here is for verification purposes only.
.------------------------------------------------------------
Like to get more Alerts? Sign in to your Online Banking account at Bank of America and within the Accounts Overview page select
the Alerts tab.
------------------------------------------------------------

Security Checkpoint: This email includes a Security
Checkpoint. The information in this section lets you know
this is an authentic communication from Bank of America.


Bank of America Email,
8th Floor-NC1-002-08-25, 101 South Tryon St.,
Charlotte, NC 28255-0001

Bank of America, N.A. Member FDIC. Equal Housing Lender:

(C) 2010 Bank of America Corporation. All rights reserved.

AR72768/DD6A66

Anti-fraud resources: