419 scam: "Yahoo account Alert"<yahoo.customercare@yahoo.com> Contact Bank of America For Your Approved Check

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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:

This email uses a separate reply address that is different from the sender address. Spammers use this to get replies even when the original spam sending accounts have been shut down. Also, sometimes the sender addresses are legitimate looking but fake and only the reply address is actually an email account controlled by the scammers.
The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "insurance fee " (this will cost you money - be careful with upfront payments to anyone you only know through email, especially if they promise you a lot of money. NEVER send money by Western Union or MoneyGram to people you do not know personally - NO EXCEPTIONS! Instant wire transfer services are not meant to be used with strangers because they offer no protection against fraud. That is precisely why the criminals want you send money that way. )
- "western union" (this will cost you money - be careful with upfront payments to anyone you only know through email, especially if they promise you a lot of money. NEVER send money by Western Union or MoneyGram to people you do not know personally - NO EXCEPTIONS! Instant wire transfer services are not meant to be used with strangers because they offer no protection against fraud. That is precisely why the criminals want you send money that way. )
- "money gram" (this will cost you money - be careful with upfront payments to anyone you only know through email, especially if they promise you a lot of money. NEVER send money by Western Union or MoneyGram to people you do not know personally - NO EXCEPTIONS! Instant wire transfer services are not meant to be used with strangers because they offer no protection against fraud. That is precisely why the criminals want you send money that way. )
- "you are required to pay " (this will cost you money - be careful with upfront payments to anyone you only know through email, especially if they promise you a lot of money. NEVER send money by Western Union or MoneyGram to people you do not know personally - NO EXCEPTIONS! Instant wire transfer services are not meant to be used with strangers because they offer no protection against fraud. That is precisely why the criminals want you send money that way. )
- "robert mueller" (This name is often mentioned in money recovery scams (re-scam): the real FBI will not tell you to contact some email address. If you are in any doubt, contact an FBI field office via www.fbi.gov. )
- "cashier's check" (Beware of any scheme that involves cashing checks or money orders and then wiring a portion of the funds somewhere - you'll be liable for the entire amount if the checks or money orders turn out to be fake, even after you have received and forwarded cash. If it's a lottery prize, remember that real lotteries do not pay large prizes by check. They wire the money directly to your bank account and you do not pay for that. Many scammers promise a large check only in order to then demand payment of courier fees for a fake courier service. )
- "acc12cc@mail.mn" (this email address has been used in a known scam)
This email message is a fake lottery scam. Consider the following facts about real lotteries:
1. They don't notify winners by email.
2. You can't win without first buying a lottery ticket.
3. They don't randomly select email addresses to award prizes to.
4. They don't use free email accounts (Yahoo, Hotmail, etc) to communicate with you.
5. They don't tell you to call a mobile phone number.
6. They don't tell you to keep your winnings secret.
7. They will never ask a winner to pay any fees to receive a prize!
Western Union money transfer is completely untraceable and therefore is *not* safe to use with anyone you do not know personally. It is the preferred method of online criminals to collect money from their victims.

Fraud email example:

From: "Yahoo account Alert" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <alert_y14@yahoo.com>
Date: Sun, 18 Jul 2010 16:25:34 -0700
Subject: Contact Bank of America For Your Approved Check

Anti-Terrorist and Monetary Crimes Division
FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C.
Federal Bureau of Investigation

J. Edgar Hoover Building
Washington, D.C. 20535-0001

Telephone Number: (206) 973-2572

Attn: Beneficiary.

This is to Officially inform you that it has come to our notice and we have thoroughly completed an Investigation with the help of our Intelligence Monitoring Network System that you legally won the sum of $850,000.00 USD from the Bank of America Online Balloting System, which was held at the Bank of America Corporate Center in Charlotte, NC. During our investigation we discovered that your e-mail was one of the 8 Lucky Addresses in this New Year Balloting Program that won the money. Your Winnings have been deposited at the Bank of America (Bank Address: 1375 N Citrus Ave, Covina, CA 91722) and the Bank have been authorized to pay you via a Certified Cashier's Check drawn from the Bank of America.I wish to congratulate you on your winnings; your email address was among those chosen during the Bank of America Online balloting from the new Java-based software that randomly selects email addresses from the web from which winners are selected.

Normally, it will take up to 4 business days for a Bank of America Check to be cleared, cashed and remitted into your account by another local bank. We have successfully notified the banks on your behalf that funds are to be drawn from our registered bank (Bank of America) so as to enable you cash the check instantly without any delay, henceforth the stated amount of $850,000.00 USD has been deposited with our bank, Bank Of America in COVINA, CALIFORNIA.

We have completed this investigation and you are hereby approved to receive the certified cashier's check into your personal account as we have verified the entire transaction to be Safe and 100% risk free, due to the fact that the funds is with Bank Of America you will be required to settle the following bills directly to the Bank of America Agent in-charge of this transaction whom is located in Covina, California, United States of America. According to the directives, you are required to pay for the following -

(1) Deposit Fee's (Fee's paid to setup a new account for the beneficiary by the Bank of America)
(2) Courier Delivery Fee (Fee paid to deliver the check through UPS delivery to your designated address)
(3) Insurance Fee (This is the fee paid by bank to insure the check before been deposited at the bank to avoid any deduction)

The total amount for everything is $750.00 (Seven Hundred and Fifty-US Dollars). We have tried our possible best to indicate that this $750.00 should be deducted from your winning prize but we found out that the funds have already been insured and deposited at Bank Of America, Centralia, Washington and cannot be accessed by anyone apart from you the beneficiary, therefore you will be required to pay the required fee's to the Agent in-charge of this transaction via Western Union Money Transfer Or Money Gram.

In order to proceed with this transaction, you will be required to contact the agent in-charge (MR.PETER SPENCER) via e-mail.

Kindly look below to find appropriate contact information:

Contact Agent Name: MR.PETER SPENCER (Senior Personal Banker)
E-mail Address: acc12cc@mail.mn
Telephone Number: (415) 871-0744
Bank of America: 1375 N Citrus Ave, Covina, CA 91722.

You will also be required to e-mail him with the following information:

FULL NAME:
ADDRESS:
CITY:
STATE:
ZIP CODE:
DIRECT CONTACT NUMBER:
OCCUPATION:
ANY FORM OF IDENTITY:

You will also be required to request Western Union details on how to send the required $750.00 in order to immediately deliver your Funds of $850,000.00 USD via Certified Cashier's Check drawn from Bank Of America, also include the following transaction code in order for him to immediately identify this transaction : EA2948-910.

This letter will serve as proof that the Federal Bureau Of Investigation is authorizing you to pay the required $750.00 ONLY to Mr. Peter Spencer via information in which he shall send to you, if you do not receive your winning prize of $850,000.00 we shall be held responsible for the loss and this shall invite a penalty of $8,000 which will be made PAYABLE ONLY to you (The Winner).

Due to the confidentiality of this matter, I decided to contact you privately to avoid imposters.

Please find below an authorized signature which has been signed by the FBI Director- Robert Mueller, also below is the FBI NSB (National Security).

ONCE AGAIN CONGRATULATIONS.

FBI Director
Robert Mueller.

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam