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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.

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Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: "WELLSFARGO BANK" <info@lee.com>
Date: Tue, 23 Jan 2018 03:36:30 -0600
Subject: SECURELY UPDATE YOUR ACCOUNT


=

=

Dear Valued Customer:

As part of our ongoing effort to protect your account and our relationship,=
we monitor your account for possible fraudulent activity. =

We need to confirm that you or someone authorized to use your account ma=
de the following activity(s) on your account =


1) A recent logon from a computer we do not recognize. =


What do I have to do?
Sign in to online Banking

Please review your recent activity and provide all neccesary information, a=
nd we'll help you take corrective action by activating the new Wellsfargo a=
ntispam to protect your accounts and email.
Once you have completed the process, we will send you an email notifying t=
hat your account is available again. After that you can access your account=
online at any time. =


The information provided will be treated in confidence and stored in our se=
cure database.
=

If you fail to provide required information your account will be automatica=
lly =

deleted from Our online database.

Your satisfaction is important to us, and we appreciate your prompt attenti=
on to this matter otherwise access to this account would be restricted. =


Thank you for being a Wellsfargo Bank customer. =


=20

Anti-fraud resources: