Douala is a big city in Cameroon, Africa, and the number 00237 is its country code, not its postal, or zip, code. If you're wondering about this place, you may have received some weird emails from people claiming to be from Douala; if they mentioned money and sending Western Union funds, you can be one hundred percent certain that they are email scammers.
These types of scammers are everywhere on the World Wide Web, and a few gullible people fall into their clutches now and then. However, these are plenty of ways to cut and paste the Douala email into search engines and see what comes up - if you find information about the email being a scam, you'll know that you've been conned. Listen to your instincts - if it feels too good to be true, it is probably some type of shady email. Usually, these types of people will request a small payment (or your private banking information) before they can reward you with untold millions. Obviously, these sorts of windfalls just don't happen in real life, unless you win the lottery. To be safe, just delete any weird emails and forget about them.
Anything mentioning a bank or Western Union should probably be considered a scam, since real banks and fund-transfer companies will never ask you for account information through emails - they understand the security risks inherent in email transmissions. That's why banks have special, secure servers that they use to help accountholders bank online.
In general, any weird or unusual email you receive is going to be suspicious, and it should be treated as spam (and a scam), at least until you've proven otherwise. Spam from "Nigeria" is commonplace, and spam from Duala is not unheard of.
- Scam emails "from Africa" are common
These types of scammers are everywhere on the World Wide Web, and a few gullible people fall into their clutches now and then. However, these are plenty of ways to cut and paste the Douala email into search engines and see what comes up - if you find information about the email being a scam, you'll know that you've been conned. Listen to your instincts - if it feels too good to be true, it is probably some type of shady email. Usually, these types of people will request a small payment (or your private banking information) before they can reward you with untold millions. Obviously, these sorts of windfalls just don't happen in real life, unless you win the lottery. To be safe, just delete any weird emails and forget about them.
- Never give out account numbers
Anything mentioning a bank or Western Union should probably be considered a scam, since real banks and fund-transfer companies will never ask you for account information through emails - they understand the security risks inherent in email transmissions. That's why banks have special, secure servers that they use to help accountholders bank online.
In general, any weird or unusual email you receive is going to be suspicious, and it should be treated as spam (and a scam), at least until you've proven otherwise. Spam from "Nigeria" is commonplace, and spam from Duala is not unheard of.