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CONSUMER ALERT: Nigerian Scam Email Claims to be from the FBI
January 13, 2012

If you’ve recently received a message that claims to be from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) informing you that a huge transfer of funds from the Bank of Nigeria is waiting for your signature, please do not be fooled. It is a scam.

Variations on the “Nigerian Scam” are always circulating around cyberspace. In many cases, con artists will try to convince unsuspecting victims that a massive amount of cash is being held in Nigeria, and that the email recipient can receive a substantial portion of the funds if he/she wires money to transfer the funds to an American bank.

Communicating with the scammers will lead to requests for your personal information and bank account numbers and continual requests for payments. Some victims have even been convinced to travel to Nigeria or a border country to provide an “advance fee.” According to U.S. State Department reports, people who responded to these travel solicitations have been beaten, subjected to threats and extortion, and, in some cases, murdered.

Often these scams claim to be from Nigerian officials or consultants on Nigerian government projects and include “sob” stories and exceptionally polite language. This recent version of the scam attempts to pass itself off as an official communication from an FBI executive and is notable for its threatening language and poor grammar (NOTE:  see example below).

Simply put, it is not from the FBI, there is no money being held and you are not at risk of prosecution for not responding to the email. If you receive an email like this or an email offer from someone claiming to need your help getting money out of Nigeria (or any other county, for that matter), forward it to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) at uce@ftc.gov.

If you have lost money to one of these schemes, contact your local Secret Service field office (www.secretservice.gov) or call the Wisconsin Bureau of Consumer Protection hotline at 800-422-7128.

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EXAMPLE OF "FBI" NIGERIAN SCAM EMAIL:

From: F.B.I WASHINGTON DC
Sent: Friday, January 13, 2012 1:08 PM
Subject: F.B.I WE NEED AN URGENT RESPONSE TO THIS NOW

ANTI-TERRORIST AND MONETORY CRIMES DIVISION FBI HEADQUARTERS WASHINGTON, D.C.

FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION

J. EDGAR HOOVER BUILDING

935 PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE,

NW WASHINGTON, D.C. 20535-0001

Fax 0872 111 5935

 

Bank of Nigeria transferred 10,500,000.00 us dollars to bank of America in your favor as the beneficiary; bank of Nigeria used (secret diplomatic transit payment to wire this money. Secret diplomatic payments are only made if its Terrorist related. why must your payment be made by a secret transfer, if you are not a terrorist, then why did you not Receive the money? Why did you instruct them to use a coded means to transfer your money? We have intercepted the transfer of $10,500,000.00 usd to you .we advise you to contact us immediately for directives on what next to do, as your money is In a suspense account in the bank of America, present to us your diplomatic immunity seal of transfer (dist) document 

To prove this money is not terrorist related.

Failure to produce the dist document, we shall impound your money and prosecute you for criminal offense, but on the Contrary the money will be released immediately we receive the dist document. The dist document guarantees the following

60t your transferred money is genuine

61h you are empowered to receive the money without further scrutiny 62j your receiving bank account can either be in usa/uk/outside or anywhere you wish 

Reply immediately with this dist document if you want to receive your transferred moneys we intercepted Respond within 24 hrs upon receipt of this mail


Assistant director in charge

James w. Mcjunkin

For

Robert s. Mueller, iii

Federal bureau of investigation

United states department of justice

Washington, d.c. 20535

 

Cc Canadian police association

Cc Asia pacific group on money laundering (apg) Cc international monetary fund (imf) Cc international organization of security commission (Iosco) Cc economic financial crime commission (efcc)

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