I was just clearing out the junk mail folder in my Gmail acct. when this one caught my eye...nestled in amongst the other scams and mailings from girls who saw my "social media" profile and are dying to meet me and do all sorts of things to/for me.
At first glance, it seems very official, what with the Washington, DC address:
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Field Intelligence Groups J. Edgar Hoover Building
935 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, D.C.
Attention: Beneficiary,
We sincerely apologized for sending you this sensitive information via e-mail instead of a certified mail, post-mail, phone or face to face conversation, it's due to the urgency and importance of the security information of our citizens, I am Special Agent Mark Giuliano from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Field Intelligence Groups (FIGs). We intercepted two consignment boxes at JFK Airport, New York. The boxes were scanned and they contained large sum of money ($4.1 million) and also some backup documents which bears your name as the Beneficiary/Receiver of the money. Investigation was carried out on the diplomat that accompanied the boxes into the United States and he said that he was to deliver the fund to your residence as overdue payment owed to you by the Federal Republic of Nigeria through the security company in United Kingdom.
After cross-checking all legal documents in the boxes, we found out that your consignment was lacking an important document and we can't release the boxes to the diplomat until the document is found, we have no other option than to confiscate your consignment.
According to Internal Revenue Code (IRC) in Title 26 also contain reporting requirement on a Form 8300, Report of Cash Payment Over $10,000 Received in a Trade or Business, money laundering activity may violate 18 USC §1956, 18 USC 1957, 18 USC 1960, and provision of Title 31, and 26 USC 6050I of the United States Code (USC), this section will discuss only those money laundering and currency violation under the jurisdiction of IRS, your consignment lacks proof of ownership certificate from the joint team of IRS and IRC, therefore you need to reply back immediately for direction on how to procure this certificate to enable us relieved the charge of evading the law on you, which is a punishable offense in the United States.
You are required to reply back within 72 hours or you will be prosecuted in a court of law for money laundering, also you are instructed to desist from further contact with any bank(s) or person(s) in Nigeria or the United Kingdom or any part of the world regarding your payment because your consignment has been confiscated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation here in the United States.
Yours In Service,
Special Agent Mark Giuliano
Regional Deputy Director
Field Intelligence Groups (FIGs)
Wow, a twist on the old Nigerian scam! I wonder just how many people have actually fallen for this sort of thing; I hope none, but I'm sure there have been a few that were gullible and greedy enough to take the bait.
Funny thing, though; these were the two email addresses given in the mailing:
reply-to: mark_giuliano@aol.com
to: markgiuliano@ic.fbi.gov
Now, why would Agent Mark Giuliano use his own AOL account as the reply-to address? He had to put the @ic.fbi.gov one in there to make it look legit, I guess, but in the msg. header out in the open on the mail was this:
AGENT MARK GIULIANO
The babyplants.co.uk looks to be a legitimate website, but I'm not sure why the spammer/scammer would spoof that particular site address in the mailing?
There are so many things I'd love to know about how these scam artists operate and do these mass mailings, but only as a matter of curiosity. I'm glad I'm at least smart enough to recognize a con when I see one.