Warning: This message may not be from whom it claims to be. Beware of following any links in it or of providing the sender with any personal information.

======================================================
FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION
INTELLIGENCE FIELD UNIT
J. EDGAR HOOVER BUILDING
935 PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE,NW WASHINGTON,D.C.


I AM SPECIAL AGENT JOHN EDWARD FROM THE FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION (FBI) INTELLIGENCE UNIT, WE HAVE JUST INTERCEPTED AND IMPOUNDED TWO CONSIGNMENT BOXES AT JFK AIRPORT IN NEW YORK, AND WE ARE ON THE VERGE OF MOVING IT TO OUR BUREAU HEAD QUARTERS.


FURTHERMORE, WE HAVE SCANNED THE SAID BOXES, AND FOUND IT TO CONTAIN LARGE SUM OF MONEY AND ALSO BACKUP DOCUMENT WHICH BEARS YOUR NAME AS THE RECEIVER OF THE MONEY CONTAINED IN THE BOXES, INVESTIGATIONS CARRIED OUT ON THE DIPLOMAT WHICH ACCOMPANIED THE BOXES INTO THE UNITED STATES HAS IT THAT HE WAS TO DELIVER THIS FUNDS TO YOUR RESIDENCE AS PAYMENT WHICH WAS DUE TO YOU FROM FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OF NIGERIA THROUGH SECURITY COMPANY IN UNITED KINGDOM.


MEANWHILE, WE CROSS-CHECKED ALL LEGAL DOCUMENTS IN THE BOXES, AND WE ARE ABOUT TO RELEASE THE CONSIGNMENT TO THE DIPLOMAT WHEN WE FOUND OUT THAT THE BOXES ARE LACKING ONE VERY IMPORTANT DOCUMENT WHICH AS A RESULT, THE BOXES HAVE BEEN CONFISCATED.


ACCORDING TO SECTION 229 SUBSECTION 31 OF THE 2005 AMENDED CONSTITUTION IN TAX PAYMENT, YOUR CONSIGNMENT LACKS PROOF OF OWNERSHIP CERTIFICATE FROM THE JOINT TEAM OF THE IRS AND HOMELAND SECURITY, AND THEREFORE, YOU MUST CONTACT US FOR DIRECTION ON HOW TO PROCURE THIS CERTIFICATE SO THAT YOU CAN BE RELIEVED OF THE CHARGES OF EVADING TAX WHICH IS A PUNISHABLE OFFENSE UNDER SECTION 12 SUBSECTION 441 OF TAXATION LAW ON TAX EVASION.


YOU ARE REQUIRED TO CONTACT THIS BUREAU WITHIN 72HOURS, OR YOU WILL BE PROSECUTED IN THE 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 UNITED KINGDOM OR ANY PART OF THE WORLD REGARDING THIS PAYMENT, BECAUSE YOUR PAYMENT HAS BEEN IMPOUNDED BY THIS BUREAU HERE IN THE UNITED STATES.


YOURS IN SERVICE,
AGENT JOHN EDWARD
REGIONAL DEPUTY-DIRECTOR
FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION
INTELLIGENCE FIELD UNIT
J. EDGAR HOOVER BUILDING
935 PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE,NW WASHINGTON,D.C.
20535-0001,USA.

==============================================

Rather a cut above the usual Nigerian scams, don't you think? Note the general lack of misspellings and the [mostly] correct grammar. It is clever to bring in the bogeyman of the IRS, while still offering me a way out of the dilemma.

Not bad, not bad...

tanstaafl.

Uh, yuh. "Not bad" except that it arrived by email, rather than through a more legitimate delivery service such as registered mail.

Cheers

I think if you were the recipient of two large boxes of money into the U.S., the FBI might first contact you by smashing your door down and taking you into custody.

While the text is a cut above the usual scam email, it's still pretty poor. "on the verge", "scanned the said boxes" and such are not the wording typically found on threatening government documents.

www.419eater.com if you want to have fun with this.

The grammar is appalling, and it contradicts itself. Oh, and all caps?

It could have been convincing right up until the word AM in that first sentence.

Worrying if people get fooled by this sort of thing.

Quite funny though.

Oh, I don't mean to say it is perfect, just that it is much better than the typical Nigerian scam.

I'm sure that you or I could write a more convincing letter, but considering where this one came from, and the likely circumstances of the writer, it's not too bad.

People must continue to be fooled by these things, or else they wouldn't keep sending them.

tanstaafl.

www.419baiter.com is quite funny as well.

It takes a very low percentage, usually well below 1% to make the effort pay off for these scams, and the spam sales ones. These industries (along with gold sellers in games) continue to evolve to drive down cost while trying to keep their market reach for their message as big as possible. It's much like the evolution of other businesses over time, just with some illegal actions added in.

I deeply respect the people out there who try and combat this mess. It's a very tough issue to solve.

Think the latest estimated stat I saw was of the order of 0.3%, which still worked out at significant profit for these guys.

Huh, I'd think that just flat out asking for some money might net you a higher success rate. Then, again you probably wouldn't get quite the same dollar amount per "transaction".