Warning: Reverse Nigerian Scam Email

34 replies
I got the following phishing email this morning. I hadn't seen this variation before, so I thought I would pass a warning to the Warriors...

Subject line: ATM CARD PAYMENT

Anti-Terrorist and Monitory Crimes Division.
Federal Bureau Of Investigation.
J. Edgar. Hoover Building, Washington D.C


ATTN: BENEFICIARY

This is to Officially inform you that it has come to our notice and we have thoroughly completed an Investigated with the help of our Intelligence Monitoring Network System that you are having an illegal transaction with Impostors claiming to be Prof. Charles C. Soludo of the Central Bank Of Nigeria, Mr. Patrick Aziza, Mr Frank Nweke,Sanusi Bello none officials of Oceanic Bank, none officials of Zenith Bank and some impostors claiming to be the Federal Bureau Of Investigation agents. During our Investigation, it came to our notice that the reason why you have not received your payment is because you have not fulfilled your Financial Obligation given to you in respect of your Contract/Inheritance Payment.


So therefore, we have contacted the Federal Ministry Of Finance on your behalf and they have brought a solution to your problem by coordinating your payment in the total amount of $800,000.00 USD which will be deposited into an ATM CARD which you will use to withdraw funds anywhere of the world. You now have the lawful right to claim your funds which have been deposited into the ATM CARD.


Since the Federal Bureau of Investigation has been involved in this transaction, you are now to be rest assured that this transaction is legitimate and completely risk-free as it is our duty to Protect and Serve citizens of the United States Of America. All you have to do is immediately contact the ATM CARD CENTER via E-mail for instructions on how to procure your Approval Slip which contains details on how to receive and activate your ATM CARD for immediate use to withdraw funds being paid to you. We have confirmed that the amount required to procure the Approval Slip will cost you a total of $200 USD which will be paid directly to the ATM CARD CENTER agent via Western Union Money Transfer / MoneyGram Money Transfer. Below, you shall find contact details of the Agent whom will process your transaction:


CONTACT INFORMATION

NAME: MR. PAUL SMITH

EMAIL : paulsmith2 at blumail.org [Live link disabled]




Immediately contact Mr. Paul Smith of the ATM Card Centre with the following information:
Full Name:
Address:
City:
State:
Zip Code:
Direct Phone Number:
Current Occupation:
Annual Income:

Once you have sent the required information to Mr. Paul Smith he will contact you with instructions on how to make the payment of $200 USD for the Approval Slip after which he will proceed towards delivery of the ATM CARD without any further delay. You have hereby been authorized/guaranteed by the Federal Bureau Of Investigation to commence towards completing this transaction, as there shall be NO delay once payment for the Approval Slip has been made to the authorized agent.

Once you have completed payment of $200 to the agent in charge of this transaction, immediately contact me back so as to ensure your ATM CARD gets to you rapidly.

FBI Director

Robert Mueller.

#email #nigerian #reverse #scam #warning
  • Profile picture of the author Kay King
    Monitory
    Why would anyone read any farther than that?

    and this

    During our Investigation, it came to our notice that the reason why you have not received your payment is because you have not fulfilled your Financial Obligation given to you in respect of your Contract/Inheritance Payment
    This email has been making the rounds for a while and I will never understand why anyone would fall for it. An email from the "government" would probably be written by an "English as a first language" person:rolleyes:

    kay
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    • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
      Understood, Kay...

      It's the first time I've seen this variant, and a lot of people aren't quite as sensitive to awkward sentence structure and 'creative' spelling. I'm sure that, to many, it just sounds like government legal gobbledygook. Especially if English is not the reader's first language.

      Even without the wombat red flags, the real kicker is the request that money be sent Western Union rather than by postal mail or other method that could get the real feds involved.

      As for "why would anyone fall for it"? After all the years the Nigerian scam has been making the rounds, why do a lot of banks still feel the need to post warnings by the teller windows?
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  • Profile picture of the author R Hagel
    [Live link disabled]
    I say write that email address out in full so the spam bots pick it up. That way the scammer gets spammed like crazy, and hopefully emails from his victims get lost in the sea of spam.

    Cheers,
    Becky
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    • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
      Originally Posted by R Hagel View Post

      I say write that email address out in full so the spam bots pick it up. That way the scammer gets spammed like crazy, and hopefully emails from his victims get lost in the sea of spam.

      Cheers,
      Becky
      If I was certain that the email address did really belong to the scammer, I'd have left it live, tweeted the link, Facebooked it and bookmarked it.

      Since I wasn't certain, I disabled it.
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    • Profile picture of the author Gary King
      It's amazing, but it still works, at least from the standpoint that for the fractions of a cent it costs to send, they still make bank.

      Originally Posted by Kay King View Post

      Why would anyone read any farther than that?

      and this

      This email has been making the rounds for a while and I will never understand why anyone would fall for it. An email from the "government" would probably be written by an "English as a first language" person:rolleyes:

      kay

      Unfortunately, it's likely just an innocent person's email address that they send "from", i.e., another person in their spam database. Spammers and phishers typically forge the from address using an email from their database so they don't get any replies (non-deliverable messages, etc.) and to help prevent being tracked. Posting the email from the message would probably only make the innocent get more spam vs abusing the spammer. (nice idea though to flood the scammer!)

      Originally Posted by R Hagel View Post

      I say write that email address out in full so the spam bots pick it up. That way the scammer gets spammed like crazy, and hopefully emails from his victims get lost in the sea of spam.

      Cheers,
      Becky
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  • Profile picture of the author yommys01
    What do I have to say?

    I was close to tears and ready to attack the starter of the thread when I read the topic of the thread but just got muted by the fact that all evidence points to the fact that the guy is actually a Nigerian.
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  • Profile picture of the author Killer Joe
    Originally Posted by JohnMcCabe View Post

    payment in the total amount of $800,000.00 USD which will be deposited into an ATM CARD...
    My ATM Card isn't big enough to cram that much money into.

    What do they use for ATM cards over there, elephants?

    It was believable up til then...:rolleyes:

    KJ
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    • Profile picture of the author whateverpedia
      Originally Posted by Killer Joe View Post

      My ATM Card isn't big enough to cram that much money into.
      My card has some space on it. If you send Mr Paul Smith the $200 I'll look after some of your inheritance for you. Then when you gain some more space on your card I can transfer the money to you*.

      You know this is a legit offer, because everyone trusts a man who wears a bag on his head don't they?






      * A modest transaction fee applies of course.
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      • Profile picture of the author Dennis Gaskill
        The first sentence is so full of BS it's hard to fathom how someone could fall for this, but I suppose a few do. Personally, I think the punishment for phishing scams, hacking, and other computer crimes should be much more severe than they are.


        Originally Posted by yommys01 View Post

        What do I have to say?

        I was close to tears and ready to attack the starter of the thread when I read the topic of the thread but just got muted by the fact that all evidence points to the fact that the guy is actually a Nigerian.
        Well Yommys, guys like you and King Shiloh represent your country well and serve as a reminder to us that there are good Nigerians as well as the scammers, just as their good and bad people of any country.
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      • Profile picture of the author Shinxware
        Even Mr. Bobby Tiongco will laugh at this!
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  • Profile picture of the author rvrabel2002
    Originally Posted by JohnMcCabe View Post

    I got the following phishing email this morning. I hadn't seen this variation before, so I thought I would pass a warning to the Warriors...
    "Immediately contact Mr. Paul Smith of the ATM Card Centre with the following information:"

    No American spells Center like Centre. That should give it away right there.

    Thanks for the heads up John.
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  • Profile picture of the author tommygadget
    Aww nuts. I wish I'd seen this thread before I fulfilled my financial obligation to get my $800K.

    TomG.
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  • Profile picture of the author Allen Payne
    Thanls for letting us know.Don't ever fall from these scams.For me it's quite obvious.Whenever i get an email like this i press the delete button within seconds
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  • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
    Banned
    I didn't get mine. I want my money and I want it now. Who do I send the $200 to?
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  • Profile picture of the author FrankBowman
    John,

    I'm being serious here.

    I know a few agents in the FBI Cyber Crime unit at 26 Federal Plaza, downtown.

    They would love to here from you about this, they really do take it very seriously.

    Just give em buzz, I'm sure you google for the telephone #.

    Peace
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  • Profile picture of the author calebs101
    i'm ashamed that at this age and time a nigerian would still be unto this,... shame to him/her.....
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    • Profile picture of the author yommys01
      Originally Posted by calebs101 View Post

      i'm ashamed that at this age and time a nigerian would still be unto this,... shame to him/her.....
      Seriously it is pathetic and very much annoying. It is exactly what I was trying to say the other thread with the now deleted thread. Anyway, the onion lies on we the legit Nigerians to show the right way.
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  • Profile picture of the author donmccobb
    It's amazing what these people come up with to try to scam. I know the warriors will recognize the scam, but I worry about unsuspecting elder folks, who might get taken in. It's too bad there's no way to stop it, but we all want an open internet so I guess we have to live with this kink of thing.

    Don McCobb
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  • Profile picture of the author Goatboy
    I immediately throw away any emails purported to come from the FBI, IRS or any other government agency. Those guys DO NOT send emails. They send black helicopters.
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    • Profile picture of the author merryvinson
      That is true. I know a friend of my in-laws who really thought this was true and send money I mean $50,000 in total to nigeria. It is sad that people are still falling for this scam even though it is old.
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  • Profile picture of the author Gary King
    Well John, I wouldn't reply either for only 800K as they indicate... can't blame ya. ;-)
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  • Profile picture of the author Cardsearch
    I was approached by 2 Craigs list scams and what makes me mad is they don't do anything about it. I knew they were scams, and took the first phony "cashier's" check to the bank to show it to the manager, and all she said was "rip it up". I didn't bother bringing in the second check. The scams were both from this country.
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  • Profile picture of the author TheKeys
    I feel like these people are sending more and more e-mails.. how do people buy into this scam?
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  • Profile picture of the author snowprincess
    I don't think I've seen this variation before, however as soon as they hit the inbox, if they don't get marked as spam by my emil provider I trash them immediately! Unless you want a few laughs, then you can always have a read through this weeks reason they are depositing a million into your account when you pay the £500 admin fees
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  • Profile picture of the author LB
    Subject line: ATM CARD PAYMENT
    I'm not familiar with any variation of scams because the above subject is where I'd stop reading.
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    • Profile picture of the author Julie Suplour
      Yes it's true, this is a scam.

      BUT, I run a compony that can deposssit $300,000,000,000.00 into you acownt if you pai us $85 for adminystation cost.
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  • Profile picture of the author Istvan Horvath
    New?
    Nov 17 2004
    Recently, a number of unsolicited letters from Nigeria were sent to various businesses throughout the United States using FBI letterhead and the identities of FBI officials as part of a mass marketing fraud scheme. These letters appear to come from one or more non-existing entities...
    Source: Nigerian Fraud Emails Using FBI Letterhead
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  • Profile picture of the author Eric Lorence
    Hard to believe ANY government agency would be so willing to help you get money ...

    Much less the FBI.

    Even my mom didn't fall for that one ...
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  • Profile picture of the author qualitynurse
    yES, ONES i WAS ASK TO CALL A BANK PROVIDE MY ACCOUNT TO THE UBA NIGERIA BANK, BECAUSE I WAS GETTING SOME MONE, I knoew that they were trying to scam me... I do not have nothing against Nigeria people, there are scams all over...
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