FRAUDULENT SPAM E-MAILS CLAIMING TO BE FROM THE U.S. SECRET SERVICE
(4/1/08, Washington, D.C.) -- We have become aware of a bogus spam e-mail claiming to be from the United States Secret Service. This scam appears to be a typical Advance Fee Fraud. The scam alleges that "You are among those whose fund will be repartraited [sic] from Africa."
THIS E-MAIL IS A HOAX. DO NOT RESPOND.
The e-mail claims to be from the Secret Service's Financial Crimes Division. The e-mail/fax contains numerous typographical errors and the Secret Service would never ask for personal financial information via e-mail, phone or fax.
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(1/26/07, Washington, D.C.) -- We have become aware of a bogus spam e-mail/fax claiming to be from the United States Secret Service. This scam appears to be a typical Advance Fee Fraud. The scam alleges that recipients "have a transaction going on right now in Nigeria totaling $8.3M as a beneficiary of contract/inheritance payment."
THIS E-MAIL IS A HOAX. DO NOT RESPOND.
The e-mail claims to be from the Secret Service's Office of Government & Public Affairs. To make the message look more legitimate, information is pasted in the e-mail from the Secret Service web site. It advises recipients that they are the beneficiary of a large sum of money and that they can claim the money by providing personal information to include banking information. The e-mail/fax contains numerous typographical errors and the Secret Service would never ask for personal financial information via e-mail, phone or fax.
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If you have received an e-mail or fax from someone you do not know requesting your assistance in a financial transaction, such as the transfer of a large sum of money into an account, or claiming you are the next of kin to an wealthy person who has died, or the winner of some obscure lottery, DO NOT respond. These requests are typically sent through public servers via a generic "spammed" e-mail message. Usually, the sender does not yet know your personal e-mail address and is depending on you to respond. Once you reply, even to tell them you are not interested, they will often continue to e-mail you in an attempt to harass or intimidate you. If you receive an unsolicited e-mail of this nature, the best course is to simply delete the message. The Federal Trade Commission's web site has a mechanism for reporting unsolicited commercial e-mail (spam) at http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/edcams/spam/report.html.
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