Email fraudsters didn’t take long to capitalize on newly confirmed FBI Director James Comey.
The bureau’s Internet Crimes Complaint Center, IC3, released a scam alert Tuesday, warning of a recent rash of spam emails “from” Comey, alerting individuals they had received a large sum of money.
According to the fake email, the FBI has confiscated two “trunk boxes” full of money from Nigeria’s Office of the Ministry of Finance at an international airport. And, as fate would have it, documents inside the box identify the email recipient as the fund’s owner.
But here’s the catch: The FBI needs a “Diplomatic Immunity Seal of Delivery” from the email recipient or the recipient will violate the Patriot Act. So, just email back for instructions. Failing to do so will result in serious consequences.
“DO NOT RESPOND. THESE E-MAILS ARE A HOAX,” blares the FBI’s announcement.
As the alert explains, government agencies and officials do not send unsolicited email to consumers. But this type of spam template has had success in past iterations using the names of other FBI officials and various other government officials.
