fake FBI scam

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   Brenda Durhamposted 12 years ago

   I'm not sure if this is the right category for this thread, but just wanted to let people know about this, in case they might fall prey to it,  and am curious also if anyone else has gotten the same kind of e-mail......
   
   I got one that says it's from "Mr. James Powell" of the FBI telling me I'm eligible for a large sum of money because of government fraud.   If I send about $250 to the address they gave me (not the FBI address of course),  they'll send me my $850,000!   Woohoo!   I could sure use that amount of money.  LOL.
   
   I think what really tees me off about this one is that it's playing into people's distrust of the government right now (or else, on the other end of the spectrum, their misplaced trust!), and could actually mislead someone who's elderly or unaware of the nature of these types of scams....

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      aguasilverposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      These scam artists send out millions of these bogus emails in the KNOWLEDGE that a sucker is born every minute, and statistically somebody will be dumb enough to fall for the scam.
      
      TANSTAFL
      
      There ain't no such thing as a free lunch.....

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2. 84

   Alphadogg16posted 12 years ago

   I've been seeing a lot of these lately Brenda, from the FBI, Barristers, and long lost relatives that have left a substantial amount of money in my name. I would hope most people can see it for what it is......crap! If it were really the FBI, they wouldn't need to send an email.....they would show up on your doorstep.

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      Brenda Durhamposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      One would think so!
      
      Or they could just deposit that money directly into my bank account.    I wouldn't mind that.
      Anybody can put money in, I guess, but nobody's supposed to be able to take it out except the account holder or authorized companies.   So.........wonder if I should hold my breath on that?   hahhhaa.
      
      It's laughable, but also so maddening that people spend their time trying to get money outta unsuspecting people.
      
      I went to a website that says a person can report these scams,  but I wasn't even sure if I could trust THAT website!     That's so irritating about online stuff;   we never know for sure what's legit and what isn't.    And if a person notifies the actual FBI,  I doubt they'd do anything about it unless maybe people actually lost money by responding to the scam.

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      gmwilliamsposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Ditto, I just ignore and delete..........delete................delete........beep.

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      gmwilliamsposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Yep, there is even a more threatening fbi scam indicating that if a person does not wish to be arrested, he/she had better respond.  Again, IGNORE......IGNORE.......

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   Motown2Chitownposted 12 years ago

   Brenda, I appreciate your effort to make others aware of this.  Thank you!  I actually got a similar email from someone about three years ago, sent to my email at work, no less.  I don't know about yours, but mine looked semi-official even, with an FBI seal and everything - appearing as though it had been sent from an official address.
   
   I rarely pay attention to anything in my email that isn't from someone I know personally or was already expecting.  I personally find that a good rule of thumb.  I also agree, though, that this targets people who either distrust the government already, or older people who may think that everything that comes from an authoritative government source is always meant for our best interests.

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      Brenda Durhamposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Hi lady.
      The e-mail didn't look very official, really, even though the heading was supposedly the FBI address.
      I've gotten several money scam e-mails before, but this was the first one I've gotten that claimed to be from the FBI,  so that caught my eye......and made me madder, I think, than the others did.

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         Motown2Chitownposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         I said that too.  I pretty much thought that it was even lower somehow than the rest of them. 
         
         Hope you're well.

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   celafoeposted 12 years ago

   Yes I have had several of these , some that were very poorly constructed and some that looked official.
   anyone that gets an email offering something for nothing should disregard it.
   The agency that is responsible for investigating INTERNET FRAUD is the Secret Service, unless it has changed recently.   but dont expect them to do anything about it.

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   FatFreddysCatposted 12 years ago

   I get so many of these "money scam" e-mails that I don't even bother to open them anymore...
   
   I did get an unusual one today though: It claimed to be from Howie Mandel himself (!!), and it said that I've been chosen to appear as a contestant on the "top rated gaming program Deal or No Deal." Wow! That would be totally awesome... except the show has been off the air in the U.S. for almost four years now.
   
   Nice try, scammers!!

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      Brenda Durhamposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      ha.
      Now, see, I might've fallen for that one!   Because I didn't know the show had been off the air! 
      You done good. 

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   FatFreddysCatposted 12 years ago

   Even if the show was still on, I doubt that Howie himself would be soliciting random people to be on the show via e-mail. Haha!

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   Mighty Momposted 12 years ago

   In these times of sequester, record number of people on food stamps, stalled employment numbers and
   other well known reasons, the US government would NOT be handing out close to million dollar rebates to individual citizens.
   If there were refunds coming from the US government, would they really be coming from the FBI?
   
   Maybe I overthink these things...
   But the larger point is, we can expect more and more of these ballsy scams.
   Thank you, Brenda, for pointing this one out.
   Don't click!

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