US Privacy Associates  

The email supposedly comes from Robert Mueller - the current head of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigations. Not only was it sent by the FBI, the scammers try to get you to believe it's been vetted by the Anti-Terrorist and International Fraud Division. Unbelievable.

Why Do They Send These Emails?

What they're really after is the fee they want you to pay in order to collect your $850,000 - that's why they call this an "advanced-fee fraud." The fee is sent by money order which makes it very difficult to trace and impossible to recover. Here's the money paragraph:

This letter will serve as proof that the Federal Bureau Of Investigation is authorizing you to pay the required $239.99 ONLY to your claims agent via the information in which she shall send to you upon your request, if you do not receive your winning prize of $850,000.00 US Dollars we shall be held responsible for the loss and this shall invite a penalty of $3,000 which will be made PAYABLE ONLY by you (The Winner).

 The $239.99 will likely only be the start of the fraud. They'll continue to ask for more money in order to deliver the $850,000. No matter how much you pay, the money will never end up in your bank account.

From: robertmul@fbi.gov.us
Subject: E-mail From The FBI..
Date: Wed, 2 Dec 2009 13:53:50 -0500

Anti-Terrorist and International Fraud Division
Federal Bureau Of Investigation.
Seattle, Washington 98101-2904
Telephone/Fax Number: +1(206) 426-2866
 
Attn: Beneficiary
 
This is to Officially inform you that it has come to our notice and we have thoroughly completed an Investigation with the help of our Intelligence Monitoring Network System that you legally won the sum of $850,000.00 US Dollars from a Lottery Company in the United Kingdom. During our investigation we discovered that your e-mail won the money from an Online Balloting System and we have authorized this winning to be authentic and paid to you via a Certified Cashier's Check.
 
Normally, it will take up to 10 business days for an International Check to be cashed by your local bank. We have successfully come to an agreement with this company on your behalf that funds are to be drawn from a registered bank within the United States Of America so as to enable you cash the check instantly without any delay, henceforth the stated amount of $850,000.00  US Dollars has been deposited with Bank Of America.
We have completed this investigation and you are hereby approved to receive the winning prize as we have verified the entire transaction to be Legitimate, Safe and 100% risk free of scams and frauds of any nature, due to the fact that the funds have been deposited at Bank Of America you will be required to settle the following bills directly to the lottery claims agent in-charge of this transaction whom is located at the liaison office of the Lottery Company in Seattle-Washington. According to our discoveries, you are required to pay for the following:
 
(1) Deposit Fee's (Fee's paid by the lottery company for the deposit into an American Bank which is - Bank of America)
(2) Cashier's Check Conversion Fee (Fee for converting the Wire Transfer payment into a Certified Cashier's Check)
(3) Shipping Fee's (This is the charge for shipping the Cashier's Check to your nominated destination)
 
The total amount for everything is $239.99 (Two Hundred & Thirty Nine United States Dollars & Ninety Nine Cents). We have tried our possible best to indicate that this $239.99 should be deducted from your winning prize but the funds have already been deposited at The Bank of America and cannot be accessed by anyone apart from you the winner. Therefore you will be required to pay the needed funds to your lotto claims Agent in-charge of this transaction via Western Union Money Transfer Or Money Gram. The payment will NOT reflect at the Bank of America with the given transaction code(EA2948-910) until you have covered the processing fees needed.
 
In order to proceed with this transaction, Click Here to contact your claims agent Mrs. Louise Major. You will be required to call her for verbal verification and e-mail her with the following informations:
 
FULL NAME:
FULL MAILING ADDRESS(INCLUDING CITY/STATE/ZIPCODE):
AGE/SEX/OCCUPATION:
CONTACT PHONE NUMBERS(CELL & HOME):
 
You will also be required to request Western Union details on how to send the required $239.99 in order to immediately ship your prize of $850,000.00 US Dollars via Certified Cashier's Check drawn from The Bank of America, Also include the following transaction code in order for her to immediately identify this transaction : EA2948-910.
 
This letter will serve as proof that the Federal Bureau Of Investigation is authorizing you to pay the required $239.99 ONLY to your claims agent via the information in which she shall send to you upon your request, if you do not receive your winning prize of $850,000.00 US Dollars we shall be held responsible for the loss and this shall invite a penalty of $3,000 which will be made PAYABLE ONLY by you (The Winner).
 
Signed:
Robert Mueller
Federal Bureau Of Investigation                    
 
NOTE: In order to ensure your check gets delivered to you ASAP, you are advised to immediately contact Mrs. Louise Major via contact information provided above and make the required payment of $239.99 to information in which she will provide you.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

1. Protect your computer from online threats including money-stealing Trojans. Fraudsters are eagerly waiting to take advantage of the millions of credit card transactions that will be made online this holiday season. They are lurking to find any weak links in your network to gain access to your personal and credit information. More recently, they are using sophisticated Trojans to grab your bank account and credit card login information, disable your security software, and sneak into your bank account by pretending to be you. Trojans are even smart enough to quietly drain your bank account over the holiday period based on the assumption that you'll be too busy to check exactly how much you're spending until the New Year. The best way to avoid Trojans is to (a) not open attachments or click on email links; (b) be careful where you surf and stick to online "neighborhoods" where you really feel safe; and (c) regularly patch your computer and update your anti-virus, anti-spyware and firewall software.
2. Take a tip from online merchants and "trust but verify." Whether it's online shopping searches, incredible gift offers, or holiday wishes from your Twitter "Tweeps" or Facebook friends, the best way to avoid gift-wrapping yourself for scammers this year is to turn your cynicism on to the highest level. If you think before you click, you might just play Grinch to an identity thief.
3. Be careful buying gift cards. Make sure that you purchase gift cards that are legitimate and secure, and avoid buying gift cards secondhand from an unverified source. UK-based security firm Corsaire recently found that the vulnerable magnetic-stripe technology used for gift cards and customer loyalty cards make these attractive targets for hackers. Additionally, the research revealed that gift cards can easily be "sniffed" off the shelf in the checkout line with a scanner and cloned, card numbers can be stolen, and retailers' gift card Web sites can be hacked.
4. Avoid Tweet Traps! Scammers fully understand the power and reach of social networks, and gathering places like Facebook and Twitter are a feeding ground for all kinds of thieves this holiday season. According to the eHoliday Study by Shop.org (a division of the National Retail Federation), 47.1 percent of retailers said they will be increasing their use of social media during the holidays. The biggest threat to be wary of this year is the "Tweet Trap" - a message that appears to be from a trusted friend or follower passing on some great news, a real bargain, or a worthy cause, but instead hides spam, phishing fraud, or a malicious download. Consumers should be cautious about Tweets or Facebook messages about great holiday deals, must-have gifts, or hard luck stories, even if they are coming from "friends." If they sound interesting, do your own research to see if they're genuine. But don't click or download.
5. If a deal sounds too good to be true, it probably is. This scam has focused on promising shoppers the hard-to-find gift at an irresistible price and in most cases, the gift doesn't exist, doesn't arrive, the seller demands far more for it, or simply steals the shopper's credit card information. But this year, hackers are upping the stakes by hacking into the search ranking systems of the major search engines like Yahoo! and Google so that their fraudulent or malware-infected web sites appear at the top of shopper searches. And most shoppers still believe that if a Web site is at the top of a search engine's list, it has to be legitimate.
6. Do NOT give out your financial information over the phone or email. If your bank or credit card company sends you an email or even calls you warning you of insufficient funds or other problems with your account, contact them directly using the customer service numbers posted on their web sites. Don't respond to their emails or to any number they provide in an email or phone message.
7. Keep travel plans private. Don't give a gift to digital burglars by Tweeting or posting updates to Facebook about your holiday plans like when you're going to be away from home or all the cool stuff you bought. Otherwise your new purchases may end up under someone else's tree.
8. Do a post-holiday credit health check-up. After the holidays are over, be sure to check your credit reports, credit card statements and bank statements to verify all transactions. Each transaction you made, either in retail stores or online, could have been compromised, adversely affecting your credit and your credit score. Notify your bank or credit card company immediately if you see anything suspicious.

Don't forget you can give the gift of Identity Prevention and Recovery.  Just go to http://www.USPrivacyAssociates.com.

Happy Holidays