We all know there are some nasty people out there who send out things like that old faithful Nigerian scam and expect you to fall instantly victim. But theres a new twist on an old scam going around thats just enough to spook some new computer users by using an official sounding name and an organization that most of us in the US respect at least, even if we’re not always admiring.

Granted some people will fall victim to this and others will be nerved up thinking they are in trouble so we’re going to address this email one item at a time and point out to you how you can tell its false, why it was sent and what makes it worth turning in an email to the  FBI Cyber Crimes division  so they can take a look at it.

The Name of the FBI and the Director of the FBI are being used to perpetuate an old scam thats been online for years.

Hoax emails like this can frighten people into doing whats on the letter, which is of course one of the most dangerous things to do.

The email that I received this morning is screen captured for you here. It is purportedly a warning from the FBI that I”m in trouble because someone used my name to bring some money into the states. If I don’t provide them with documents, regardless of whether I brought the money or not, I’m going to jail and if I do provide them, then I will get 12 million. For the purposes of reality. Of course they aren’t going to give me 12 million but how do you know the email is a scam? Particularly if you’re new online, yo’ure not sure how to figure it out, so we’re going to tell you.

First of all, here’s the email.

Now if you take a hard look at this, the English just sucks. Sorry but it does. My apologies for offending those scam artists who write pathetic letters the world over but if you’re GOING to get involved in sending out email scams to make a buck, at least hire a native English speaker to write them.

The rest of you will note that the comments are clearly written by someone who doesn’t speak English. Rather than saying “we advise you” The letter says, we advice you, and so on. Pay attention to those details before you freak out and think the FBI is after you. They have bigger fish to fry honestly but I know a lot of people who become agitated by these emails. and everyone is going to get one eventually.
SECONDARY TO THAT, BEFORE YOU OPEN THE EMAIL. Right click on the header.    A list of things will pop up for you. It will show you the last one is properties. When you select properties, you will have the option to see details. select that tab and get the information about the email. Having done so here is what I found. The letter that was purportedly from the Director of the FBI, (who incidentally probably isn’t going to email me from his personal account to threaten a relative nonentity but still) by the information that I got we can see that the email actually came from :
Delivery-date: Thu, 29 Oct 2009 18:07:03 -0400
Received: from h-67-100-241-212.mclnva23.static.covad.net ([67.100.241.212] helo=mail.sicklecelldisease.org)
by spark.securenet-server.net with esmtp (Exim 4.69)
(envelope-from <adminfbi2@administrativos.com>)
id 1N3d95-0006Dd-Dp
Received: from User (unknown [83.229.48.149])
by mail.sicklecelldisease.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 37FCD82590;
Mon, 26 Oct 2009 03:35:55 -0400 (EDT)
Reply-To: <adminfbi@administrativos.com>
From: “FEDERAL BUREA OF INVESTIGATION”<adminfbi2@administrativos.com>
Subject: OFFICIAL WARNING FROM THE FBI
Date: Mon, 26 Oct 2009 08:37:14 +0100
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/html;
charset=”Windows-1251″
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
X-Priority: 3
X-MSMail-Priority: Normal
X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2600.0000
X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2600.0000
Message-Id: <20091026073558.37FCD82590@mail.sicklecelldisease.org>

AND that the idiot who write it didn’t hide his aIP address ,which means it’s probably spoofed, or in other words, that he’s lying about it. SO. we check that first. when we do,    we’re seeing that the email that was supposedly coming from the FBI was sent to us using  the IP of a  domain name that belongs to a non profit organization. Its common that they will steal services from a legitimate business to send out spam or scam email. In this case they took advantage of a company who is working hard to do some good for sickle cell.

However, the actual reply to address is adminfbi2@administrativos.com and when we go to administrativos.com, we see that its NOT an American site, its not an English site, it’s clearly an advertising site and if we use a  service that is called Whois.com and type in that domain name to get some answers about who it is (simply type in the domain name and click the whois link)

http://www.whois.com

We Find out then that the website is listed to
Registrant Name: TRABAJAR NETWORKS S.L.
Contact: Trabajar Networks S.L.
Registrant Address: Anabel Segura, 11 – Edif. A – 5o D
Registrant City: Madrid

We find out that the domain is in Madrid Spain. Now while we don’t honestly KNOW if they’ve spoofed this poor guys domain too, or are just using an email there to send illegal emails,or if its owned by the perpetrator of the silly and offending email, but  we can still at this point safely assume that the email isn’t from the Director of the FBI and forward it to the cyber crimes division, or simply delete it and stop worrying.

If yo’ure not a computer veteran, it does seem a bit on the spooky side to get an email from the FBI. for h eavens sakes don’t take it at face value. Here is where common sense kicks in. The FBI may email you to ask you a question, to request that you turn over information to them etc, but the chance of getting a threatening FBI note, rather than a knock on your door are slim to none.

Lastly, as you will note in the email they do NOT want me to contact the FBI, they want me to contact a Nigerian embassy. Now I don’t know about you, but that doens’t make much sense to me.  In some cases, these emails have actually led to deaths of those who followed some directions or tried to investigate it themselves. Just send it along the proper channels and let the suits take care of it. It keeps you safe and keeps them employed.

Happy computing.