Another alarming form of e-mail fraud in recent months involves e-mails claiming to be “official orders” from the FBI’s Anti-Terrorist and Monetary Crimes Division, most especially from an alleged FBI unit in Nigeria. The latest versions even use the names of several high-ranking executives within the FBI. These are sometimes referred to as advance-fee fraud schemes or 4-1-9 fraud, named such for the section of the Nigerian penal code that deals with fraud schemes.

Nigerian schemers, who pretend to be government officials or bank officials, send e-mail letters to individuals and businesses in the US. The letters state that a reputable company or individual in the US is needed to help the sender deposit an overpayment on a contract. Some e-mails pretend to be the son or daughter of a murdered official pleading for help to deposit his or her inheritance in a US bank. The person who receives the e-mail may be promised a portion of the money in return for his or her help. The e-mail recipient is asked to provide funds to cover bank fees and is asked for personal information such as social security numbers, bank account numbers, and other similar data. If the recipient is sympathetic and provides this information, he or she often soon finds that their bank accounts have been emptied.

Other forms of e-mail fraud claiming to be from the FBI inform recipients they have been named the beneficiary of millions of dollars from an inheritance or a lottery winning. Recipients are told that to claim the large sum of money, they must furnish certain personal information and the e-mail may threaten the recipient with a penalty, such as prosecution, if they don’t provide the information. Still others state that the recipient has extorted money and has a limited amount of time to refund the money or face prosecution.

The FBI warns anyone who receives such an e-mail not to respond. The FBI does not send unsolicited e-mails like these. FBI executives do not personally contact consumers regarding such matters. They do not send threatening letters to consumers demanding payments for crimes. You should not respond to any unsolicited e-mails or click on any links within the e-mail as they may contain viruses.

You can report these types of messages to the Internet Crime Complaint Center, which was established to help protect you from such e-mail fraud. The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) is a partnership between the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C), and the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA). It was established to stop Internet crime. An easy-to-use reporting system has been set up that alerts authorities of suspected criminal violations.

The Internet Crime Complaint Center accepts online crime complaints from either the e-mail recipient or from a third party affected by the complaint. If you were to make such a complaint, the Internet Crime Complaint Center needs accurate and complete information from you. You will be asked to provide the following information when filing a complaint:

• Your name
• Your mailing address
• Your telephone number
• The name, address, telephone number, and Web address, if available, of the individual or organization you believe defrauded you.
• Specific details on how, why, and when you believe you were defrauded.
• Any other relevant information you believe is necessary to support your complaint.

The FBI makes the following warnings when assessing the legitimacy of e-mails you receive.

• If the “opportunity” appears too good to be true, it probably is.
• Do not reply to e-mails asking for personal banking information.
• Be wary of individuals representing themselves as foreign government officials.
• Be cautious when dealing with individuals outside of your own country.
• Beware when asked to assist in placing large sums of money in overseas bank accounts.
• Do not believe the promise of large sums of money for your cooperation.
• Guard your account information carefully.
• Be cautious when additional fees are requested to further the transaction.