MARINE CORPS AIR STATION IWAKUNI, Japan -- Dear Sir,
I have been mandated by a matter of trust by my colleagues in the committee to look for an overseas partner to whom we could transfer the sum of $10.5 million legally while subcontracting the entitlement to you or your company?
The above message is the beginning of one of hundreds of 419 African e-mail scams circulating the worldwide web.
Although these type of letters may seem friendly and harmless, and promise its reader millions of dollars for little or no work, the letters are a part of one of the longest running scams in the world and are written with malicious intent.
These e-mails, which have found their way into the inboxes of many Iwakuni?s service members and their families, solicit their readers to send their bank account information and money to cover transaction fees so in return a large sum of money can be split between the reader and the organization sending the letter.
What some cyber investors don?t understand when they put forth their information is that they are not only losing their money and allowing unbarred access to their bank account, but also funding heroin and cocaine trafficking and other terrorist activities throughout Asia, Europe and the United States.
These e-mails come from quite a few different groups throughout Africa and can be used to fund a variety of different terrorist activities throughout the world, said John McNutt, a special agent with the Navy Criminal Investigation Service. Since they are based in Africa, the United States has no jurisdiction there and the money is nearly impossible to recover.
Although cooperating with the letters can result in serious monetary losses, they are easily detectable and avoidable, according to McNutt.
A lot of the times the names on the e-mails will be a sure giveaway that it is a 419 scam, he said. The letters are often written with a sense of urgency and often entice travel to Nigeria or neighboring countries. However, the bottom line is if it looks too good to be true, it probably is.
According to McNutt, if a letter is received, it should not be immediately deleted, rather it should be forwarded to the United States Secret Service Financial Crimes Division.
The secret service has a taskforce dedicated to bringing down the 419 scams, he said. If you receive one these emails, or have lost money from them in the past, you should visit the website, and make sure not to believe anything the letter says.
For more information on 419 scams or to report an incident, visit http://www.secretservice.gov/alert419.shtml.