UNITED STATES POSTAL INSPECTION SERVICE – Fraud

What’s really cool about this particular fraud attempt is what it reveals about the scanning capabilities of the United States Postal Inspection Service. Apparently they have scanners that can look inside a package, determine that it’s an ATM card, tell you how much the card is worth and what its serial number is.

Amazing!

We feel so much safer knowing that they can see all of this without opening the package.

That is, if you believe this:

Subject: UNITED STATES POSTAL INSPECTION SERVICE

From: “Mrs. Wilda Philip” <mrswilda@att.net>

To: undisclosed recipients: ;

UNITED STATES POSTAL INSPECTION SERVICE PO BOX 555, NEW YORK NY 10116-0555 This is to notify you that we have intercepted your parcel from West Africathat DHL COURIER SERVICE is making the delivery and we have stopped the delivery process for some security reasons stated below: 1.  Our scanning system has detected that your parcel contains a confirmable ATM CARD to the tune of $1,500,000.00 USD. 2.  Such ATM CARD coming from Africa is been verified by the POSTAL INSPECTION SERVICE which we have directed our inspection team to proceed with the verification to ascertain the authenticity of the ATM CARD and now after all the verification on the ATM CARD, having contacted the issuing institution who made it known to our office that the ATM CARD is a Genuine one and Not ILLEGALLY ACQUIRED. We have also forwarded the Serial Number of the ATM CARD to the U.S Treasury Department and they confirmed that the CARD is Authentic and ready to be cashed at any ATM MACHINES. Also for the Delivery of the Parcel to continue, you are in obligation to obtain from Benin Republic, a Duly Sworn Affidavit from Benin High Court which will back up the Origin of Fund. This is in line with the Anti-Terrorist Campaign which the USA Government has embarked on recently to protect our Territory from future attacks. You should therefore contact the sender of the ATM CARD or the DHL Courier Agent in Benin Republic to get the Sworn Affidavit for you while we wait to receive from you the Affidavit File Number to enable us to forward your ATM CARD to your address. Below is his contact information. Note that the cost of the Sworn Affidavit is $218.00 and do not hesitate to remit the amount to him. Name: Mr. Mark Overs Email: mark_overs2010@hotmail.com Tel: +229 97864568 We shall then forward the ATM CARD to you and you will be sure of a genuine ATM CARD that is coming to you.  We are doing this for your interest considering the rate which fraudulent and stolen checks/ATM CARD are been sent to our innocent citizens that most times put them in problem. Always send your correspondences to our secure email:uspsnewyork@aol.com Your urgent action on this notice will be appreciated. Yours, William Gilligan Chief Postal Inspector.

You have to wonder who the heck is Mrs. Wilda Philip and why is the US Postal Inspection Service sending mail from her address?

Second, how likely is it that “undisclosed recipients” is expecting an ATM card with access to 1.5 million dollars?

And why is the USPIS receiving email at an AOL address: uspsnewyork@aol.com?

For $218 you can find out.

If you think about it, $218 against the chance of receiving $1.5 million seems like a pretty good bet. What have you got to lose except $218?

Or you could keep the $218 and delete the message. How about that, you just made $218. Good work!

In all seriousness, what’s most noteworthy about this fraud attempt is that it’s apparently profitable enough that spammers keep sending it. That would seem to indicate there are actually recipients who fall for this type of con.

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Tags: fraud, scam, USPS

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 9th, 2010 at 2:08 pm and is filed under Email Fraud. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.