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Scammers Posing As Marines Offer Mountains of Cash

January 18, 2006

• 419 Scams Never Go Away • Postal Inspectors Seize Billions in Fake Checks • Scam Probe Uncovers 'Startling' Evidence In Nigeria • 419 Scammer Claims To Be U.S. Soldier • Author Finds Sport In Tricking Scammers • Email Scam Has JFK Conspiracy Twist • New 419 Scam Promises Cure For HIV/AIDS • Nigeria 419: The Road to Ruin • Scammers Pose as Marines --- • Scam Alerts

Computer security experts say the old Nigerian "prince" scam is making the email rounds again, but this time the deposed "prince" has been replaced by a U.S. Marine. They say the objective is the same – to get recipients to reveal bank account information.

Officials at the Internet security firm Sophos say they have intercepted a sudden burst of spam emails, purportedly from a Sergeant Richard Murphy of the "Military Engineering Unit" in Iraq.

In a variation of what’s known as the standard 419 scam, the email promises the recipients mountains of cash if they turn over bank account information, and pay some "processing" fees along the way.

"We have about $15 Million US dollars that we want to move out of the country. My colleagues and I need a good partner, someone we can trust. This is a risk free and legal business (oil money)," the message reads.

In years past, anyone with an email account could count of getting regular correspondence from a Nigerian "prince," whose family had been deposed in a coup and who was desperately trying to smuggle the family loot to the U.S. Security experts say scammers simply "freshen" their approaches from time to time, and often follow the headlines.

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