8 Laundering Crooked Money – The Original MO 9 Appendix A: Emails to Consulate Lagos from vict

[FGE8000] [FGE0500] Hello. Thank you for contacting USA.gov. I am not sure that I fully understand your question. Based on what you wrote, I have put together some resources that I hope can help you. For information about inheritance scams, please visit the following United States Department of State (DOS) web page to learn how to avoid and report them: http://travel.state.gov/pdf/international_financial_scams_brochure.pdf To view and print PDF documents, you must use the Adobe Reader software, which is available for download without charge. If you do not already have this application on your computer, please visit the following website to download the software: http://get.adobe.com/reader/ For more help, please either: Send us another message with more information by visiting http://answers.usa.gov/system/selfservice.controller?CONFIGURATION=1000&PARTITION_ID=1&CMD=STARTPAGE&SUBCMD=EMAIL&USERTYPE=1&LANGUAGE=en&COUNTRY=us. Call us at 1-800-FED-INFO (1-800-333-4636) or 1-202-208-1576 if outside the United States and Canada. By talking with us live, you will be able to help us understand what you need. We are available Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET. For more help, talk with us live. Start a web chat or call us at 1-800-FED-INFO (1-800-333-4636). We're available 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern Time, M-F. This e-mail address cannot accept replies. Please take our brief survey and tell us how we did. It will help us serve you better in the future. Sign up to receive free timely e-mails on USA.gov topics such as money, Internet fraud, employment, and senior citizens' resources. Sincerely, A member of the USA.gov response team --Original Message-- ZIP Code: yri7043423 Dear Mr. Yuriy Leonov, Your photos received, and all preparations and arrangements pends until you make the payment to office of the financier of the Embassy. Kindly use below the information of the direct financier to the Ambassador to make payment sum of ?7260 for the preparations a Dear USA.gov Visitor, Thank you for contacting USA.gov. Our goal is to make it easy for you to communicate with the government. A member of our Citizen Response Team will respond to you within two business days. We appreciate your patience. For future reference, your message ID number is 320325. We regret that we are unable to accept replies sent to our mailbox. If you would prefer to contact us by telephone, we encourage you to call our National Contact Center at 1.800.FED.INFO (1.800.333.4636), Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. eastern time. Regards, USA.gov Citizen Response Team Introduction & Background 2 Gorgeous People in Trouble – The Damsel in Distress 4 Long-Lost Inheritance – Windfall from a Deceased Relative 6 Work Permits – A Job Offer You Can’t Refuse 7 Overpayment Refunds – Sorry! Can I have my money back? 8 Laundering Crooked Money – The Original MO 9 Appendix A: Emails to Consulate Lagos from vict ims of the “Gorgeous People in Trouble” scam 10 Appendix B: IM transcript between “Gorgeous People in Trouble” scammers and their victims 12 Appendix C: Types of photos used by “Gorgeous People in Trouble” scammers 15 Appendix D: Types of fake passports/visas used by “Gorgeous People in Trouble” scammers 17 Appendix E: Message from “Long-Lost Inherita nce” scammer to potential victim 18 Appendix F: Supporting document used by “Long-Lost Inheritance” scammer 19 Appendix G: Supporting document used by “Long-Lost Inheritance” scammer (2) 20 Appendix H: Email string involving “Work Permits” scam 21 Appendix I: Message received by Lagos Consulate from a “Work Permits” victim 22 Appendix J: Fraudulent Nigerian work permit sent to “Work Permits” victim 23 Appendix K: Contract presented by “Work Permits” scammer 24 Introduction The U.S. Department of Stat e provides this brochure to address the burgeoning financial scams originating from overseas. While such confidence schemes have long existed, the advent of the internet has greatly increased their prevalence. Individual Americans have lost considerable money on these scams, ranging from a few hundred dollars to hundreds of thousands of dollars. The Department gets da ily inquiries from victims of these scams. Our U.S. Consulate General in Lagos alone received 3,000 inquiries from victims in one year, and our posts in Accra, London, and Mo scow similarly have received numerous inquires. We hope this brochure will help you identify the indicators of some common scams and actions you should take. Background All types of advance-fee scams have one point in common – the targeted person is led to believe that he or she has a chance to atta in something of very great personal value (financial reward, a romantic relationship, etc) in return for a small up-fr ont monetary outlay. In the early, typical version of the scam, the target ed person was led to believe that s/he would soon gain access to large sums of m oney upon payment of a small processing fee. The initial payment of a few hundred dollars, according to the scam artist, was all that was standing in the way of a large money transfer routed directly to the target’s personal bank account. The money was usually present ed as illegally obtained funds in need of laundering. The overseas embezzler simp ly needed a willing accomp lice’s American bank account to which to transfer the funds, and in exchange would reward the American handsomely. Advance fee fraud - also called “419 fraud” af ter the specific section of Nigerian law describing this type of fraud – has mutated consi derably over the years. Originally, fraud artists in Nigeria would send an unsolicited bu t official-looking business proposal on bank or company letterhead to an unsuspecting Amer ican’s postal mailbox. Advance fee fraud scenarios are constantly evolving, and no longer E-mail Your Question to USA.gov Use the form below to submit a question about the U.S. Government or a question/comment about the website USA.gov. We will respond via e-mail to your English or Spanish language questions, usually within two business days. If we can't answer your question directly, our response will: Refer you to the government agency that can help. Help you locate the information you need. Additional research on your part may be required to get your exact answer. If your question is very complex or specific, you may get better results by speaking to us directly at 1-800-FED-INFO (1-800-333-4636). We're available Monday to Friday 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern Time. OMB Number: 3090-0278 Survey Expires: 10/31/2013 Public reporting burden of this collection of information is estimated to average 4 minutes per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding the burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to the Federal Citizen Information Center, General Services Administration, 1800 F Street, NW Rm. G142, Washington, DC 20405 We're committed to monitoring and improving the quality of the services we provide. We would appreciate your feedback on our performance. All submissions are anonymous. originate just from Nigeria, but from countries around the globe. More recent sca ms have migrated from simple greed to the promise of love or a more re warding professional life. Elements of a Scam – Key Warning Signs: Scams involve one or more – someti mes all – of the key signs below: • The scammer and the victim meet online – oft en through Internet dating or employment sites. • The scammer asks for money to get out of a bad situation or to provide a service. International Financial Scams - February 2007 Page 2 of 24 yuriy Leonov Forwarded message From: yuriy Leonov