Such scams will probably be around for quite some time

Apr 5, 2013 19:21 GMT  ·  By

419 scams – the ones in which a celebrity or the relative of a dead rich man offers you a large amount of money in return for some information and a small fee – have been around for quite some time, but I don’t think they’ll disappear any time soon.

That’s because a lot of people still fall for them, otherwise there would be no reason for con artists to keep sending them.

A new scam email, uncovered by experts from security firm Sophos, purports to come from Sergeant Jack Lenz, a US military stationed in Iraq.

The man promises the recipients of his email $6 million in return for their help in moving some money.

To make everything more legitimate-looking, the “Sergeant” provides a couple of links to BBC and CNN articles that mention Iraq and large amounts of money.

Of course, it’s nothing more than a scam. No one will ever get any money. The scammers, on the other hand, can use the information provided by the victims for all sorts of nefarious purposes.

In addition, they might try to convince victims to send a certain amount of money that’s allegedly needed for the transfer of the money.

Here’s what the scam email looks like, so you’ll know what to look out for:

“Dear Friend,

I am one of US Military forces, and one of the few thousands still stationed in Iraq, I need to discuss some personal matter with you.

I know that it would be difficult to trust someone you hardly know because of the numerous scams transmitted via the Internet, but I am willing to send to you adequate proof of my identity as soon as we agree to work together, and of course if I can be assured that you will not use that and any other information I would be sharing with you against me in anyway, if my intentions are genuine, and for our mutual benefit.

As you may be aware, the US government, the Treasury department, and the Federal reserve Board have concluded plans to change the face of the US $ bills because of counterfeiting as they claim, and the 100 $ bill made its debut since Wednesday, April 21st, 2010.kindly go through the below link to see what am trying to explain to you:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7444083.stm http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/10/11/iraq.deaths/

I will be in some kind of mess if I cannot find a solution to take care of some very large amount of money in US$ bills that I have concealed here for 9 months.

I will require someone outside Iraq to take care of the pick up, and that is what I want us to discuss. I am willing to offer you $6M (six million Dollars as your share for the role you will play if we agree to work together.

Please contact me so we can discuss the details, and should you have any reasons to reject this offer, please delete this mail and I will never bother you again. I appreciate your understanding.

Respectfully, Sgt. Jack Lenz [email protected]