In the past I have made posts on some of the scams I get in my email.  I came across another one today just made me laugh.  Apparently it’s from Mr.Timothy F. Geithner, Under Secretary for International Affairs of the United States Treasury Department. There are several RED FLAGS that get raised while reading it. I will note each one with a number in red, like this1 and explain why it’s a red flag at the end.

From: Mr.Timothy F. Geithner <officefileoffice0001@yahoo.dk>1
To: Undisclosed Recipients2

DEPARTMENT OF INT’L3 AFFAIRS
(Office of the Under Secretary)
1500 Pennsylvania Avenue NW,
Washington D.C. 20220.
barr.billbrown@gmail.com4

Urgent Attention,

I am Mr.Timothy F. Geithner, Under Secretary for International Affairs of the United States Treasury Department and was sworn in as the 75th Secretary of the United States Department of the Treasury in a ceremony attended by President Barack H. Obama, and Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., see below: http://goo.gl/l4q2iN5

Following series of complains6 from Citizens of the United States as well as Citizens of Other Countries In Europe over the Discrepancies and fraudulent ways in which fund transfers are handled by Africans which has made it impossible for a lot of People to claim their Winning or Inheritance funds from most African Countries due to frauds and illegal activities, A decision was reached recently by the United States Treasury Department under the authority of the White House to compel African Financial bodies (Banks) to urgently release all funds of American and European citizens7 that are trapped in most Banks and Courier Companies in Africa. It was discovered that some bureaucratic bottlenecks was put by these Banks and Couriers to make it impossible for beneficiaries to claim their funds so that they will fraudulently divert those funds to their private accounts.

Consequent upon the aforementioned, I was personally mandated to handle this matter8 to ensure that all funds of our Citizens and others which are fraudulently being trapped in African Banks are urgently retrieved and paid to the actual Beneficiaries under a legal manner. Our team of experts were delegated to Benin Republic, Nigeria, Ivory Coast and Ghana for this task and we discovered your File NO: BR227/9005666/009 as unclaimed fund.It was discovered that officials of the Bank has10 only put up illegal requirements in order to make it difficult for you to claim your fund. The United States Department of Treasury has retrieved all Files of illegal transactions and we will be working under a legitimate arrangement to ensure that you follow the normal process to receive your fund.

You are requested to Re-confirm the following information to Barr. Bill Brown by e-mail: barr.billbrown@gmail.com11

1. SURNAME………….12
2. OTHER NAMES………………….12
3. PHONE NUMBER AND FAX……………..12
4. ADDRESS……………….12
5. AMOUNT TO BE CLAIMED: $36.500,000.00 USD12
6.OCCUPATION………….12
7.COUNTRY………..12
8.AGE…………12
9.Contact Emailaddress…………12

Be informed that the above information will only enable us to make due confirmation. We shall ensure that normal process is followed to ensure that your fund gets to you without delay. Contact Barr. Bill Brown who is right in Benin Republic/Nigeria as the Legal Practitioner to United States Department of Treasury e-Mail below: (email: barr.billbrown@gmail.com )

Warm Regards
Mr. Timothy F. Geithner
(Under Secretary)13

Now as you can see, there are a lot of RED FLAGS and chances are I missed a few (I just did a quick read over).  If you don’t see why these are red flags, I will explain bellow:
1: The Under Secretary giving a Yahoo Denmark email address, which totally looks legit…
2: Sent to Undisclosed Recipients (this means you’re not the only one to receive this same email)
3: I have never seen an official email use the abbreviation of their official name.
4: A second non official email, this time from Gmail, and not of the Under Secretary which the physical address belongs to.
5: This page no longer exists.  Also let it be known that Mr.Timothy F. Geithner was actually Secretary of the Treasury, but only until January of this year (2013).
6:  “A series of complains”  Wrong word… the correct word is Complaints, which Mr, Timothy’s secretary would have realized, as I am sure he would not have written this himself.
7: The United States has no authority to tell another country what to do in regards to any other country other than the United States.
8: The head of a department would not be personally mandated or personally take on such an act, his department would handle it.
9: Your File Number, yes because your file matches the same number as all the other “Undisclosed Recipients”
10: “The Officials of the bank has” wrong form of the word, the correct form is have
11: The same email as above, which now belongs to an official of the government who is apparently stationed in Africa, yet uses a personal email for official documents… Right… looks legit to me….
12: Any time they as you for this much information in a personal unencrypted email, its a sure sign that its a scam.
13: Since when does an official member of government sign their title in Parenthesis?

Now I am sure if I re-read this email, I will find a dozen more red flags… Would you truest an “Official Email” sent from an unofficial email provider which allows anyone and their dog sign up for an email?  Would you trust an email from a high-ranking Government Official that has so many grammatical errors?  Sadly, some would, which is how these guys prey on people… 

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