Beware New Email Scam: The Sgt. Smith David Fitte Scam

I really believed I'd become immune to irritation when I receive email scams. I mean seriously; I've never entered any British email lottery, I have no relatives in Africa or wherever else they claim to have died leaving me a fortune, and Malaysian entrepreneurs really aren't very likely to have found my name as a trusted resource through a friend. Prince Whats-His-Name can keep his money, I'm not falling for the scam.

Between the websites I operate and the writing I do and the other miscellaneous unknown places online that my email addresses can be found, I receive - easily - hundreds of scams a day. Normally, I delete them and move on without giving them a moment's thought.

Today, however, I received a money scam in my email that just really bugged me. It's in such poor taste, and as the best cons do, it tugs at the heart strings before moving in for the 1-2 punch. Instead of just trying to describe the email, I'm going to copy it here in all its undignified glory - if for no other reason than that if you receive this email, you'll know immediately to delete it and continue about your business.

FROM: Sgt. Smith David Fitte
Important Message

Good day,

My name is David Smith Fitte, I am an American soldier, I am serving in the military of the 1st Armored Division in Iraq , as you know we are being attacked by insurgents everyday and car bombs. We managed to move funds belonging to Saddam Hussein's family in 2003. The total amount is US$25 Million dollars in cash, mostly 100 dollar bills, this money has been kept somewhere outside Baghdad for sometime but with the recent troop increase by president Bush, we are afraid that the money will be discovered hence we want to move this money to you for safe keeping pending the completion of our assignment here. You can go to this web link to read about events that took place there:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2988455.stm

We tried to move the money out of Iraq early this year but unfortunately our Captain was posted out of Baghdad and we suspended the plan, we now have another opportunity hence we are making this contact to you. We are ready to compensate you with good percentage of the funds, No strings attached, just for you to help us move it out of Iraq. Iraq is a war zone, so we plan on using diplomatic means to shipping the money out as military cargo, using diplomatic immunity. If you are interested I will send you the full details, my job is to find a good partner that we can trust and that will assist us. Can I trust you? When you receive this letter, kindly send me an e-mail signifying your interest including your most confidential telephone numbers for quick communication also your contact details. Get back to us through this email: sgtdavidsmith00000@execs.com

This is risk free.

With regards from,

Sgt. David Smith Fitte
Email Contact: sgtdavidsmith00000@execs.com

How many things can be said for the extreme bad taste of this scam? I don't think I'll even try. Just beware this newest scam; and scam it is. The entire thing is based on the Nigerian money scam, using the same key phrases and the same methods. What the sender is actually after is personal information - in order to "transfer the money" to you, they'll need your banking information. With that info, they can actually transfer your money right out of your account.

The other thing that they might ask for - instead of your banking information, since "they realize" that it's a risk for you to give it - is that you advance them a small sum of money to establish trust between you both, which they'll "hold as collateral" against the money they're supposedly going to send you.

You can keep an eye out on any of these email scams from the 419 Scam Email Repository. Listed here are the full emails that other people have received so that you can compare yours against these, in case you're actually ever tempted to fall for the con.

And when you do receive a scam mail like this one, don't just delete it. You can actually report it to either or both of these agencies, which works to prevent identity theft and fraud: The FTC (spam@uce.gov) and The Secret Service (419.fcd@usss.tres.gov). Both of these agencies maintain email databases that help identify the patterns in the emails and work to shut down the thieves sending them.