FBI says woman is a millionaire

Donna Rawson is a millionaire again and this time it must be real. After all, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has checked it out and they “finally confirmed that your contract payment is 100% genuine and hitch free from all facets and of which you have the lawful right to claim your fund.”

Funny thing, though. This “official” e-mail from the FBI comes from an earthlink.net address, not the agency’s government address.

The address seems authentic: J. Edgar Hoover FBI Building on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington D.C. The subject says that the FBI wants to wiretap the Internet. The message quickly gets to the point – Rawson has been under investigation.

“We the FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION (FBI) Washington, DC in conjunction with some other relevant investigation agencies here in the United STATES of America have recently been informed through our Global intelligence monitoring network that you are presently have a transaction going on with the CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA (CBN) as regards to your over-due contract payment which was fully endorsed in your favor accordingly by the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OF NIGERIA, the missive reads. “It might interest you to know that we have taken our time in screening through this project as stipulated on our protocol of operation and have without any further delay. Having said all this, we will further advise that you go ahead in dealing with the central bank office accordingly as we will be monitoring all their activities with you as well as your correspondence at all levels.”

Rawson can stop worrying about being scammed. After all, she has the assurance of the director himself, Robert S. Mueller, III. At least, that’s whose name is at the end of the e-mail.

“We recently had a meeting with the Executive Governor in the person of Prof. Charles Chukwuma Soludo along with some of the top officials of the ministry regarding your case and they made sure we understand that your file has been held in abase depending on when you personally come for the claim,” “Mueller” continued. “They also told us that the only problem they are facing right now is that some criminals are using this project as an avenue to scam innocent people. We were also informed that another person has contacted them and she gave us proof of your claim prior to the release of your contract fund valued at about US $10,700,000.00 (Ten million Seven Hundred Thousand United States Dollars), but the central bank office did the right thing by insisting on hearing from you personally before they go ahead on wiring your fund to the bank information which was forwarded to them by the above lady, so that was the main reason why they contacted us so as to assist them in making the investigations.”

The foreign officials also warned the FBI that it should notify its citizens who have contract payments from the central bank of Nigeria to be very careful so they do not become victims of these scam artists, the e-mail continued. If Rawson had been dealing with someone claiming to be from that bank, she should immediately stop and contact the “real” bank, headed by Prof. Charles Chukwuma Soludo.

Rawson is to follow all directives from the bank. The FBI will be monitoring all her dealings with them, “so you don’t have anything to worry about. All we require from you henceforth is an update so as to enable us be on track with you and the Central Bank of Nigeria.”

Should she need any further information, she can feel free to e-mail Mueller at the earthlink.net address. The FBI is there to “guide you during and after this project has been completely perfected and you have received your contract fund as stated.”

Rawson is an old hand at identifying scams, so she was not fooled for a moment. She knew that the FBI does not deal with investigations in this manner. She wanted to share the e-mail with the Daily Journal to let others see one of the more recent scam attempts in the Parkland.

The Daily Journal has made a commitment to keep readers abreast of scams that hit our area. If someone tries to make you the victim of a scam, call us at 431-2010 and tell us what happened. We will include your story in our scam alert series to prepare others who may find themselves in the same situation.