Spammers Pretend to Be from Bank of England, Offer 10.5 Million Dollars

It never ceases to amaze me that people are still falling for email scams, especially when there are so many warnings out there urging you to avoid them.

Still, I imagine the reason people fall for phishing scams is likely due to the fact that they’re hoping for the off chance that they really will have millions of dollars deposited into their account by some stranger from another country. Or perhaps they’ve just had a moment of insanity.

Either way, internet crooks will continue to pump out phishing emails, hoping that someone will bite. Scammers are currently using $10.5 million dollars with the back story that it’s for a contract payment as bait.

Honestly, would you fall for this?

From: Bank of England [mailto:vtmbemt@yahoo.com.ph]
Sent: Wednesday, November 16, 2011 4:52 AM
Subject: Bank of England

Bank of England
Thread needle Street
London EC2R 8AH
ENGLAND U.K
Tel:+447035953708
Fax:+4477860607727 EX 832
Email:vtbankplc1@skymail.mn

IMMEDIATE CONTRACT PAYMENT:MAV/UK/MIN/011

We apologies for the delay of your payment and all the inconvenience that we might have indulge you through. However we are having minor problems with our payment system ,which is inexplicable and has held us stranded and indolent,not having the aspiration to devote our 100% assiduity in accrediting foreign contract payments.We apologies once again from the records of outstanding contractors due for payments with the British government,your name was discovered as next on the list of the outstanding contractors who have not yet received their payments.

This payment is being processed and will be released to you as soon as your es respond to this letter.Also note that from my record in my file you rout standing contract payment is $10,500,000.00 (ten million five hundred thousand united states dollars)

Kindly RE-CONFIRM TO ME THE FOLLOWINGS (A)YOUR FULL NAME (B)TELEPHONE /FAX#(C)YOUR FULL BANKING DETAILS FOR IMMEDIATE TRANSFER (D)HOME ADDRESS.

As soon as this information is received your payment will be wired to your nominated bank account directly from BANK OF ENGLAND.

Thanks for your understanding hope to have your response shortly.

I am looking forward for your urgent reply on this Email: vtbankplc1@skymail.mn

Yours faithfully,

..........................................
DR STEVEN OWEN
Control Officer, Foreign Payment Dept
Bank of England

If the horrific butchering of the English language isn’t a big enough sign that this email wasn’t sent from a Bank of England official, here are a couple more red flags that will help convince you:

1. The email was sent from vtmbemt@yahoo.com.ph – why is an alleged bank official emailing you from a free Yahoo! account with a Philippines extension?


2. In the email, you’re instructed to respond by emailing a completely different address, vtbankplc1@skymail.mn, which is based in Mongolia (that's new).


3. You’re asked to send confidential information via email, including your banking details. I’ve never known any bank that does this, but it’s something scammers often do.


4. If you really were owed such a large amount, why would they email you versus calling or sending an official letter via snail mail? Something just doesn’t sit right.

Now that you know this email is junk, you have the following options:

• Report the email to Spam Cop (include the headers).


• Report the email by forwarding it to the FTC at spam@uce.gov (include the headers).


• Simply ignore the email and delete it.

Photo Credit: Tracy O

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