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E-mail scam purports to be from U.S. soldier

WASHINGTON (AP) ? A new e-mail scam from a purported American "Special Forces 
Commando" in Afghanistan who needs help getting terrorist drug money out of the 
country is making the rounds on the Internet.

The Secret Service says it is the latest incarnation of a fraud scheme that 
targets hundreds of people each day.

The e-mail starts simply ? a request to respond to the e-mail to get a phone 
number ? but authorities say it is the first step of a long con that takes in 
victims looking for easy cash. Other versions of the con involve wiring funds 
overseas or even traveling to an African nation to claim the nonexistent money.

"The one common link remains with all these letters ? they are always a fraud 
attempt to steal your money," Secret Service Special Agent Brian Deck said 
Wednesday.

The scam is best known as the "Nigerian e-mail scam" or "419 scam," a reference 
to Nigerian penal code against fraud. Authorities now call it "advance fee 
fraud."

According to an FBI report, about 2,600 Americans said they were victims of the 
scams in 2001. Sixteen reported losses totaling $345,000; two individuals lost 
over $70,000 each.

The original scam takes the form of a plea from a government official or some 
other person overseas who wants help moving money ? anything from an 
inheritance to overpayment on a government contract. The victim is promised a 
cut of the total, which is in the millions of dollars.

Soon, the perpetrators claim there are problems that require the victim to pay 
lawyers' fees, shipping costs, taxes or bribes.

"Then they'll probably tell you to wait for this package, and then it's never 
going to show," Deck said.

The Afghanistan e-mail, claiming to be from special forces soldier "Bradon 
Curtis," says he found $36 million in drug money during a patrol. The e-mail 
asks the recipient for help moving the cash, kept in a suitcase, out of 
Afghanistan.

"We will thus send you the shipment waybill, so that you can help claim this 
luggage on behalf of me and my colleagues," the e-mail reads. "Needless to say 
the trust (placed) in you at this junction is enormous. We are willing to offer 
you an agreeable percentage of (these) funds."

Deck said the newest e-mail is the first his office has seen that claims to be 
from a soldier in Afghanistan, but the scam evolves with technology and current 
events.

"The letters used to be mailed. Then faxing became the choice of the scammers. 
Now we are increasingly seeing e-mail being used," Deck said.

More recent scam letters refer to deaths from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, 
including unclaimed cash found in the rubble of the World Trade Center or the 
inheritance of a fallen serviceman at the Pentagon.

The Secret Service gets about 13,000 advance fee scam letters forwarded to its 
office every month and about a hundred calls from victims or potential victims 
daily. Authorities estimate that the scammers collect millions of dollars each 
year.


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