FBI Headquarters Wants ME!


I end our first week of Effective Communication Month with a real life spam funny.  This is an actual email I received last week.  Notice how "realistic" it looks?  ROFL  This one's pretty funny and, even though I've never had any encounters with the FBI, I can tell this is not something I need to respond to.  What's wrong with this picture?  How can you tell this spammer isn't really the FBI?  Here are a few big red flags:

1. The subject line says, "Email from FBI."

I've never received an email from the FBI, but I don't think my first contact with the FBI would be an email that said, "Email from FBI."

2. The From field says "FBI Headquarters" which has an email address of  Robert Mueller @ Mueller.com.

I don't know much about the FBI, but I seriously doubt that an agent would use his personal email address to correspond with someone he doesn't know.  Doesn't that sort of...I don't know..."Blow his cover?"  In addition, it appears that Agent Mueller has his own business.  At least I don't think Mueller.com is another AOL or Gmail.  I guess the FBI doesn't pay what it used to.

3.  The time stamp says it arrived in my inbox at 10:42 pm.

I guess Agent Mueller was working late at FBI Headquarters that night.  Or was he working on his business and just forgot that he didn't send me this attachment?

4. It is addressed to infors @fbi.gov.

It appears Agent Mueller has sent this attachment to a bunch of us.  If he had just sent it to me, wouldn't it be addressed to jojo @artofeloquence.com?  For that matter, doesn't it look like Agent Mueller got things a bit backwards?  Shouldn't it be FROM infors @fbi.gov and TO Robert Mueller?  Come to think of it, shouldn't it be from INFO @fbi.gov?  Was this a misspelling?  Typo?  Or did he mean ENFORCE @fbi.gov?  Maybe FBI agents can't spell.

5. Doesn't the text message appear a bit...sparse?

I'd be willing to bet that the FBI doesn't often use flowery language and probably isn't real big on detailed explanations to private citizens, but "Email from FBI?"  Shouldn't it say something more...I don't know...descriptive?  "Meet me behind the old shack at noon.  And come alone!"  LOL

6. The PDF attachment title also appears a bit GENERIC.

Oh, wait!  I know.  Of course!  It's purposely nondescript in order to hide its true identity!  "document1.pdf" is code for something like, "Blueprints of the First National Bank of Nigeria."

Wait!  It's ALL in code!  That's why it looks so ridiculous!  It's all just to throw the others off the track.  I'd better open that attachment and see what it's all about.  The FBI NEEDS me!  My country's counting on me!  It's probably some top secret G14 Classified mission!

Oh...Um...just forget everything I posted.  Uh...I wonder if I can get that memory flashy thingie from Men In Black.

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4 comments


  • jojosblog

    ROFL Let me know. LOL


  • Cindy Holman

    This is definitely a unique spam – getting some attention which is probably their goal ;) I got a registered letter in the mail which Greg is picking up today at the post office because we were not home – what if it says, from the FBI?


  • jojosblog

    I get about 300 spam items a DAY! Thankfully, most of them end up in my spam folder.


  • Carla

    Isn’t spam great? It’s a wonderful barrel of laughs until somebody falls for it. I regularly do anti-spam weeks on the RWAHM blog. I must get close to 100 a week and some of them are so idiotic and strange that you just KNOW nobody would fall for them. . . or at least you would hope not. But occasionally, something comes through that I know can sink a lot of people. There are some really creative nuts buried within the fruitcake of cyberspace!


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