Bene(Phish)Iary: Scam FBI Email Says You’re Owed $4.1M — And Are Suspected Of Tax Evasion

A surety bond for the princely sum was found in two consignment boxes seized at JFK Airport in Queens, NY, along with documents bearing YOUR name, according to the hoax email.

The author, who claims to be FBI Deputy Director Paul M. Abbate in Washington, D.C., then offers to “walk you through the process of clearing and claiming the money.”

That’s the good news.

“After questioning the diplomat that accompanied the two consignment boxes into the United States, we learned that he was to deliver these two consignment boxes to your residence as an inheritance/winning prize payment due to you,” the email says.

“The two consignment boxes' paperwork lacks the PROOF OF OWNERSHIP CERTIFICATE AND LEGAL DELIVERY PERMIT CLEARANCE CERTIFICATE forms,” which verifies that the shipment is legal, it says.

Under those circumstances, the email requires you to reply within 72 hours of receiving it -- or find IRS agents at your door.

“Failure to comply may lead to your arrest, interrogation, or being prosecuted in a court of law for tax evasion and/or money laundering,” the Abbate imposter says.

“You are also instructed to desist from further contact with any bank(s) or person(s) in the United States, the United Kingdom, or any part of the world regarding your fund,” it adds, “because your payment has been confiscated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation here in the United States.”

Scam watchers have traced the clumsily-crafted email as far back as 2015. Back then, the author claimed to be an assistant commissioner with U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

The airport was the same (JFK), as was the amount of dough – only this supposedly was actual cash found in two trunks “coming from a foreign country.”

Authors’ names and amounts have since changed over the years.

One email said federal authorities seized $30 million.

Another cited a measly $3.6 mill.

“After fees and taxes that dwindled down to $320,000, which I spent on a cute redhead in Texas,” one scam-watcher wrote on a public message board. “She dumped me when it ran out.”

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