This really puzzles me, now I know the the US government has gone after spammers and scammers in the US. I also understand that there is very little the US law enforcement agencies can do about “electronic crime” that is committed in identity theft hotspots like Nigeria and other Afri-scam and Afri-spam countries. But this be ridiculous…

From the Department of Justice (DOJ) website:

January 30, 2008

The Department of Justice did not send these unsolicited email messages—and would not send such messages to the public via email. Similar hoaxes have been recently perpetrated in the names of various governmental entities, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Internal Revenue Service. The email messages contain a malicious attachment as well as random text used to defeat spam filters. Email users should be especially wary of unsolicited warning messages that purport to come from U.S. governmental agencies directing them to click on file attachments or to provide sensitive personal information.

If you have received this, or a similar hoax, please file a complaint at www.ic3.gov.

Hoax Email Sample:

To see a full listing of Nigerian scam emails and other Afri-scams click here