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January 04, 2012

The bits were hardly dry on my rail against the phony parcel scam (tied to malware distribution) when an advance-fee (a.k.a. 419) scammer tried to ride the coattails of FedEx credibility to perpetrate a more direct withdrawal of recipients' funds.

Observe:

From: FEDEX COURIER COMPANY
Subject: GOOD DAY

Dear Customer,
Good day to you. We have been waiting for you to contact us for your Confirmable Package that is registered with us for shipping of your Package to your residential location.
We are hereby obliged to inform you that your parcel has been with us for weeks now, We got over 20 set of packages from the United Kingdom We took time to write out the email addresses on the label Of each parcel and yours was included This is to inform you that we are in possession of your Parcel (which include a certified cheque worth of $800,000.00 USD and other vital documents) that we facilitate the clearance of the cheque in your country, which is to be couriered to you. It is the usual practice of our organization to conduct a proper verification of all PaCkages that we are to delivered, to ensure that they are valid. Be rest assured that your cheque has been confirmed valid and true and delivery will be made once you have meet the necessary requirements. The package is registered with us for mailing by the Online Lottery Award Promo Board as claimed,in England, United Kingdom.
We are sending you this email because your package has been registered on a Special Order.
What you have to do now, is to contact our Delivery Department for immediate dispatchment of your package to your residencial address.
Note that as soon as our Delivery Team confirms your informations, it will take only one working day (24 hours for your package to arrive it designated destination. For your information, the Mail, VAT & Shipping fees have been paid by the Lottery Award Promo Board before your package was registered. What you need to pay is the Security Keeping fee of the FedEx company as stated in our privacy terms & condition page, in order to secured your Package.
The cost for the Security Keeping fee is $286 USD.
This is mandatory, kindly complete the below form to reconfirm your Postal
information:
Name:......................
Occupation:...................
Country:........................
State:...........................
City:.............................
Sex:............................
Age:.........................
Phone:.....................
Await your Swift Response.

Yours Faithfully,
Mike Robert

Email:fedexdeliveryservice[more removed]@yahoo.com
(The Dispatched Officer).
FedEx Online Team Management © 1995 - 2012 FedEx

Even if you were to fall for the preposterous FedEx part of the story (e.g., calling themselves "Fedex Courier Company"; that they confirm the contents of a package to contain a massive check; that they would charge recipients a Security Keeping fee), hopefully the lottery connection will give you pause, since lottery scams have been around forever.

On the one hand, the crook tells you up front how much money you'll be scammed out of in the first round. On the other hand, believe me when I tell you it's only a down payment. That poor, nonexistent parcel will travel around the world several times, winding up in places that need official fees, taxes, security costs, and bribes to free it on its way to you.

Oh, and if you think this scam is a new hybrid, examples with nearly verbatim language have been circulating for at least two years. It's just one of the many templates in the 419 Crook's Playset.