Well that didn’t take long.
Steve Mnuchin was confirmed as Secretary of the Treasury less than two weeks ago, and today I find in my inbox a classic piece of spam that play’s on Trump’s pick. Not only did the email mention Steve Mnuchin’s name, but it claimed to be from Steve Mnuchin. Here is the text:
Good day to you Sir / Madam
This email is to keep you informed that I Mr.Steven T. Mnuchin, nominated On February 13, 2017 the Secretary to the United States National Treasury wishes to inform you that there is an on-going reimbursement payment program, were with the help of the (OFAC) the United Nations, world bank and the United States Government is reimbursing scammed victims globally who may have one way or the other happen to lost outrageous amount of money to impostors claiming to be individuals, bank staffs nor organizations for the release of your numerous sums of fund via numerous ways which they do not have access to.
We found your name in our list and that is why we are contacting you, this has been agreed upon and has been signed. You are advised to contact Mr Collins Lucas who is in charge of your payment through our office as he is our representative. Contact him immediately for more information on how to get your compensation of U.S $500,000 USD payment from the VISA CARD Verification Department
Therefore We have received a mandate and instructions from the (OFAC) and authorities involved here at the U.S Treasury Department to commence the immediate release of
your reimbursement payment valued at just ($500,000) Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars only which has been endorsed for remittance to you accordingly in a
legal moral and ethical way. Which is why I have contacted and to let you know that the United States Department for Justice, in The Person of the Attorney General
will get some documents for you so that this transaction can be completed without delay.
This program is to sanitize the image of Africa that has stained by the activities of scammers and fraud stars by paying up all beneficiaries pending funds
accordingly. All payment will be via Bank transfer certified bank from our foreign treasury account. Therefore,you should furnish him with the following pieces of
information:
1.Your full names
2.Direct telephone number/Fax Number
3.Mailing address
4.Age
5.OccupationPerson to Contact: Mr Collins Lucas
Visa Card Verification Department
Email: ——@gmail.com
For further inquiries : (646)-781—–The Department Officer Collins Lucas will provide you with instructions on how you can receive your reimbursement payment accordingly through any of your preffered channel
of delivery depending on your choice. All documentation that will be backing up your payment claim shall be obtained and a scanned copy will be sent to your email nor
fax machine as proof for verification.
Yours faithfully,
Mr.Steven T. Mnuchin
Treasury Secretary Main Treasury
1500 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, D.C. 20220
While the spammer was certainly very timely, I would only give it a rating of about 3 out of 10 on the believability scale. Plenty of errors (grammar and spelling) abound, and it just fails as a work of original scamming. The reply-to address was from a Philippines-based Yahoo address, and the email address for the contact at the “Visa Card Verification Department” is listed as some Gmail address. Not very convincing.
Still, the fact that a spammer would try to capitalize upon one of Trump’s cabinet picks is interesting. It makes me think that spammers keep up with politics after all, although the email oddly refers to “The Person of the Attorney General” rather than “Jeff Sessions”, even though Sessions was confirmed a few days before Mnuchin.
I wonder if more spam inspired by political news is on the way. Although obnoxious, it could be more entertaining that ones sent by Nigerian princes.
