US Marine scam email hits inboxes

$15m 'up for grabs' in latest email scam

Security companies are warning of a new email scam that is posing as a letter from a US Marine serving in Iraq.

The email is a variant of the standard 419 scam, where huge riches are promised if the recipient hands over their bank account details and pays an ever increasing number of commissions and bribes.

The message reads: 'My name is Sgt Richard Murphy, I am in the Military Engineering Unit here Baghdad, Iraq. We have about $15 Million US dollars that we want to move out of the country. My colleagues and I need a good partner, someone we can trust. This is a risk free and legal business (oil money).'

Such scams tend to follow the headlines and past examples have included emails purporting to be from the Thatchers in South Africa as well as the relatives of leaders from the Congo, Yugoslavia and Afghanistan.

"With so many scam emails being sent to internet users every day, it's hard to believe that anyone falls for such confidence tricks," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos.

"However, innocent people risk putting their finances in danger if they correspond with these scammers, and all email users must stay on their guard."