CHARLOTTE, N.C.,None — Jerry Mclin got an email that appeared to be from Ben Bernanke, the Federal Reserve chairman, telling Mclin that he would inherit $10.5 million from Nigeria.
"It's just a plan scam, what I think," Mclin said.
He knew it was a scam when it asked for his bank account and routing numbers. Jerry said he learned from watching Action 9 warnings that you never give out that information.
"We've heard that before," Mclin said.
But he wanted to get the word out to others, like his retired friends struggling in this economy, so they won't fall victim. "And all of the sudden their bank accounts are wiped out," Mclin said.
Mclin also wanted to find out where the email originated, so Action 9 consulted with Sgt. Walt Bowling, who is head of financial crimes for Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department.
Action 9 arranged a phone call for Bowling to tell Mclin how to find the Internet headers to help locate the sender's Internet protocol address.
"Everything that is in there from the top to the bottom, I need you to highlight and copy, Bowling said. "Get it? OK. Now sent it to me."
Bowling shared the information with federal authorities and they are still processing it.
"(It's) more than likely coming from Nigeria or Canada," Bowling said. Bowling said to protect yourself against suspicious emails, don't act on them; instead, delete them.