419 Inheritance Scam
PLEASE NOTE: The persons, companies or organisations mentioned in the example(s) below are not responsible for these e-mail scams. Organisations and individuals, pretending to act on behalf of these institutions/persons, initiate these scams and abuse the reputable names of these well-known institutions/persons, to add a false sense of security to these fraudulent e-mails. Also note that some scammers act on behalf of certain organisations that do not even exist.
Date: 18 October 2006
From: [DELETED] <[DELETED]@terra.com.mx>
Subject: MRS [DELETED] /URGEN REPLY NEEDED.
Although we have not meet before, but i sent you this business proposal with trust, I saw your contacts in INTERNET SARCH,After much consideration i decided to write you since I cannot be able to see you face to face at first. I will like you to take your time to read this mail carefully. I did not mean to embarrasse you with my business proposal but I seriously need your assistance. Please this is a confidential matter and it requires urgency.
I am Mrs [DELETED] the manager of bill and exchange at the foreign remittance department of [DELETED] ([DELETED]) ouagadougou burkina faso in west africa.In my department we discovered an abandoned sum of U.S$12.5m dollars (Twelve million five hundred thousand USD) in an account that belongs to one of our foreign customer who died along with his entire family in into the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 (AMERICA ATTACK). Since we got information about his death, we have been expecting his next of kin to come over and claim his money because we cannot release it unless some body applies for it as next of kin or relation to the deceased as indicated in our banking guidlines and laws, but unfortunately we learnt that all his supposed next of kin or relation died alongside with him at the( ATTACK) leaving nobody behind for the claim. It is therefore upon this , I now decided to make this business proposal to you and release the money to you as the next of kin or relation to the deceased for safety and subsequent disbursement since nobody is coming for it and I don't want this money to go into the bank treasury as unclaimed bill.
The banking law and guidine here stipulates that if such money remained unclaimed after five years, the money will be tranfered into the bank as unclaimed bill
I therefore agree that 40% of this money will be for you as foreigner partner,in respect to the provision of a foreign account, 10% will be set asidefor expenses incured during the business and 50% would be for me. There after I will visit your country for disbursement according to the percentages indicated. Therefore, to enable the immediate transfer of this fund to you as arranged, you must apply first to the bank as relation or next of kin to the deceased indicating your bank name, your bank account number, your private telephone and fax number for easy and effective communication and location where in the money will be remitted.I will not fail to bring to your notice that this transaction is hitch-free and that you should not entertain any atom of fear as all required arrangements have been made for the transfer. You should contact me immediately as soon as you recieve this letter
Trusting to hear from you immediately.
Yours faithfully,
Mrs [DELETED].
The 9/11 attacks on America and the war in Iraq are very popular backdrops for their scams. We just wonder what an INTERNET SARCH can be. The money always goes in three directions: some for you, some for the so-called expenses and some for the scammer. The expenses are the main goal of the scam, there is no inheritance, so there is no cut for you or the scammer. The only money that will flow from this scheme is the 10% expenses, paid by the victim to the scammer. The scammer will not insist on the 10% all at once, they rather prefer breaking the costs down into smaller, more affordable amounts, making it more attractive to the victim. The scammers continue to make up lame excuses for expenses until the victim bails out. The first payment made by the victim, means victory for the scammer, any additional payment is a bonus. Don't believe anything they tell you, no matter how legitimate the supporting documents may look and no matter how logical the expenses may sound.
