do they think we are fools?

Question

Dear Partner,
I am presenting to you a case of my client,who willed a fortune to his
next-of-kin. It was most unfortunate that he and his next-of-kin died
on the same day in an auto crash.I am now faced with the Task of who to
present as the Next of Kin/Beneficiary to his Estate.

According to the law,the fortune will be claimed by the Bank. However,I
don't belong to that school of thought which proposes that the fortune
of unlucky people be given to the Government. My client made a
deposit,valued at US$27,500,000.000.

Upon maturity,the bank sent a routine notification to his forwarding
address but got no reply.This prompted my legal duties among others to
inform the the management of his death and to present his Next of Kin to
claim his total estate.This sum of $27,500,000.00 Twenty-Seven
Million,Five Hundred Thousand USD is in their custody. No body has come forward
to make claims.The money will revert to the ownership of the Bank,if
nobody applies as the Next of kin to Claim the fund.

Consequently,I shall present you to stand as the next of kin to my Late
Client so that you and I can benefit from the fruits of this old man’s
labour to enhance our financial status. For now, I alone knew about
his last will/Testament,as my client had great confidence in me.
Everything will be left between you and I.The share would be 30% for you and
50% for me. All I have to Do is to amend his Last will/Testament to make
you the Next of Kin/Beneficiary of the Estate legally.

As I am not very sure of getting your consent on the issue,I prefer not
to divulge my full identity so as not to risk being exposed.I need not
emphasize to you that the sensitivity of this issue need not be toyed
with by neglecting its confidentiality.

Upon acceptance, I shall send to you a copy of the probate and
Inherittance return information form and the Detailed Information on how this
business would be successfully transacted. At this point I want to
assure you that your true consent,full co-operation and confidentiality are
all that are required for us to take full advantage of this great
opportunity.

Foward your full names,address,and Private telephone & fax numbers for
follow up.
I look forward to hear from you soon.
Sincerely,
Micheal Briggs.

how do they get our e mail address to send this crap to us.
i won the lottery 3 times last month.
do they think we are stupid

i done an ip trace and it comes from poland

Answer 1

Hi Wozzy Bear.


Don't worry I get em too sometime. Just forget about em. They send em out by the thousands hoping some *naive optimistic let me try it out* type of person will give out some personal information. Or give some money from their account in order to pay for the order forms etc to get their own 27 million.

Hope those emails stop for ya. But you could get a new email addy and never sign up for any newsletters or write ur email down. And if a site asks u for one you could also use disposable email accounts. Just make sure I get the one ur using still.

take care.
xx
Victoria

Answer 2

They're fishing for gullible sorts. If they send out that email to a million people, chances are that at least one or two recipients will be dumb enough to respond.

If you've *ever* given out your email address to any website for any reason (as a login, to purchase something, etc.), there's a good chance that your addy has been sold to companies that collect email addresses. A list of 500,000 email addresses can be purchased for well under $100.

This kind of scam is known as a 419 (named after the section of the Nigerian penal code that prohibits this kind of scam), and is incredibly common. Check out the link in the sources list to see a website about people who try to scam the scammers by pretending to be interested in the offer, and then finding ways to get the scammers to waste time or money. It's pretty funny (but the site appears to be down right now - boo!)

Answer 3

Well, the old addage holds true, here .
" If it sounds too good to be true .... it probably is . "
There are areas in your Internet Explorer 7 that are named , " HBO " installers. It' s a type of " Low Critical " viruses that install on your computer when you start up your web-browser.
These installers remember any website that you have visited. They run quietly in the background gathering info. about all your internet visits. That' s how other companies get your e-mail address !
Each time a new IE7 is installed, somebody out there in cyber-space gets a paycheque. Then, your information is reported to advertising companies .... and, 'BINGO', you get e-mail from a total stranger !
This really sucks ! Lately, my Bulk Mail is over-loaded with Junk Mail !
Never bump your junk mail by reporting to the add-company that you want to " Unsubscribe " . That just tells them that there really is a customer called .... Joe Blow !
Just DELETE those e-mails !

Answer 4

I've had this and the lottery ones as well. What I do is reply, get some info from them tell them you want to speak with them in person. Call their local authorities and give them the number. They buy lists of email addresses from people and businesses that collect them. It's suposed to be for marketing but many undesirables can easily get their hands on your email address.

Answer 5

This is a 419 most of them come from Nigeria. Now it looks very silly and who would bother with it but it is called a "shotgun" effect the principle being that if you send out enough of them someone will be stupid enough to fall for it and no doubt someone does every now and again

Answer 6

Even if the offer was legit, it would be unethical to partake of another's wealth so under-handedly. Leave that to the gov't -- they don't give a s**t about ethics. Besides, this has the smell of a sting, rather than a scam.

Answer 7

They send out thousands. For each one that responds they can make hundreds. They will send you a partial payment and ask you to return taxes to them by wire. In a week the check will bounce and you are out the wire transfer. If they couldn't find suckers they would stop.
☼

Answer 8

Even if some of us are stupid enough to fall for one of these, I receive thousands. I doubt anyone is dumb enough to think that they are all real. I wonder if Yahoo and the other companies that offer spam filters are really sending bogus spam just to increase the need for spam filters.

Answer 9

Most people, like you, aren't. But a very small proportion of people are and when they are sending the email to thousands of people for very little money, it only takes one or two idiots to cough up to make it worth their while.

If it cost money to send emails (even 0.01 pence each) then it would soon reduce spam (without costing the rest of us much money at all).

Answer 10

I get the "fortune to next-of-kin" ones. I'm very jealous of you though. They've never told me I won the lottery(esp. 3 times)
I know what you mean! They really say "SCAM" on them don't they?