Should I report this to the police?

Question

FROM THE DESK OF LEROUX DENIS
BILL AND EXCHANGE MANAGER,
BANK OF AFRICA (BOA)
OUAGADOUGOU, BURKINA FASO.

Dear Friend,
I know that this letter may come to you as a surprise but i got your contact through the internet
when i was seaching for a reliablie person who will assist me as i need a reliable and honest business partner outside Burkina Faso.I am writing to seek your interest over a transaction, In my department, We discovered an abandoned sum of $30m US dollars (THIRTY MILLION US DOLLARS) . In an account that belongs to one of our foreign customer who died along with his entire family in November 2001 in a plane crash.
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 somebody applies for it as next of kin or relation to the deceased as indicated in our banking guidelines but unfortunately we learnt that all his supposed next of kin or relation died alongside with him at the plane crash leaving nobody behind for the claim. It is therefore upon this discovery that I and other officials in my department now decided to make this business proposal to you and release the money to you as the next of kin or relation to the deaceased for safety and subsequent disbursement since nobody is coming for it and we don’t want this money to go into the Bank treasury as unclaimed Bill.
The Banking law and guideline here stipulates that if such money remained unclaimed after some years, the money will be transferred into the Bank treasury as unclaimed fund.The request of a foreigner as next of kin in this business is occasioned by the fact that the customer was a foreigner and a Burkinabe cannot stand as next of kin to a foreigner.
We agree that 30 % of this money will be for you as foreign partner, in respect to the provision of a foreign account, 10 % will be set aside for expenses incurred during the business and 60 % would be for me and my colleagues. There after I and my colleagues 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 of 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 to .
Upon receipt of your reply, I will send to you the details of the whole transaction. 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 receive this letter.Trusting to hear from you immediately.
Your’s faithfully,
LEROUX DENIS

Thank You so far for all of you help. I have emiled him back and told him that I was servily intrested and wated an adrees phone and fax from him to make sure he is legit.

Shawn

The Scamer Emailed Back:

My private telephone number is 00226 70 671 371. Dont be afraid because I am here to give you all the guidelines required.

I want you to tell me more about yourself also.
I have some questions for you.
1. Are you married and of what age are you?
2. what do you wish we can invest on when I will come to your country.
3. Are you ready to assist me honestly in this transaction?
4. Are there things you want to ask me?
5. I need you to tell me whether you are capable of receiving this amount or not when transferred.
For me, I am married with two kids and has worked in this same bank for years.
I will give you the updates when I hear from you.
I am expecting you to call me for more clarifications.
Best Regards,

Mr Leroux Denis

Answer 1

I'm thinking no, don't bother. I get one of these every day. Usually I ignore them. Sometimes I write back, explaining that I'll never ever visit Africa, because their air traffic controllers suck; judging by my email, they've never ever successfully landed a plane that had a male passenger aboard.

Answer 2

This is spam. It is also a scam.

Never get in touch with such people, in any way. Just delete it.

If you want to report it, then do.

This particular scam is commonly known as "the Nigerian scam" because at first they came from Nigeria. (I've had many from many other countries, too.)

There's probably nothing the police can do, as these things are hard to trace.

Answer 3

Notice that the email address they use is always a free anonymous address. This way these Nigerian crooks make it more difficult to trace them.

Report the spam to your ISP. That's about all you can do until you get the next "plane crash" spam from these Nigerian stinkers.

Answer 4

I'm not sure the police can do much, but you can try. There are websites you can report it to. It is so common to get these now, I just delete the email or throw the letter out.

I have heard of one man who responded and went to the country to claim his funds, they then kidnapped him and held him for ransom.

Answer 5

Sounds like a fraud scam. Find out where they are located and then contact that counties local prosecutor for details on how to handle it.

Answer 6

I don't know what to tell you, since it appears that no one polices the internet and the many scams done through it. I myself get these almost every single day! I personally ignore them all.

Answer 7

Report it to your email provider but like the others said these come so often that the police and other governing bodies know already.

Answer 8

It's a textbook scam. No need to report anything. Just laugh, send a nasty reply (It makes you feel better, sometimes) and delete it.

Answer 9

No, the police won't do anything. Put this advance payment scam in the trash and move along.

Answer 10

Just delete it like everyone else. If the police were interested, those losers would have stopped by now.