Monday, January 08, 2007

Wha'da ya' think? Should I bite?

Is there anyone stupid enough to fall for this email?


Dear Friend,


I am Barrister Peter Van Smith, a solicitor at law. I was the personal attorney to Eng, John McPherson, a national of your country who used to work with an oil servicing company here in Amsterdam-Netherlands after which be referred to as my client. Eng, John McPherson 62 years of age made a fixed deposit of fund valued atUSD$18,500,000 (Eighteen Million,Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars Only)with a Security Company/Finance Firm here in Europe and unfortunately lost his life in an Egyptian charter plane Boeing 737 which crashed into the RedSea early on January 3 shortly after taking off from the resort of Sharm el-Sheikh,killing all the 135 passengers and 13 crew members aboard,

He left no clear beneficiary as Next of Kin except some vital documents related to the deposit still in my possession. Recently, the governing body of the Security Company/Finance Firm contacted me on this matter, requesting that I should notify the next of kin of my late client to claim the funds and I am yet to provide the Next of Kin to lay claims to the Fund. I know that my client had no living next of kin but I went ahead and made several inquiries to your embassy to locate any of my late clients extended relatives but this has proved unsuccessful. Under a clear and legitimate agreement with you, I seek your consent to present you as the next so that my late client's fund will not be confiscated by the Security Company.You and I can share the money, you will be entitled to 50% of the total fund for your role as the relative and next of kin of my late client, 40%for me while 10% is to be marked out for any expenses that will be incurred during the clearance or process risk involved as all necessary legal documents that will be used to back you up as the legal beneficiaryand next of kin of my late client will be procured.

All I require is your sincerity, honesty, co-operation and utmost good faiths to enable us see this deal through. I guarantee that this will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law. Kindly, get in touch with me by my e-mail or telephone to enable us discuss further.You may also send your telephone number so that I can call you. Do not forget that a transaction of this magnitude requires utmost confidentiality and sincerity. I look forward to your urgent response.Thank you,Peter Van Smith

There was contact information with this email, but I deleted it. Surely there can't be anyone dumb enough (or greedy enough) to fall for this, can there?

15 comments:

MaR said...

I received a similar one yesterday, again. If they are still around I am afraid there are still some people who fall for this...
Like somebody once commented somewhere else, I wonder if I ever won anything and I deleted it thinking it was spam, lol!!
(it took me forever to leave a comment, oh blogger!)

Anonymous said...

I received my first message of that stripe well over 10 years ago when I was an Internet Rookie. It made me nervous so I asked a more savvy friend about who explained to me The Wonders of Spam. I have since received variations on that email over 100 times -- only the names and country change. I can only marvel at the naievete of the poor schmucks who fall for it and count my blessings that I didn't.

Anonymous said...

I always wonder who falls for this type of thing. Even with a cold, my brain can still perceive the fraud ;)
It's pretty articulate though. I've seen worse ones.

Pat said...

I used to get them all the time from Africa. There was a chap who called their bluff and ended up getting money out of them - then he got the death threats!

Anonymous said...

Hate to tell ya......but I got the very same email. And after the first ten words or so........poof! It was gone.
But...if you do believe it, call me....DO I have a bargain for YOU! (smile)

Anonymous said...

I knew someone who did fall for this email Kenju........ eesh.......... and notice i said knew them, not 'was friends with someone" LOL It's National Delurking Week so consider me officially delurked :)

TLP said...

Amazing, huh? But people must fall for it, or they wouldn't keep doing it.

Nature Girl said...

I feel so cheated...I got the same email today...I though I was special...I thought it was just for me, I thought I meant something to them...
:P

Sadly...there are those that will fall for this...sigh..
Stacie
(here by way of Shephard's blogroll)
Stacie

Anonymous said...

It's impossible not to trust someone who calles himself Barrister Peter Van Smith, and who calls me "friend."

Anonymous said...

Hi, kenju! I "fell" for this one and got my 9 million dollars just yesterday. I'll share half of it with you if you'll just send me an e-mail....

Just kidding! I read/saw a news story that showed a group of people in Nigeria getting busted for this type of thing, but not before quite a few people were bilked out of lots and lots of their money.

I've seen your comments on Trinamick's posts and thought I'd check out your stuff. I have a lot of reading to do!

Anonymous said...

I have also been getting these type of emails for a couple of years now, I can only guess that they get a victim every now and then or they would have stopped sending them out by now.

Anonymous said...

Your comments are OFF on the Ipana post Judy.

Granny Annie said...

The same people who believe Televangelists fall for this type of fraud as well. Guess is takes a village (of idiots) to keep the world interesting.

srp said...

Mom has gotten these too. I don't know why she gets so much of this... I don't.

David Edward said...

insist on 60%

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seriously many people have sent BILLIONS of dollars to Nigeria in response to emails like this.
see www.scamorama.com for laughs and education.