I seem to get one of these at least a day or something similar and I wondered if people are still taken in by these scams? Dear Partner, I write in good faith and trust that you will take a moment to consider the contents of this letter. I am Johnson Sandals, Head of Internal Audits of a Financial Institution in the United Kingdom. While performing my Official Duty, I discovered the sum of US$14,300,000 (Fourteen Million Three Hundred Thousand United States Dollars) floating in an account opened in 1999, which belongs to one of our clients, who died in 2007. Every effort made to track any member of his family has since failed because the deceased died leaving no heir or a will in his file. I will use my office to facilitate the transfer of the above sum to a safe account overseas. I want to propose that you partner with me and stand in as the next of kin. You will be required to provide an existing account or set up a new account that will serve the purpose of receiving this fund. I will compensate you with 30% of the funds after the transaction. The account has not been operated since he died in 2007 and nobody has come forward for this claim, hence the funds has been floating. This information I have on this account is confidential as no other person has access to it. If the funds are not remitted urgently, it would be forfeited and subsequently converted to company's funds which will benefit the company’s shareholders only. With my assistance the fund will be legally approved to you with all the necessary documents and approvals in your name. However, I will be behind the scene to guide you on how to apply for the funds. Please respond through my direct Private email. As soon as I receive your response, I will send you more detail. I completely trust you to keep this information absolutely private because of my position in the Office. I look forward to your prompt response. Best Regards, Johnson Sandals. Head of Internal Audit
They're literally written so that only the most gullible will fall for them, because you don't want to waste your time on someone who falls for a terribly convincing phish only to baulk when you request a down-payment via Western Union Money Transfer.
Well if you're not going to take him up on his generous offer, can you forward me his email address.....
I used to think that but after having a discussion with some work mates they admitted falling foul of scam phone calls. These are not gullible people either so it came as a shock. If your mind is preoccupied or you're tired when you take this sort of call I believe it's quite easy to fall into the scam trap! I've gone to the extreme of disbelieving all phone calls from people I don't know. Even had some genuine anti-fraud phone calls asking for verification details. I politely declined and phoned the anti-fraud line directly just to be sure for my own piece of mind!
Yup. Its logical that when you phone, say, a bank you have to verify your identity; and to a certain extent when the bank rings you also. But, they get so flustered if you ask them to confirm who they are... its almost worth it for that panic filled silence.
This. When Barclays Anti-Fraud phone me on a blocked number I refuse to speak to them, and instead call back through their Banking APP, and the same with EE and Virgin. It doesn't hurt to be caucious for the sake of an extra 2 minutes.
I’m in the same boat, receiving an unplanned incoming call from an unknown source should never be trusted. Take the time to call them to a published number.
There was a neato scam doing the rounds a year or so ago on that front. Someone would ring your landline: "Hi, I'm your bank's fraud department, we need to talk to you urgently. For security reasons, hang up and dial the number on the back of your credit card, please." So, you do. You hang up, pick up the receiver, there's your dial tone, you dial the number on the back of your card, it rings, someone picks up: "Hi, this is your bank's fraud department, how can I help you?" Trouble is, you hung up - but the scammer didn't. Unlike mobiles, landlines are caller-disconnect - which means the person who made the call is the only one who can terminate it. When you hung up, the scammer stayed on the line and played a recording of a dial tone. You pick up the receiver again, hear the dial tone, dial the number, the scammer plays you a ringing noise, then pretends to be the bank you think you just called. Tricksy, eh? The fix is, of course, to ring your bank from another phone - and the trick doesn't work against mobiles, which are either-party-disconnect (i.e. the caller or callee can terminate the call on demand.)
Many happy hours reading 419eater back in the day. Seems to have gone quiet on the scam front these days though. That phone one is rather smart - Although utterly broken by not having a landline phone to call!
