Saturday, October 07, 2006

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?

Received the email below recently. This is probably the 10th iteration of this sort of scam I've received over the past 5-6 years. I'm assuming people fall for this sort of thing if they keep sending these(??).

Barrister & Solicitors,
Coles Chambers,
Suite 6, 3rd Floor,
118 Lord Lurgard Street, Lagos Island.
P.O.Box 75519,
Victoria Island, Lagos, Nigeria.

Hello Friend.

Before I start, I must first apologize for this unsolicited mail to you.I am aware that this is certainly an unconventional approach to establishing a relationship, but you will realize the reason for my action after going through this email.

I am Barrister Thomas Cole, a solicitor at law. I am the personal attorney to Late Richard Burson. I got your impressive information after a Conscious search for a reliable and matured mind that has all it takes to execute this project. I was elated when I saw your address, and I picked a keen interest with confidence to solicit for your help in executing this opportunity. However, I was moved to contact you based on the present situation of this opportunity, which I may say, is a God given offer.

There was a foreigner who lived here in NIGERIA some time ago; he is called Richard Burson by name, until his death. I was his Personal Attorney, unfortunately Richard Burson died with his wife and their two kids in a Local Plane Crash at Kano State, which enroute from sokoto to Abuja (the capital city of Nigeria), all occupants in the Plane lost their lives, unfortunately on this same flight were other dignitaries like the former Nigeria Sports Minister and a host of others.
The following websites could be referenced: Please go through the website.

http://www.usafricaonline.com/ngrkanocrash.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/1968616.stm

Owing to his death, his bank called on me for a meeting as regards his Account Balance with the bank, being h is attorney till the time of his death, I was told to come up with any of his relatives to come and claim the money, I tried all I could to trace his family, but all my efforts proved abortive.

Since January this year till date, the bank has been asking me to look for his family because they realize that a lot of people have been trying to claim the money as his next of kin, but after verification, It is found out that those people are not really his next of kin, because they cannot provide any legal evidence to prove that they are his relative.Hence, I have decided to use you as his next of kin to claim the money as it happens that none of his relatives will ever appear to claim the funds, besides I have all his documented memo in my possession, which will back you up before the bank as his next of kin .

I have the logistics to make your name to be that you are the rightful next of kin to the deceased and as well as the beneficiary of the funds. The amount involved is $US28.5Million Dollars. As regards to that, I will like you to furnish me with the following information, which I will use to secure the legal documents.
(1). FULL NAMES
(2). COMPLETE CONTACT ADDRESS
(3). CONTACT PHONE NUMBER
(4). FAX NUMBER
(5). OCCUPATION
(6). AGE
(7). Sex

As soon as I receive your information, I will forward an application for account closures to which you will submit to the concerned bank as his next of kin. Be rest assured that, there is no risk involved as I have rerfected and made the necessary arrangements to back you up in claiming the funds. I will want you to regard this deal as being highly confidential because this busines as transaction demands a high level of secrecy as the bank does not know that I am involved in the deal.if interested in the transaction and to enable me feed you with more information, then do all you can to furnish me with all the needed informations stated above.

Thanks for your anticipated co-operation as I await your reply. Reply
through my alternative email thomascole4@XXXX.com
Best Regards,
Thomas Cole Esq.

17 Comments:

Blogger JuDitta Ben David M.A. Psychotherapy said...

This is funny cause I got another request to act as his next of kin... from a mister abu muhamed, from burkina paso... :-(

4:31 PM  
Blogger Dukie said...

Scammers that use broken English make me want to cry.

Got this email:


FROM THE DESK OF DR ALHAJI SULEMAN,
AUDITING AND ACCOUNTING MANEGER,
BANK OF AFRICA (B.O.A)
OUAGADOUGOU-BURKINA FASO.

DEAR FRIEND,

I KNEW THIS MESSAGE WILL COME TO YOU AS A SURPRISE. I AM THE BILL AND
EXCHANGE MANAGER IN BANK OF AFRICA (BOA), OUAGADOUGOU BURKINA FASO. I
HOPED THAT YOU WILL NOT EXPOSE OR BETRAY THIS TRUST AND CONFIDENT THAT I
AM ABOUT TO IMPOSE ON YOU FOR THE MUTUAL BENEFIT OF OUR FAMILIES.
I NEED YOUR URGENT ASSISTANCE IN TRANSFERRING THE SUM OF (USD$20.5)
MILLION THIS MONEY HAS BEEN
DORMANT FOR YEARS IN OUR BANK WITHOUT ANY BODY CLAIMING THE FUND.

I WANT THE BANK TO RELEASE THE MONEY TO YOU AS THE NEAREST PERSON TO
OUR DECEASED CUSTOMER (THE OWNER OF THE ACCOUNT) BELONGS TO ONE OF OUR
FOREIGN CUSTOMER (MR. RICHARD BURSON FROM FLORIDA, U.S.A) WHO DIED ALONG
WITH HIS ENTIRE FAMILY ON NOVEMBER 1999.


I DON'T WANT THE MONEY TO GO INTO OUR BANK TREASURER ACCOUNT AS AN
ABANDONED FUND. SO THIS IS THE REASON WHY I CONTACTED YOU SO THAT THE BANK
CAN RELEASE THE MONEY TO YOU AS THE NEXT OF KIN TO THE DECEASED
CUSTOMER. PLEASE I WOULD LIKE YOU TO KEEP THIS PROPOSAL AS A TOP SECRET AND
DELETE IT IF YOU ARE NOT INTERESTED.
UPON RECEIPT OF YOUR REPLY, I WILL GIVE YOU FULL DETAILS ON HOW THE
BUSINESS WILL BE EXECUTED AND ALSO NOTE THAT YOU WILL HAVE 30% OF THE
ABOVE MENTIONED SUM IF YOU AGREE TO HANDLE THIS BUSINESS WITH ME.
AND 10% WILL BE SET ASIDE FOR ANY EXPENSES THAT ARISES ON THE PROCESS
BEFORE THE FUND GET INTO YOUR BANK ACCOUNT SUCH AS TELEPHONE CALLS BILLS
(ETC).

I LOOKING FORWARD RECEIVING YOUR RETURN MAIL
THANKS AND HAVE A GREAT DAY.


NAME: alhaji_suleman,


BEST REGAD



... Try to pronounce OUAGADOUGOU-BURKINA FASO

lol.

4:05 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Oh, I've got one too.
Is it a real money or a fake one?
please, if you know sth more - write to me. my mail is sirushi232@hotmail.com

10:30 AM  
Anonymous Thomas said...

I got this email and I decided to look up Richard Burson to see if they were even a real person. So I found your post.

It funny: your email is about the same person, and they also apparently died in a plane crash, but the site they reference says the crash was 2002, and my email says 2000. The other poster's said 1999. Your email is also longer and more thorough.

This Mr. Burson sure has a lot of people who want his old money. There's Jonas Abas, the Foreign Remittance Manager in my email; Thomas Cole, the barrister in your email; Alhaji Suleman, the auditing and accounting maneger (that's how they spelled it) from Dukie's email. Riciculous.

Here is my email:

FROM: MR. JONAS ABAS
FOREIGN REMITTANCE MANAGER
BANK OF AFRICA (B.O.A)
OUAGADOUGOU BURKINA FASO
PHONE NUMBER +226 75426425

Dear Friend,

I know that this mail will come to you as a surprise as we never meet before. I am the FOREIGN REMITTANCE MANAGER of B.O.A Bank of Africa, I Hoped that you will not expose or betray this trust and confident that I am about to repose on you for the mutual benefit of our both families.

I need your urgent assistance in transferring the sum of ($18.4M) Eighteen Million Four Hundred Thousand United States Dollars immediately to your account. The money has been dormant (in-active) for eight years in our Bank here without any body coming for it.

I want to release the money to you as the nearest person to our deceased customer MR. RICHARD BURSON FROM USA the owner of the account who died a long with his supposed next of kin in plane crash since 2000.. I don't want the money to go into our Bank treasury as an abandoned fund, so this is the reason why I contacted you, so that my Bank will release the money to you as the nearest person to the deceased customer.

Please I would like you to keep this proposal as a top secret and delete it if you are not interested.

Upon receipt of your reply I will send you full details on how the business will be executed and also note that you will have 40% of the above mentioned amount if you agree to help me execute this business.

Thanks and waiting for your urgent response

Best Regards
Mr. Jonas Abas

4:54 PM  
Anonymous Henrique said...

Dear friends,
To me it's quite sure that it is a scam. So I ask you what kind of risk to the people who contest this e-mail and submit his data and, so to speak, pay to see. What harm could happen to one who falls in this scam?

10:50 AM  
Anonymous Henrique said...

Please, if someone has more information about this, write to me (yyzzz7@bol.com.br). Thanks

10:53 AM  
Anonymous Lizzie said...

I got one of the same kind of e-mails too, a day or two ago. It's from someone named "William A Wildman" who, at least as far as Google is concerned, doesn't exist.

Clearly people are greedy, and hoping to pray on other peoples greed.

Sick.

1:25 PM  
Anonymous Bev said...

i received an email to about that Richard Burson's wealth from a certain Jason Smith (jssmith004@yahoo.com.hk),i dont believe this story. there're maybe a plane crash but its confusing. the people who exploiting this email were sick people... I wish late Mr. Burson will hunt you when you go to bed tonight..

2:31 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Mr.Kazim Obaid
United arab Emirates.
REQUEST FOR URGENT ASSISTANCE.
Greetings From Dubai,

This message might meet you in (utmost surprise),however,it's just my urgent need for foreign partner that made me to contact you for this transaction.I am a banker by profession from United Arab Emirates and currently holding the post of Director Auditing and Accounting unit of
the bank.

I have the opportunity of transfering the left over funds
($17.5million)our bank deceased customer late Richard Burson, who died on (Egypt Air Flight 990)along with his family on a plane crash below.http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/502503.stm.
Hence i am inviting you for a business deal where this money can be shared between us in the ratio of 50/50 as a brotherhood.

If you agree to my business proposal.further details of the transfer will be forwarded to you as soon as i receive your return mail.

Respectfully
yours
Mr.Kazim Obaid

6:01 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I got the same email today....
Greetings.

This message might meet you in (utmost surprise), however, it's just my urgent need for foreign partner that made me to contact you for this transaction.I am a banker by profession from United Arab Emirates and currently holding the post of Director Auditing and Accounting unit of
the bank.

I have the opportunity of transfering the left over funds
($ 17.5million) our bank deceased customer late Richard Burson, who died on (Egypt Air Flight 990) along with his family on a plane crash below.http: / / news.bbc.co.uk / 1 / hi / world / americas / 502503.stm.

Hence i am inviting you for a business deal where this money can be shared between us in the ratio of 65/35 as a brotherhood.
If you agree to my business proposal.further details of the transfer will be forwarded to you as soon as i receive your return mail.

Respectfully,

yours

Mr.Kazim Obaid.

10:37 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I too received the same e-mail. These scammers should rot in hell.

8:12 PM  
Anonymous Joseph said...

you think the scammers would try and use a real translater rather than a clearly 'google translated' document!

1:25 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Below is what i got


Reply
from Mr. Khaldoon khalifa
reply-to Mr.Khaldoon_khalifa@hotmail.com
to
date Wed, Nov 17, 2010 at 11:02 PM
subject Greetings From Dubai,
)
Mr. Khaldoon khalifa
United Arab Emirates.
REQUEST FOR URGENT ASSISTANCE

Greetings From Dubai,
This message might meet you in (utmost surprise), however, it's just my urgent need for foreign partner that made me to contact you for this transaction. I am a banker by profession from United Arab Emirates and currently holding the post of Director Auditing and Accounting unit of the bank.
I have the opportunity of transferring the left over funds ($17.5million) of our bank deceased customer late Richard Burson, who died on (Egypt Air Flight 990) along with his family on a plane crash below. Http.
Hence i am inviting you for a business deal where this money can be shared between us in the ratio of 50/50 as a brotherhood.

5:13 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I got something that looks like all the msgs contained on this web page by April 2010. These scammers are not in any way after somebody else's dough, but your own. If u ever fall for this and send them the money for transactions they elusively ask you for, be certain that you will never see it back. These Cyber Fraudsters handle language and ways to convince people. They prey upon YOUR MONEY, and that's that!!!

12:40 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Haha Hehe Hoho,

I am the person who inheritaded all From Mr. Richard Burson. And I have all on my Account 29.575.000 Million USD.

So do not believe any emails about Richard Burson.

5:01 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hey, will you share? I was promised X% and Y/Y divisions and other things of ridiculousness!

No?

May I have a quarter for a gumball then?

9:36 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I have one too!!!!
Good day,

I contacted you independently of my investigation and no one is informed of this communication and I would like to intimate you with certain facts that I believe would be of interest to you and me and the family in future.

My name is Mrs Mariam Maduga, I am in the Auditing and Accounting Manager with Bank of Africa Ouagadougou Burkina Faso.In my department i discovered an abandoned sum of (US$10M DOLLARS) in an account that belongs to one of our foreign customer (MR. RICHARD BURSON from Florida, U.S.A) who died along with his entire family on November 1999 in a plane crash.

This money has been dormant for years in our Bank without claim,and I don't want the money to go into the Reserve Bank of Burkina Faso (RBBF), as an abandoned fund. So this is the reason why I contacted you so that the bank can release the money to you as the next of kin to the deceased customer.

Please I would like you to keep this transfer as a top secret between me and you alone ok I promise you that i will direct you on how this transfer will go successfully if only you can abide to my instruction.Upon receipt of your reply, I will give you full details on how the business will be done.

Kindly send me this information below to have trust in you that you would betrayed me after the sucess.

(1.)Your full name...
(2)Your address...
(3)Country..
(4)Age...
(5)Occupation...
(6)Private telephone number...

l will send you my details of this transaction as soon as i hear from you thanks, trusting to hear from you immediately with your contact information,

Thanks.

Mrs Mariam Maduga.

Sometimes you wonder if anybody falls for this!!!!

10:19 AM  

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