Article DetailsURGENT ATTENTION!!!!! - A scam attempt by a so-called lawyer |
| Date Added: June 18, 2009 07:51:34 AM |
| Author: |
| Category: Computers & Internet: Internet: Issues: Fraud |
| Several months ago I received an email from one George Teng, a self-professed lawyer. The subject of the email was: "URGENT ATTENTION!!!!!!". Any rational person would ask why was the subject written in capital letters and six exclamation marks. The intent of the writer was to draw attention to the point he/she was about to make. But that didn't go down well with me. I knew it was another scam attempt. The email is this: "GEORGE TENG & CO JIREH BUILDING NO. 43-4, MEZZANINE FLOOR JALAN MOHD SALLEH 83000 BATU PAHAT Good Day, I am George Teng, an attorney at law. A deceased client of mine, who hereinafter shall be referred to as my client, died as the result of a heart-related condition on the 11 November 2001. His heart condition was due to the death of all the members of his family in the Gulf Air Flight Crashes in Persian Gulf Near Bahrain Aired August 23, 2000 - 2:50 p.m. ET as reported on: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0008/23/bn.08.html I have contacted you to assist in distributing the money left behind by my client before it is confiscated or declared unserviceable by the bank where this deposit valued at TWELVE MILLION EIGHT HUNDRED THOUSAND UNITED STATES DOLLARS ($12,800.000.00 USD) is lodged. This bank has issued me a notice to contact the next of kin, or the account will be confiscated. My proposition to you is to seek your consent to present you as the next-of-kin and beneficiary of my named client, since you have the same last name, so that the proceeds of this account can be paid to you. Then we can share the amount on a mutually agreed-upon percentage. All legal documents to back up your claim as my client's next-of-kin will be provided. All I require is your honest cooperation to enable us see this transaction through. This will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from many breach of the law. If this business proposition offends your moral values, do accept my apology. I must use this opportunity to implore you to exercise the utmost indulgence to keep this matter extraordinary confidential, whatever your decision, while I await your prompt response. Please contact me at once to indicate your interest. Looking forward to your reply in my private alternative e-mail: george.teng001[at]hotmail.com Best regards, Barrister George Teng (Attorney at Law)" Two Email Addresses. The email came from George Teng and Co, info[at]onlinesweeps.com and I was instructed to reply to george.teng001[at]hotmail.com. This is a classical Internet scam style: two email addresses to make tracing the person difficult. Many scam emails I've received always write the amount of money involved in capital letters. That's their way of trying to captivate you. As always, the amount is in millions of US Dollars. The CNN Link. These fraudsters like to find news reports from popular news websites like CNN and BBC of true events that happened and relate to them in their fake stories, to enforce authenticity. The Next Of Kin. Why would a person present a total stranger to a bank as the next of kin? The intent was to make me feel greedy to get a share of the money I didn't work for. The Secrecy. The writer asked me to keep the matter extraordinarily confidential. His/her intention was for me not to tell friends and family members, so no one would warn me that it was scam, until everything I owned was gone. The Same Last Name. How can someone who doesn't even know my name tell me that I have the same last name with his deceased client? Strange you may say! These fraudsters use bots to harvest email addresses on the Web. Among themselves they call it email extractors. The email addresses from where I get these spammy and fraudulent emails are the ones I posted on my websites. If you get emails like this or in any other "format", don't reply it. Instead, report the matter to the FBI. FBI works to combat Cyber-crimes. Help to end this Internet scam epidemic. |