Scam Letter: Dead Customer's 120 Million Pounds

The scam letter is the principal form of scam communications from European and African countries such as the UK and Nigeria, respectively. The scam letter is usually sent through email. It can have a variety of themes such as the one here. Although many scam letters come from African countries such as Nigeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana and Ivory Coast or Cote d'Ivoire or South Africa, this particular scam letter appears to have come from London, England in the UK.

The theme used in this scam letter is commonly referred to as the inheritance scam. The Nigerian inheritance scam is more widely propagated but other countries can be mentioned as well. The inheritance scam depends, usually, on requests that the scam victim pose as a relative or next of kin for a person who died and left a large unclaimed fortune in a bank account. In this particular case, the scammer uses a link to the obituary of Sir John Paul Getty II to reinforce and validate the scam letter.

I hope to hear from you urgently.

Monday, April 7, 2008 2:01 AM

From: "TIMOTHY EDWARD" Add sender to Contacts To: undisclosed-recipientsDear Friend

I request for your quick help in this {DEAL} that will benefit both of us without any risk Involved either now or later. I am Mr. Timothy Edward, a Chief Auditor in the International Remittance Department Lloyds Tsb Bank Plc London. I have an amount in Excess of One Hundred & Twenty Million Pounds (?120,000.000.00) only, which has been lying, in our suspense escrow account for safe keeping. For over 3 years plus now still unclaimed belonging to a "dead customer" Mr. John Paul Getty from United States of America who died on Apr. 17, 2003 after a brief illness in London Hospital (BBC News), Visit the web site below for confirmation;

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/1/hi/uk/2956897.stm

If this money reaches 5 years, it will automatically move to the Bank Vault {Bank of England} as "UNCLAIMED FUND". All I need from you now is to present you to the Bank Management as the next of kin to the dead man and have the Bank pay you (Beneficiary) this money as your late Uncle's money which he left in our bank since you are a foreigner like him. Please if you are interested, kindly get back to me as quickly as possible to enable me make all the necessary arrangement towards how to present you to the bank as "truly next of kin" to the late man. It does not matter if you are from America or not.

After the claim of this money by you through our assistance, you will take 30% of the total Sum and 5% to cover any cost of expenses which both will incur in this transaction and keep the rest 65% for me in the account I will forward to you later after the deal is done or I will come to your place to meet with you face to face for sharing etc.

I hope to hear from you urgently.

Best Regards,

Timothy Edward.

This sample scam letter is for demonstration purposes. Do not respond to this scam communication or any other type of scam letter. Report a scam to authorities such as the email service provider and the FBI. Scam letters such as these should be avoided once recognized. Sometimes, the scam letter might lead to other types of scams like the check scam or identity theft if special forms are filled out or sensitive information is given out over the telephone. In addition to their recurring themes and errors, scam letters can also be spotted by the request for confidentiality. The inheritance scam letter is a common theme found in many Internet scams.