Description
This email scam appears to be closely related to the
Nigerian letter scam.
The scam references the BBC News website, in an attempt
to give credibility to the email.
Sophos recommends recipients do not reply to the email
in any way.
The text of a typical scam reads as follows:
Hello,
This is a proposal in context but actually an
appeal soliciting for your unreserved assistance in
consummating an urgent transaction requiring
maximum confidence. Though this approach appears
desperate, I can assure you that whatever questions
you would need to ask or any other thing you will
need to know regarding this proposal will be
adequately answered to give you a clearer
understanding of it, so as to arrive at a
successful conclusion.
My name is Mr. Thomas Dustin, an Attorney at Law.
On November 17, 1999, my client, a foreign
consultant/contractor with the Asea Brown and
Boveri Ltd, made a numbered time (fixed) Deposit
for twelve calendar months, valued at
US$17,320,000.00, (Seventeen Million, Three Hunded
and Twenty Thousand United States Dollars) in the
CommonWealth Bank of Australia. Unfortunately on
the 25th of July 2000, my client, his wife and
their two children died in the Air France concord
plane crash bound for New York in their plan for a
world cruise.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/859479.stm
As his attorney and friend, I know that that he
died without making a WILL, and all attempts to
trace any next of kin was fruitless. I therefore
made further investigation at the bank and
discovered that the deceased did not declare any
next of kin or relations in all his his Bank
Deposit paperwork.
From past experiences, I know that no one will ever
go forward to claim the deceased funds. According
to Austrailian Law, at the expiration of 5 (five)
years, the funds will be Unclaimable and revert to the ownership of the Australian Government if
nobody applies to claim the fund.
In order to avert this negative development, I in
conjunction with a colleague (the Chief Operating
Officer in the bank) now seek your permission to
allow me do a CHANGE OF OWNERSHIP/REASSIGNMENT OF
CREDIT of the stated funds from the "deceased's" to
your name, so that the funds (US$17.32million)
would be released to you as the new owner (on
behalf of me and my colleague).
We are writing you because, as public servants, we
cannot operate a foreign account or have an account
that is more than $160,000:00.
There is no risk at all as all the paperwork for
this transaction will be done by me and this will
guarantee the successful execution of this
transaction.
If you are interested, please reply via my email
address. Upon your response, I shall then provide
you with more details, and further explanation that
will help you understand the transaction.
I await your swift response hoping you accept my
proposal, as time is of equal essence in this
project as well as is confidentiality.
Thank you and have a nice day.
Respectfully yours,
Mr. Thomas Dustin