Money from an unknown Next-Of-Kin? Would you do it?
By ahgong
@ahgong (10064)
Singapore
December 3, 2009 9:12pm CST
I was sifting through my emails when I came across this one that went like so...
(removed names and identities to keep anonymity. Posted for the sake of discussion only!)
[b]SOLICITOR?S OFFICE
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx,
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxx
Email: xxxxxxxxxx@xxxx.com
TEL: +xxxxxxxxxx OR xxxxxxxxxx
I am xxxxxxxxxx, an attorney at law. I discovered your email and information through internet search, I know this sounds like a scam because of lot of activities going on the internet. But I assure you that this is real.
A deceased client of mine, that shares the same last name as yours, who died as the result of a heart-related condition in March 12th 2005. His heart condition was due to the death of all the members of his family in the tsunami disaster on the 26th December 2004 in Sumatra Indonesia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Indian_Ocean_earthquake
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 Eighteen million dollars (US$18million dollars) 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.
I will like you to acknowledge the receipt of this e-mail as soon as possible via my private EMAIL :( xxxxxxxxxx@xxxxx.com) and treat with absolute confidentiality and sincerity. I look forward to your quick reply.
Best regards,
xxxxxxxxxx
Attorney at Law
[/b]
Now, that sounds awfully tempting, doesn't it?
We are talking US$18 million moola here!
The question is, will be tempted to reply to this email and see where it leads?
I for one do not. And am not interested. Nothing is free in this world. And who in his right mind would give away $18 million dollars just like that?!?
Share your thoughts. 
3 people like this
15 responses
@magicalart (75)
• United States
26 Dec 09
I've recieved multitudes of those type of emails. I, personally, have never responded to them. My brother-in-law did an got a check. When he went to cash it, he found out it was a fake. The FBI is still investigating. These are scams. You will never get an email for something like this if it was real. It would be mail, phone, or other.
@lindiebiz (1006)
• Canada
5 Dec 09
I am thinking this is a scam, I have seen this kind of email before, it was sent to my husband. What they do when you return thier mail is they ask you for money to get the money fron the bank and all that. I am glad you are wise enough not to believe this.
@ahgong (10064)
• Singapore
7 Dec 09
Yeah... heard of that story too. That they require you to send them money in order for them to send you the money!
That should set the scam and con alert bells ringing!
Hmm... your husband actually replied to them?
May I ask why? Was it out of curiosity?
1 person likes this
@thinkingoutloud (6127)
• Canada
4 Dec 09
Much like the now well-known "Nigerian scam," this is just another email that would be sent straight to my trash. These are simply not legitimate correspondence. I would never be tempted by such a thing because these types of emails are filled with spelling and grammar mistakes - certainly not befitting an "attorney at law" - and I guess, in my experience, anything that sounds too good to be true usually is ;)
1 person likes this
@ahgong (10064)
• Singapore
4 Dec 09
Yeah... it really sounds too good to be true.
Hmm... now that you mentioned it, there are some grammer and spelling mistakes. These shouldn't be there as law firms are suppose to proof read their correspondence, don't they? Good point raised.
The spelling is not as bad on this one as the nigerian scams. That why I never really noticed. Thanks for pointing that out!
1 person likes this
@thinkingoutloud (6127)
• Canada
5 Dec 09
You're very welcome! 
I write and edit as part of my work so things like that kind of jump off the page at me, which is the only reason I mentioned them. Yes, I agree that any true legal correspondence should be virtually error-free.
I write and edit as part of my work so things like that kind of jump off the page at me, which is the only reason I mentioned them. Yes, I agree that any true legal correspondence should be virtually error-free.1 person likes this
@kun2349 (23381)
• Singapore
4 Dec 09
lol =D IT's definitely a scam!! I will reply to see what's coming up next!! haha =D And if it says anything about remittance fees etc, all the more i will know it's fake.. haha =D
IF not, i will just say, deduct the remittance fees from there, and u get to keep 1 million, after which, the leftovers, u can send to me.. lol =D
IN a way, he earns much more, i need not be spending money, and yet i'll be able to have free money if it's real!! haha =D
@rosepedal64 (4188)
• United States
4 Dec 09
It is real crazy with the things that people are trying to scam on. I have run across a scam that to me is out of this world. It was over Yorkie puppies. I have started a discussion on my issue. Who would have thought to scam over a Yorkie.
As far as what you have written about I too have gotten a couple of those emails in the past. They used another country which is where possibly my dad's family orginiated at. It made it very tempting to act on it. Then I decided that it might be too good to be true. From reading here I have found that it was too good to be true..
Have a good day and keep smiling.
@rosepedal64 (4188)
• United States
7 Dec 09
It is a very small dog with kinda long hair. They usually weigh any where between 3-6 pounds. They are very special dogs. To me it is my dream dog. I have always wanted one.
Have a great day.
Keep smiling.
1 person likes this
@warvial (1146)
• Singapore
4 Dec 09
Yes, definitely anything that much amount sounds tempting. In the past, I will even bother to finish reading the email (I am human after all thus I am keen in getting money). However, once bitten twice shy. After many reports of scams surfaced, I do not even bother to open the mails which have such kind of topic, not to mention about that the email might have contain virus...
2 people like this
@gabs8513 (48686)
• United Kingdom
4 Dec 09
I would have just put it in the Spam box and also bounced it back to Sender as I know I have no relative that is rich and there are so many spammers going round I would never believe anything like this
So no I would not be tempted to go for anything like that
@ahgong (10064)
• Singapore
7 Dec 09
Ah... that is the thing. If you bounce the mail back to them, it shows that the mail address they used to send it to you is valid.
I would have just deleted it and do nothing.
And if you read the mail, it says that you share the same surname/last name as the deceased. That is why the "Lawyer" can try to manipulate the paper work to make it look like you are the relative to collect the "inheritance".
It is not even legal, assuming that the "inheritance" is real. And you'd be committing fraud if you had gone thru with it. 
Anyways, thanks for sharing.
Anyways, thanks for sharing. @echomonster (2226)
• Greenwood, Mississippi
4 Dec 09
I wouldn't reply...everything about the email screams, "SCAM!!!" to me. At the least the "solicitor" (actually an unemployed computer scammer) could give you the name of the deceased person so you could make your own inquiries. Instead, you're just told that you have the same last name. The email makes it sound like because the two of you have the last name you must of course be the heir, as if you two were the only people on Earth with that name! I am sort of impressed that they sent you an email about someone dying in the tsunami in Sumatra, though...do you think they targeted you because you are in the same general region, in Singapore? Nah, it's probably just a coincidence; Mexicans and Norwegians probably got the same email!
1 person likes this
@firemom31 (598)
• United States
4 Dec 09
My hubby found a great site, www.419eaters.com, where they respond to these scammers and string them along, usually turning the scam back on the scammers. It a great site, nice to read about these guys getting some of their own medicine. It even shows pictures of many of them.
@maxilimian (3099)
• Indonesia
4 Dec 09
I usually sent it as spam mail i don't know where they know about our email address, maybe it's from any sites that requires email when sign up, but it is completely hoax, don't believe it, especially it comes from un-named (strangers) mail address this is similar with mail dating, where in the end they will ask for our money, they need help, blah blah blah , etc ... just don't believe it!
i don't know where they know about our email address, maybe it's from any sites that requires email when sign up, but it is completely hoax, don't believe it, especially it comes from un-named (strangers) mail address this is similar with mail dating, where in the end they will ask for our money, they need help, blah blah blah , etc ... just don't believe it! 1 person likes this
@thea09 (18305)
• Greece
4 Dec 09
Hi ahgong, it's a scam, plain and simple. Also you haven't really won 14 million in the lottery you never entered in Spain, and many more of the same ilk. Someone must respond though but I wouldn't hazard a guess as to numbers, even one in ten thousand and they make it worth their while presumably. It's a much cheaper method than the original one of sending this stuff out by snail mail, to ring a telephone number to win a time share or some such drivel, and personally I think the emails would have a lot more success if such ridiculous sums weren't involved. I bet if they reduced the amount you've inherited to under $5000 a lot more people would actually be taken in.
1 person likes this
@ahgong (10064)
• Singapore
4 Dec 09
Yeah... I guess a smaller sum would have been more convincing.
The thing is this. That one in then thousand is enough to pay for a year's worth of food already. I dunno to pity these folks who fall prey to such scams, or to judged them for being so foolish to believe that some one would be so generous to share their money with them. 
@riribhakti (136)
• Indonesia
4 Dec 09
hai ahgong,
maybe you should ignore that email. i receive some email like hat too. because we must more careful nowadays for tricky email and that's one way to cheat someone. have a nice day
@etongong (164)
• Philippines
4 Dec 09
This type of scam existed before e-mail ever existed or way before internet make a boom. They usually came from Africa and never fails to mention the amount in Millions of cash that they needed to transfer to you but it not theirs but they don't want it to go to the governments hands. But you have to spend some cash first before the transaction ever happens. A father of a friend of mine was being duped to this scam. And it was not a good experience, financially. So, if ever this email comes, just ignore them. They are just a waste of time.
1 person likes this
@ahgong (10064)
• Singapore
4 Dec 09
So sorry to hear about your friend's father's plight!
Yeah... the nigerian scams were scary. So many people were duped of their hard earn savings! Sigh... some people are still so gullible to such emails even with all the exposure on the printed and online media!
@Hatley (163776)
• Garden Grove, California
30 Dec 09
ahgon you are one smart person, this is such a scam and it probably gets a lot of people unless they stop and think like
you did. Nobody is giving away anything, they will try to hook you then clench it when they tell you to send two or three hundred dollars to get that multimillion dollar heiratage. once the person send the money and the scammer gets it, then they are long gone. You are out however much money they asked and theres no way you could get it back. so delete always when you see these too good to be true emails. delete delete delete.
