Dear Wolf,

What the heck is this? I get them from time to time, usually delete without reading.

Signed,
Charitably Perplexed
——————————————————————–

Lady Toreth

net> cc:
Subject: Hello
05/30/2007 11:17
PM

From: Lady Toreth Hughes
52 Oxford Street,
England.

Hello Friend,

Here write lady Hughes.I am married to Sir Richard Hughes an
Englishman who is dead,he died in a train bomb blast in spain when he
was going for his medical check up in 2004.Please copy and paste this
Internet link for more information on the incident

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4340881.stm

Our life together as man and wife lasted for three decades without child.
My husband and I made a vow to uplift the down-trodden and the
less-privileged. I can adduce this to the fact that he needed a Child
from this relationship, which never came. When my late husband was
alive, he made a safe deposit of a certain sum which I will disclose
to you on my plan on what i will want you to do. This fund was derived
from his vast estates and investment in capital market) with his bank
in Europe.

Recently, my Doctor told me that I have limited days to live due to
the cancerous problems I am suffering from. I have decided to donate
this fund to you and want you to use this gift which comes from my
husbands effort to fund the upkeep of widows, widowers, orphans,
destitute, and persons who prove to be genuinely handicapped
financially. Being aware of the bourgeois religion of my relatives and
the misused of his previous investment and ventures. I have decided to
put smile on the face of the less privileged.

Reach me with my private email; ladytorethhughes57@yahoo.co.uk.

Sincerely Yours,
Toreth Hughes

—————————————————————

Dear Charitably Perplexed

This is a variant of the 419 Nigerian scam. What law enforcement calls it is advance-fee fraud. Take note that it is offering a perfect stranger with no bona fides some amount of money to help manage. This is passing odd. These missives tend toward illiterate babble. This one attempts to prove its legitimacy with the BBC link, and the high-minded tone.

Usually the scam goes that they want to send you 47 million pounds or dollars but need you to pay the 800$ processing fee to get the check to you. If you pay the fee, they then come up with other unforeseen fees that need to be paid.

When I respond to them, I say “deduct the fees from the amount you are sending.”

They never yet have. It is not illegal in the US to send somebody money for something that they cannot produce, so you are safe enough from arrest, however your money would be lost.

Another variant I have played with is the “US representative for a foreign company,” scam. In this variant, the contact email is purporting to hire you as an agent. They are having trouble collecting payments from US customers. They refuse to have contracts with you and they are willing to trust you with no bond or insurance that you will not just take the money yourself. This is the first clue. They have 1 or 2 people in the game. One (supposedly) in some foreign country and the other pretending to be a representative of some US company. When I responded to one of these, the “US rep” sent me a check for $58000. I was supposed to deposit it, deduct 10% for “handling” and western-union the rest to the con-artist in London.

I called the bank and the check was good.

I called the company for a copy of the invoice it was supposedly in payment of, as one might do if one were actually an agent of a foreign company, and they were very interested, as that check number had been written to their power company (stolen, washed and re-written to me in this case). The Secret Service (the agency of the Federal Government that handles these sorts of frauds) told me to break off contact with both the con-men and of course I sent the check back to the company from which it was stolen.

To break off the deal, I told my foreign contact the bank had refused to honor the check and had confiscated it as a stolen check, therefore he (the con-man) had better watch out for the US rep who was plainly up to no good. I have not been contacted since.

If I had done as instructed, when the auditors came asking where that check had got to, they would see my name and acct at the bank. They would then come ask me for the money, which I could not produce. Then I might be charged with hefty felony check-fraud. This is a scam with 2 victims. The company that loses the money and the patsy or fall-guy (like you for instance) who converted the stolen check.

Your friendly neighborhood hacker,

Wolf

Posted on September 28