We've all gotten these but this is new...

[Marcus Aurelius]

I received this email today. Interesting though because the email account is not listed under this screen name. Hmmm.
-----------------------------

To:
"Marcus aurelius"

ZONGO LAW FIRM AND CHAMBERS,
40 RUE JOHNSON CLOSE
NUKAFU, BP 96458.
LOME - TOGO.
DATE:15/01/2010.

Dear Prospectus Partner,

I know this Letter will come to you as surprise,though I do not intend to embarrass you, I crave your indulgence to kindly go through my mail. Let me start by formally introducing myself to you.


I am Barrister Johnson John, a Legal Practitioner and Principal Partner of an accredited Law Firm,I am the Attorney representing Late Engr.Bill A. Aurelius, Ab initio 2001, 4th January to be specific, my client lost his life in an auto-crash while travelling with his family along Lome Express road, the car burnt to ashes instanta.


My deceased client lived most of his life time in Togo and took here as home.As a consultant to Cement Prospecting Companies and a contractor with many multinational oil companies in West Africa, he made fortune for himself and I have been his personal Attorney Spanning for a period of Seventeen years, My late client took deposited a large sum of USD $15,000,000.00 (Fifteen Million United State Dollars only) before his demise with a finance firm here in Togo.


Unfortunately his wife and only female child who statutorily are his next of kin died with him in the auto-crash and under the existing law here, the Surviving relatives of my deceased client becomes the benefactors/administrator/executor of his estate since my late client died intestate.


Owing to the inalienable fact that the finance firm has given me a mandate to get any relative of my Late client or have his fund conficated, that I went into an extensive search to locate any member of his family, but to no avail.


However, since coincidentally you bear the same last name with my client, I want to seek your consent to present you as a relative to my deceased client by virtue of family lineage; As the attorney to the deceased, the onus of proof to establish your relationship with my client rest on me and to achieve this objective, there are judicial process involved which I will brief you on subsequent correspondence if you indicate interest.


I am not pursuing this claim for the monetary gain but a duty I owe to my late client as I intend to use part of the funds to establish a Charity Foundation or Children Hospital in his name, notwithstanding you will be adequately rewarded for your assistance in this endeavour.

Expecting to hear from you at my private email contact johnsonjohn@gmail.com

Thanks and Best Regards,

Johnson John Esq.LLB (MB).

[nevergaveitathought]

in the mid 80's... he received a similar letter from a "investment firm" in honduras...that was going to take his business in texas (a failing one i might add) public there...it only required $25,000 in fees and he was going to net $10,000,000. he flew there from texas..handed over the $25,000 cash..waited in his hotel room for the $10,000,000..and waited and waited.. and called and called and went back to the "office" , which was empty...and came back to texas much the sadder

[pjorourke]

There is a sucker born every minute.

[Guest012211-3]

LOL, people suck!

The latest is : people hacking into your email account and mass distributing to your contacts that they are out of the country and have been robbed/ lost their wallet and cell phone. Can you please wire me 2,500 so I can get home???

A local Dallas DJ has fallen victim to this recently...

[pyramider]

On air personalities are not known to be incredibly bright.

[HoneyRose]

This is the scary part:
Interesting though because the email account is not listed under this screen name. Hmmm.

The sender somehow has your email account linked to your screen name here (Marcus aurelius). (or some other board where you use the name).

Your email addy was was probably harvested from someone's contact list without her knowledge. You could probably pinpoint who it was by thinking of which of your friends know you as Marcus Aurelius and also has that particular email addy the scam letter was sent to.

I know it wasn't that individual who sent it to you, but you still might like to let him/her know to change the contact info so you can keep your two worlds separate. She can change the name she lists you under to match the one that email addy is registered to, or she can change her means of contacting you to your M.A. email.

[atlcomedy]

Originally Posted by HoneyRose

This is the scary part:
Interesting though because the email account is not listed under this screen name. Hmmm.

The sender somehow has your email account linked to your screen name here (Marcus aurelius). (or some other board where you use the name).

Your email addy was was probably harvested from someone's contact list without her knowledge. You could probably pinpoint who it was by thinking of which of your friends know you as Marcus Aurelius and also has that particular email addy the scam letter was sent to.

I know it wasn't that individual who sent it to you, but you still might like to let him/her know to change the contact info so you can keep your two worlds separate. She can change the name she lists you under to match the one that email addy is registered to, or she can change her means of contacting you to your M.A. email.

It probably happened similar to how HR describes.

No "identity theft" is good. But in this case the good news this entity isn't trying to out your hobby activity or link your MA identity to your real identity.

This person is simply sending these things out by the tens of thousands hoping someone will bite.

On the otherhand if you got something addressed to MA sent to your work email, I'd be real concerned.

[Marcus Aurelius]

That email is connected through another hobby board where the MA is used.

[atlcomedy]

Originally Posted by Marcus Aurelius

That email is connected through another hobby board where the MA is used.

A general suggestion to all - check your user settings. Many message boards, in and out of the hobby, offer an option of allowing members to contact them via email. I suggest clicking "no" (which usually is the default). PM should suffice for initial conversations. Obviously at a later time you can exchange emails if you like.