Billson
Flashlight Enthusiast
I have recently been receiving quite a few spam emails from people claiming to be lawyers, bankers, etc. saying that they have clients who have recently died and that they had some money who have no beneficiaries and they are looking for people from foreign countries to stand as the beneficiary of the deceased and that they are willing to compensate them, or in this case me, if anyone would help them to claim the money. The sums they are talking about is always in the millions of $.The money is supposedly held by a securities company and they will be the ones to take care of all the paperwork to facilitate the transaction.
I know that these are most probably scams but I don't see the point of it. They will usually ask for the person's name & contact details like my address and telephone number to start processing the paperwork.
If they are trying to steal my identity, the information doesn't seem to be enough for them to do anything about it.
Out of curiosity, I replied to one of the emails and gave them one of my mobile phone numbers. It's a prepaid line so it can't be traced back to me in case they are indeed trying to steal my personal information. Surprisingly, someone actually called me up to talk about it. I can't tell where the call originated from because the caller ID from overseas calls won't show up on my phone. I tried indulging him to try and extract some more information and he told me that if I agree to help him and after providing him all my information, I'm supposed to travel to whatever country the money is being held to claim the money, in this case Spain or Africa.
Who's he kidding, I'm supposed to spend several thousands of dollars to meet with someone I don't know and never met to claim some money that they can't even prove exists. If he's willing to shoulder my travel expenses, maybe I'd think about taking him up on the offer if only to get a free trip to Europe or Africa.
He's actually been calling me up several times a day but since that first phone call, I haven't answered any of his subsequent calls.
For you guys who are lawyers, bankers, or anyone knowledgeable with financial matters, what do you think this actually is?
I know that these are most probably scams but I don't see the point of it. They will usually ask for the person's name & contact details like my address and telephone number to start processing the paperwork.
If they are trying to steal my identity, the information doesn't seem to be enough for them to do anything about it.
Out of curiosity, I replied to one of the emails and gave them one of my mobile phone numbers. It's a prepaid line so it can't be traced back to me in case they are indeed trying to steal my personal information. Surprisingly, someone actually called me up to talk about it. I can't tell where the call originated from because the caller ID from overseas calls won't show up on my phone. I tried indulging him to try and extract some more information and he told me that if I agree to help him and after providing him all my information, I'm supposed to travel to whatever country the money is being held to claim the money, in this case Spain or Africa.
Who's he kidding, I'm supposed to spend several thousands of dollars to meet with someone I don't know and never met to claim some money that they can't even prove exists. If he's willing to shoulder my travel expenses, maybe I'd think about taking him up on the offer if only to get a free trip to Europe or Africa.
He's actually been calling me up several times a day but since that first phone call, I haven't answered any of his subsequent calls.
For you guys who are lawyers, bankers, or anyone knowledgeable with financial matters, what do you think this actually is?
I got the following personalized scam attempt the other night. I made a few bids on an A2 that JSB offered. I think I bowed out at $97.
