A new variant of a scam that's been making the rounds since December 2013

Feb 12, 2014 17:21 GMT  ·  By

I’ve spotted a new variant of a 419 scam that’s been making the rounds since December 2013. Recipients of the scammy emails are promised a large amount of money if they help an employee of a Dutch finance house transfer the funds of a wealthy Englishman who died. 

Those who reply to the emails are probably asked to hand over some sensitive information. They’re also told to pay certain amounts of money that are needed to cover transaction fees. Usually, the scammers keep pushing for more money until victims realize they’ve been duped.

At that point, it’s usually too late to do anything since the money is difficult to trace. If you come across such emails, simply ignore them.

Here is what these emails look like:

“Dear friend, My name is Micheal Erwin. I work with a finance house here in the Netherlands. During my last meeting and examination of the bank accounts within our bank, my department found a dormant account with an enormous sum of US$ 55,500,000.00 (fifty five million five hundred thousand US dollar) which was deposited by a late Mr. Williams from England before his death.

From our investigation he had no next of kin to claim these funds. According to the Netherlands banking regulation only a foreigner can stand as next of kin, considering the fact that the depositor was a non-Dutch. I need your permission to stand as a partner of our deceased customer, so that the funds can be released and transferred to your bank account immediately.

At the end of the transaction 40% will be for you and 60% will be for me and my colleagues. I still work at the financial house and that's the reason I need a second party to work with. I have in my possession all the necessary documents to have this transaction carried out successfully.

Further information will be provided upon the receipt of your prompt response. Also take note that this transaction is risk free, all I need is your honesty and trust .

Kindly reply me with your private email (for confidential reasons) so that I can give you more details and explain the procedures of the proposal to you. Please Kindly respond back to me on this email( [email protected] ) Best regards. Micheal Erwin.”