[Abicat]

I have been receiving quite a few emails from all different people saying they are either from the Ivory Coast or South Africa.
The ones from Ivory coast kind of say the same thing - came into inhertance and need UK person to help them and they will pay, blah blah.
This is the most recent one I received from South Africa

Sir/Madam,

However strange or surprising this contact might seem to you as we have not
met personally or had any dealings with you in the past. I must apologize
for intruding into your private email address, but I humbly ask that you
take due consideration of its importance and immense benefit it will be to
you.

I am a legal consultant/broker based in South Africa. I am currently
representing some members of the Independent Committee of Eminent Persons
(ICEP), Switzerland. (ICEP) is charged with the responsibility of finding
bank accounts in Switzerland belonging to non-Swiss indigenes, which have
remained dormant since World War II. For more information check:
www.dormantaccounts.ch

A dormant account with the sum of Forty Five Million United States Dollars
($45M) as discovered by clients/close associates who are members of (ICEP).
The money included accumulated interest. They needed my assistance since the
transfer can be made easily with my supervision as an experienced broker. My
clients at (ICEP) have confided in me to look for a foreign partner that
will help in putting the funds into the banking system and also assist in
investing the funds into profitable business ventures for mutual benefits.

Since my clients at the (ICEP), Switzerland have mandated me to look for a
foreign partner and that is my aim for contacting you. Please do not despair
because I got your email address from a business advertising website on the
Internet before making my contact with you. I do not intend to fail my
client because I have been a very close associate and legal consultant to
them for the past 20 years.

Bear in mind that we also have well-established contacts at the Claims
Resolution Tribunal (CRT) responsible for handling processing of all claims
on accounts due to non-Swiss citizens. Whereas, uncomplicated claims will be
processed under a "fast track" procedure, which is the procedure, our claims
will be put on.

I have also made contacts with the Trust Company responsible for Dormant
Account Recovery (DAR) in the United Kingdom and also concluded final
arrangements with them to take over the funds by a new beneficiary legally.
As an experienced broker and working with top executive members of (ICEP)
who are also my close associates, I have all secret details and necessary
contacts for claim of the funds without any hitch.

We are willing to offer you as much as 20% of the entire funds and after the
transaction has been completed. There is no risk involved in this
transaction and all the process of the administrative claims will be legally
achieved to transfer the funds in your name as the new beneficiary.

In conclusion, if you are willing and ready to assist us claim the dormant
account smoothly, please indicate in your return reply mail to
josecblanksac@yahoo.co.uk fax number +27-11-5076847 and I will furnish you
with more details on how the transaction will be completed including my
contact telephone number so that you can call me for questions and
clarifications where necessary. We also look forward to doing more deals
with you.

Warm regards,
Joseph C. Blank

All these emails are being sent from yahoo accounts to my own yahoo account. I have 2 other email accounts and so far have received nothing in these (yet!)

Is anyone else receiving these emails? They are starting to anoy me!

[Bluey]

they are very standard - there are tens of thousands of scammers who do this type of thing on a full time basis. apparently this type of fraud is the 3rd biggest earner for some countries after oil and tourism...

have a look at wikipedia or google about internet fraud, email fraud and advance fee fraud (also known as 419)

forward them to the relevant email admin so they delete the account

usually this is 'abuse@yahoo.com' or 'abuse@hotmail.com'.

or delete them

or look at 419 scam busters - there are people that like to waste the time of the scammers by teasing them (known as 'scam baiting').

[Abicat]

Thanks for the advice. I might give the scam buster thing a try and let someone give them a taste of their own medicine!

[Bluey]

ok but set yourself up a new email account and forward the email messages there (taking off your main mail email account address when you respond).

once you respond to this kind of thing, you can get lots more messages of this type as, bless 'em, the scammers have what they call 'sucker lists' and sell on email addresses that they harvest.

[remzobaba]

hey friend, dont bother reading or replying mails like these. the only ones who fall for theses scams are the greedy ones. however if u wanna pull dem legs, just ask them to pay you a deposit like ten thousand pounds before u would help. then you will see how they will vanish.

[AusPete]