NIGERIAN FRAUD LETTER SCAM

Latest Update 3/20/2005

For some time, many of the scam approaches have exploited major world events such as the 9/11 atrocities and the tsunami disaster.  These solicitations usually claim that a wealthy person died in these events and left millions in an account that can be pillaged.  Often, these scammers will allege that they are relatives of the deceased and therefore are entitled to the money.

In late 2004, many of these scam artists began using lesser known events to convince victims of the validity of spurious claims.  Typically such letters claim that a specific person died in a car accident, air crash, revolution, massacre, etc. allegedly leaving millions behind in an account or trust--or one of several other variations.

The initial solicitation letter will direct the intended victim to click on a hyperlink which will lead to a legitimate news story covering the death.  Accidental deaths occur regularly and revolutions, civil conflicts and the like are not uncommon.  News reports covering such events can be found in any Web-based news services on a daily basis.

However, an authentic news story reporting, for instance,  the death of a "Mr. X in the air crash of flight 123" does not mean that the scammer has any connection to Mr. X or that Mr. X had any secret funds.

The naive, however, may be convinced the scammer's claims are true after reading a credible news story about the death of a person, picked at random from a news source by the scammer.