OK, so there you are minding your own business and an email comes in from a stranger. They have a lot of money. They need to move it but they can’t on their own. They need it transferred, and they need your help.
In exchange for help, you will be rewarded with a significant sum of cash. All you have to do is give them your personal information.
This is a multi stage scam. Many potential scamee's play along knowing full well what's going on. You can check out one such exchange posted here. It demonstrates one way in which the scam is implemented.
I'd like to say that these are frivilous and that nobody falls for them, but apparently the scam has worked. I don't have good statistics on this bu apparently every year in the US, millions of dollars are lots to these scams.
Now this is kind of funny coming from the FTC, but it works:
“If you're tempted to respond to an offer, the FTC suggests you stop and ask yourself two important questions: Why would a perfect stranger pick you — also a perfect stranger — to share a fortune with, and why would you share your personal or business information, including your bank account numbers or your company letterhead, with someone you don't know?”
There are a lot of ways to defraud someone online and off. Please become aware that if something looks too good to be true, it probably is. Please check it out first.
