There are lots of scams where the enticement is huge riches – gold bullion, chests full of money, lottery style winnings etc.  This scam is a little different – there is a huge amount of money on offer but the description of how it comes to be available includes an illegal element.

The scammer is trying to create a semi-plausible reason why the money is available but also to find people who are greedy enough to set their morals aside. These people are often easier to scam and will self-select based on the story i.e. if your morals are not negotiable then you will be put off by the story.

For example, this is the kind of message:-

My name is Lee Kun Cho, I work for the ministry of Housing and National Heritage Bureau in Shandong Province of China. I have a business proposal for you that will benefit both of us immensely.

Before I reveal any sensitive information it is important I state categorically that this is privilege information which I am about to divulge and I ask that you treat it with discretion and confidentially.

……..

It then goes on to tell how he and colleagues purchased a rundown block of apartments and renovated it and its now worth £15 million more than they paid for it. But the problem is that as government officials they are not allowed to acquire such properties and hence the sale needs to go through a third party overseas. And they picked you for the role and the payoff of several millions of pounds.

Clearly this is a ridiculous scam, but greed gets the better of people and they reply to the message with their personal details and so it continues and they will find themselves out of pocket with nothing to show at the end but annoyance at their own gullibility.

You don’t get something for nothing.

Don’t fall for scams and never reply with personal information.

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