New type of scam (?)

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Hello I'm New here! Joined: 28 Sep 2018 Posts: 2

Hello everyone. Just joined this forum, although i have read a lot of fascinating stories on this site over the years.
Now, the reason i joined is to warn you for apparently a different more dangerous type of scam, me and my family are victims of.

It all started when i got a mail with the same content as a usual scam mail. In short, there was a large amount of money currently in africa which i will inherit. I should come in contact with the lawyer, etc,....
The difference is that this email somehow got into my main inbox (gmail) and not the usual spam folder. Anyway, i just dont pay any attention.
Few days later i receive another mail. Same adress. Again, same content, no worry.
After about a week i get a 3rd mail. Now, this time the email has my Full Name ! Real adress and my real bank account number !! Saying that they will proceed to the transaction in the next days nd i need to call their number and talk to the lawyer...
Fuuuuuuck. What should i do now ?! I was thinking that somehow i got hacked.
The next day i receive a phone call. African number. I answer. It was a lawyer. He gave me his name, adress, etc (which i typed into google and its an actual lawyer office !! with matching phone number). He told me that i am the only heir of large company belonging to an uncle of mines who died in a plane crash about 25 years ago. Now the compny assests were liquified and deposited into a bank account. (As far as i know, nobody in the entire family ever had any business in africa, so i am sure they are lying)
Now the weird part. They did not ask about any fees. Nothing. They would just deposit the money to my bank account after i signed a few documents. They already had all my personal information.

After this call, i get my laptop and go to the local police. I explain everything about the case.
They told me i am not the first and this thing has been going on for a while in europe.
I cant give you a lot of information since its an ongoing case, but what i have learnt so far.
The money is real. If you accept it, it will be deposited to you. We are talking about millions of €€. A lot of money !! Before the deposit, you will receive some phonecalls, telling you to donate some of these money to charities (it was a wish of your uncle before he died bullshit). This means that they will use your name to deposit the money to some fake charities in europe if you accept. Still a large amount of money will be deposited to your account (i dont know why. Do they have a limit in money transfers in africa ?)
What happens next. You will start getting some “mafia type” phonecalls asking for the rest of the money. If you refuse,... well, its your end.
There are a few people on europe that actually accepted the deals and got money. They were used for money laundering but still they had a huge profit.
Thats all the info i got from from the local cyber-crime department.
I will update you if i get any news.
Of course i will not proceed with any transactions. Just wanted to let you know of this scam. It was fucking scary reading your real info in a 419 mail !!!

Edit: info on how the scammers got the money. As i told you, the money is real. But its useless for the scammers while in africa. They have to get it in european or american accounts. Most of it comes from blood diamond business (selling illegally mined diamonds.) and exploiting charities in africa.

Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2018 8:11 pm

Welcome to Eater Antonyhop.

You need to block their email address. You also need to block the African phone number from you phone. Have no new contacts with the scammers.

Your banking and contact information may have been photographed from a check you wrote. I once found a single check missing from a shipment of blank checks delivered by the Post Office and had to close the account.

I suggest that you contact your bank and also put in place a free temporary credit freeze. A quick Google search will walk you through the steps with a credit agency. Once you put the freeze in they will share the information with the other companies. I have done this in the past and found that it is painless and will not hinder your abilities to apply for new credit. They will only note that the freeze is in place and go through 1 additional step to verify that its really you.

You have already gone to the police and reported what you have received and started a case. That's great. If you wish, please go to our sister site, Scamwarners and post up the initial contact emails after you remove your personal information so that others will be able to do a search and find the posting of the scam.

Scammers have been able to "flash" money into the accounts of victims. The victims would send money to the scammers and the inflated balances would eventually be corrected by the banking authorities. Monies sent to the scammers would not be recoverable. A similar scam involving fake corporate or cashier's checks is far more common.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 28 Sep 2018 Posts: 2

Thanks for the tips !
Bank account is closed. I set up a new one just in case. All credit cards cancelled.
I dont use checks, i rarely use online banking and i am sure my pc is protected (no malware, spyware, etc). I still really dont know how they got the info ! They also had my social security number which is not visible anywhere in the bank account or any other documents.
The police is handling the case right now.

Posted: Sat Sep 29, 2018 9:22 am

Your details were probably exposed in the Equifax hack - over 100m SSN were leaked, along with numerous other records, so with a bit of work its not difficult to build a complete record of a victim's personal and financial information and these details are often sold for only a few dollars.