Online scam techniques are getting more personal...

Today I had the following gem drop through my inbox, submitted via the contact link of my Google profile, which is of course fairly visible due to my continued involvement in Google's Webmaster Central Help Forum:

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Message via your Google Profile: Dear Sasch Mayer

Inbox

Reply

kone charles to me

show details 12:57 PM (2 minutes ago)

Dear Sasch Mayer. 

I am the legal advicer to a deceased client Dr.Edwin Mayer,who worked with an Oil and Gas company here in Togo. He lost his life together with his family in a ghastly motor accident on December 2008.I am calling your attention for the retrieval of his huge deposit of $5.2million left in his bank account before his death before it gets confiscated,bank need his next of kin to stand since you have the same sure-name with my late client,then i really need your help at the end this transfer we share it 40%60,you take 60 i take 40 foinvestmentet in your country,so my dear i want you to pay seriouattentionon to this matter and it is real and safety interested. 

Do kindly contact me directly on my private email address(barristercharles_kone[at]rocketmail.com)for more details in respect for the claim of his Estate/Fund valued(usd$5.2Million)left behind before it gets confiscated or declared unserviceable by the Finance Firm.I will love if yoresponsene to me so that we get the needful done. From Barrister Charles Kone Esq. LLB, BL SOLICITOR & ADVOCATES, No. 45 Rue d'Ministre, Lome, Togo, West-africa Email- barristercharles_kone[at]rocketmail.com 

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They know my name; they addressed me personally; it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy. Plus, there's about $3 million at stake, so I must reply immediately...

Sasch Mayer and the Google Webmaster Help Forum

Sasch Mayer joined the then 'Official Google Webmaster Help Group' on August 31st 2006. Over the course of the following eighteen months he proceeded to gain a reputation for giving solid advice concerning promotional and web design issues, as well as an ability to mediate disputes between frustrated webmasters in the group.

After a year and a half of participation in this manner, Google invited Sasch Mayer to join the fledgling Bionic Poster program in March 2008. This new contributor recognition initiative would ultimately develop into the Top Contributor program which is now in use across Google's entire front-line support forum infrastructure.

During the intervening years, Sasch has further cemented his reputation as an expert in the webmaster support and website troubleshooting fields, and has retained his Top Contributor status, while 50% of the originally nominated fourteen TCs have failed to remain as a part of the program following the group's transition to its new incarnation as the Google Webmaster Central Forum. With a membership exceeding 100,000, the Webmaster Central forum is now Google's flagship support venue for the world's website owners and online business operators.

These days, Sasch Mayer spends his time working on his own stable of commercial websites, and troubleshooting website and e-marketing performance for companies around the world from his base in the Republic of Cyprus. He is also involved in a longterm project to produce a new webmaster support site aimed at providing less technically oriented webmasters and business owners to get an easy grasp of the principles of site design, e-marketing and Search Engine Optimization.

His brand, IceGiant, was first established in 1999, and has helped countless clients from around the globe during the intervening years. Together with his fellow Top Contributors, and a number of capable regulars, Sasch Mayer does of course still help the world's webmaster community at Google's foum on a daily basis.