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
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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...
Seriously though... It is of course an age-old scam, first patented by those kings of online-crookery, the Nigerians. Lure your victim with promises of huge profits, and then make them pay you money via Western Union to pay for the necessary bribes and whatnot before finally disappearing into the ether.
However, this is the first time I've personally come across this highly personalized approach of trying to trick the more greedy and gullible among us out of their hard-earned cash via direct contact.
Looks like the numbers are down for the email version of this scam, so our African friends had to think of something a little more up-close-and-personal to make up the monetary shortfall. If you're reading this you might want to pass the word along that this has started happening. What I do find a little worrying about this particular development, is the fact that even the world's most retarded spam-filter is now capable of identifying this sort of message and dumping it in the trash, but Gmail has failed to do so, simply because it was fooled into inaction by the fact that the message passed through a trusted broker, my own personal profile. This does rather suggest that Google carries out no filtering whatsoever across its own internal messaging system, and that we are all wide open to all sorts of shenanigans.
But whatever the case may be, it's still a good idea to tell others about this development, just in case there's still someone who's never come across this kind of thing living under a rock somewhere.
