I saw a new version of the Spanish Prisoner/Nigerian Bank scam today. A client's mother brought by a letter she had received purporting to be from a lawyer in Spain. The letter claims that there is a chest with millions of US dollars inside that will be claimed by the government if she doesn't stand in as the next of kin for a long lost relative. The "attorney" offers to split the take with her if she helps him exploit this legal loophole.
The letter is poorly written and uses a lot of slang. The name of the long lost relative is in a different font than the rest of the letter making it likely a form letter. It is also done on cheap letterhead and postmarked from Portugal while the address they list appears to be that of a hotel in Madrid. The neat thing (and the thing that got her all excited) is that if you google the name of the law firm an actual web site pops up. If you google the name of the lawyer who sent the letter a bunch of news articles and cases pop up.
On closer scrutiny the text of the website appears to be copied and pasted from somewhere else. The real lawyer whose name is being used works for a different firm so he actually has online information but is unlikely part of the scam.
I am enjoying myself by e-mailing the scammer and telling them how interested I am while I fax a copy of his letter to the real lawyer whose name was used. Hopefully some level of hilarity will ensue.
The letter is poorly written and uses a lot of slang. The name of the long lost relative is in a different font than the rest of the letter making it likely a form letter. It is also done on cheap letterhead and postmarked from Portugal while the address they list appears to be that of a hotel in Madrid. The neat thing (and the thing that got her all excited) is that if you google the name of the law firm an actual web site pops up. If you google the name of the lawyer who sent the letter a bunch of news articles and cases pop up.
On closer scrutiny the text of the website appears to be copied and pasted from somewhere else. The real lawyer whose name is being used works for a different firm so he actually has online information but is unlikely part of the scam.
I am enjoying myself by e-mailing the scammer and telling them how interested I am while I fax a copy of his letter to the real lawyer whose name was used. Hopefully some level of hilarity will ensue.
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) after getting an email purporting the same thing.
