In the past couple of weeks I have received some spam messages that are disturbing. The messages are quite personal, greeting me by name and then claiming to be sent by an attorney representing a deceased (and wealthy) previously-unknown relative. Below is an article from Eastman's Genealogy Newsletter re same. jh Dear Eastman, I am Barrister James Ibe, a solicitor at law. I am the personal attorney to Mr. Patrick Eastman a national of your country, who used to work with Shell Development Company in Nigeria. Here in after shall be referred to as my client. On the 21st of April 2000, my client, his wife and their only daughter were involved in a car accident along Sagamu express road. I admit that the greeting of "Dear Eastman" is a bit suspicious. Whatever happened to the word "Mister?" Surely an attorney, even one who speaks English only as a second language, would know better. The e-mail message goes on at some length, telling a story of how the attorney is seeking relatives of the deceased client so that a distribution of the estate may be made. The e-mail message claims that the estate is worth millions. Those of us who have been on the Internet for some time will quickly recognize the message as a "4-1-9 Scam." It is known internationally as "4-1-9" fraud, after the section of the Nigerian penal code which addresses fraud schemes. In fact, 99.9% of the people who receive these messages will know that it is bogus and will quickly delete it. The sad part of this tale lies with the other 0.1% of the people who receive these messages. They get suckered. The perpetrators of this scam need only a few gullible people to respond in order to steal tens of thousands of dollars. In the last few weeks, I have had three different people tell me that a friend or co-worker of theirs has responded to Nigerian solicitations with expectations of receiving large amounts of money. These people have supplied their names, personal mailing addresses and, in some cases, personal financial information. The sad part is that most people who fall for these stories will lose money, and a few will even lose their lives. The United States Secret Service Web site offers this warning: a.. In almost every case there is a sense of urgency; b.. The victim is enticed to travel to Nigeria or a border country; c.. There are many forged, official-looking documents; d.. Most of the correspondence is handled by fax or through the mail; e.. Blank letterheads and invoices are requested from the victim along with the banking particulars; f.. Any number of Nigerian fees are requested for processing the transaction, with each fee purported to be the last required; g.. The confidential nature of the transaction is emphasized; h.. There are usually claims of strong ties to Nigerian officials; i.. A Nigerian residing in the U.S., London, or other foreign venue may claim to be a clearing house bank for the Central Bank of Nigeria; j.. Offices in legitimate government buildings appear to have been used by impostors posing as the real occupants or officials. While not mentioned on the United States Secret Service Web site, some news stories claim that people from a number of countries have been duped by this scam and have traveled to Nigeria or to nearby countries. They usually carry a lot of money that supposedly is to be used to bribe officials in an effort to obtain the funds in question. Instead, the foreigners are murdered by the Nigerian perpetrators of this scam, and the money disappears. Here is my advice: never, ever pay any attention to any spam mail, other than to read it for amusement. Never, ever purchase anything from an unsolicited e-mail advertisement from a person or company that you do not recognize. Any offer received in "spam mail" is most likely a scam. Finally, never, ever enter into any "business arrangements" without a lot of investigation. Do a search on the Web. Ask your friends. If there are significant sums of money involved, ask your lawyer. You can read a lot more about this at http://www.ustreas.gov/usss/alert419.shtml as well as at http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=nigerian+scam Janet