I am trying to find out about a mining company in South Africa. Lucio
is the beneficiary .I recieved a letter asking for my help in
collecting the money which is in excess of nine million us dollars.
They also write that the funds owed you are the sole\nominated
beneficiary. that the money originally owed Free State Consolidated
Mining Company and Lucio as the prime beneficiary but that since the
maturity of the investment all attempts to reach him or any of his
relatives proved unsuccessful. They found me . My last name is similar
to his and that they want to file my particulars as the beneficiary.
they also want me to open a account and that the funds will be
transfered there .The only document they want is a copy of my passport
they will send to the cc.director General. My question  is this is
this a scam and if it is do you know how and why they found me?I need
to know something as soon as possible because they are wanting this
done today

Dear tlee1566-g

I have a law enforcement background and my advice is that on no
account make any form of contact with the person who has contacted
you. This is a scam.

Despite it referring to South Africa it is known amongst law
enforcement agencies as West African Fraud or 419 fraud. There are
many variations on the fraud, but the story is basically the same.

Thousands upon thousands of letters and emails are set out (the names
are collected from telephone directories, newsgroups and search
engines). The story is always that a very large amount of money is
lying in an account and help is needed to transfer the money out of
the country.  The victim is asked to assist and is offered a
percentage. No such money exists and the victim will eventually lose
money themselves.

The link with your name is merely coincidence.

For more information visit the New Scotland Yard Fraud Squad web site
and use the navigation links on the left to find out more information
on how the fraud works.
http://www.met.police.uk/fraudalert/419.htm

Compare your letter with a sample letter.
http://www.quatloos.com/scams/nigerian.htm

More information at the US Secret Service site.
http://www.secretservice.gov/alert419.shtml

Once again, my advice is not to make any contact. Either report it to
your local police or throw the letter away.

I trust this answers your question tlee1566-g. If it does not, or the
answer is unclear, then please ask for clarification of this research
and I shall respond to the clarification request as soon as I receive
it.

Thank you.
answerfinder-ga

Search Strategy
Personal knowledge
419 fraud
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=419+fraud

This is a common and well documented scam. 

http://www.popsubculture.com/pop/bio_project/nigeria-fraud.html

Search Google for "Nigerian email scam"

I too have come across this and can confirm the research carried out
by other researchers above.

Hello Tlee1566,

Here's something to add to my colleague's excellent answer. The "South
African Scam Letter" better known as the "Nigerian Scam Letter" has
been going around for a long time now even before email became popular
and it has caused a number of people to lose their job, savings, and
perhaps even their life. There is one important question you have to
ask yourself: "Why would a total stranger entrust me that kind of
money?" The scammer might have gotten your name and/or other details
through hacked sites where you have registered. There are so many ways
a "Big Bad Wolf" can do to get to a particular prey. The best thing
you can do is to simply ignore the letter and don't give any of your
personal details to the scammer - NEVER!

The Nigerian scam has so many variations. I even received one which
you can read below for you and also for the benefit of all who will
read this:

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Dear Sir

My name is LOUISA C.ESTRADA,The wife of Mr. JOSEPH ESTRADA, the former
President of Philippines located in the South East Asia. My husband
was recently impeached from office by a backed uprising of mass
demonstrators and the Senate. My husband is presently in jail and
facing trial on charges of corruption, embezzlement, and the
mysterious charge of plunder which might lead to death sentence. The
present government is forcing my husband out of manila to avoid
demonstration by his supporter. During my husband's regime as
president of Philippine, I realized some reasonable amount of money
from various deals that I successfully executed. I have plans to
invest this money for my children's future on real estate and
industrial production. My husband is not aware of this because I wish
to do it secretly for now.

before my husband was impeached, I secretly siphoned the sum of
$30,000,000 million USD (Thirty million United states dollars) out of
Philippines and deposited the money with a security firm that
transports valuable goods and consignments through diplomatic means. I
also declared that the consignment was solid gold and my foreign
business partner owned it. I am contacting you because I want you to
go to the security company and claim the money on my behalf since I
have declared that the consignment belong to my foreign business
partner. You shall also be required to assist me in investment in your
country.

I hope to trust you as a God fearing person who will not sit on this
money when you claim it, rather assist me properly, I expect you to
declare what percentage of the total money you will take for your
assistance. When I receive your positive response I will let you know
where the security company is and the payment pin code to claim the
money which is very important.

For now, let all our communication is by e-mail because my line are
right now connected to the Philippines Telecommunication Network
services. Please also send me your telephone and fax number. I will
ask my son contact you to give you more details on after i have
received a responce from you.

Thank you and God bless you and family.

MRS LOUISA C ESTRADA"

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

As you can see, the scammer has totally no respect regarding his use
of God's name so haw can he respect another human being. I actually
laughed hard when I got the letter. Why? I'm a Filipino and I know the
truth regarding the Estrada's. How can I fall for that?! :-)

The link below is as informative as it is entertaining. It's about
scamming the Nigerian scammer. Read on and enjoy!

http://www.wendywillcox.50megs.com/

-Feilong

I think you can be relatively certain that they are not targeting you
specifically. My husband and several friends of mine have received
variations of this African scam letter. Each time the sender claimed
that "I am writing to you because your last name is similar to mine."
One of the last names was "Smith." I suspect that they are just
picking names out of phone books.

I get at least one every week.

The last one was a real hoot because it claimed that one of my
relatives had died leaving a fortune.

However, the author had assumed that my given name (Bryan) was
actually my family name!

Long ago, I worked for the Oklahoma State Employment Service. The
secretary who handled incoming mail told me that it was not uncommon
to receive letters which began "Dear Mr. Service: This is to notify
you and the entire Service family that..."

I got this site from a previous Google Answers response to a similar
question ages ago and I bookmarked it. It is very funny and puts the
whole scam thing into some kind of perspective. The best advice I've
ever been given regarding an investment or "opportunity" is that if
it's too good to be true, it probably is!
http://www.wendywillcox.50megs.com/