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I received the following email this morning. My notes are in red.

From: Barrister.Benn Ross
17 Copse Hill, Wimbledon,
SW20 0NE, London,
United Kingdom. *read my note about this at the end


Dear Sir,*At last inventory, I had not become a man

It is indeed my pleasure to write you this letter, which I believe will
be a surprise to you as we have never met before and I am deeply sorry if I
have in any manner disturbed your privacy. Please forgive this unusual manner of contacting you, but this particular letter is of exceptional and very private nature. *Very fancy language, how could this possibly be a scammer?


There is absolutely going to be a great doubt and distrust in your heart in respect of this email, coupled with the fact that, so many individuals have taken possession of the Internet to facilitate their nefarious deeds, thereby making it extremely difficult for genuine and legitimate business class persons to get attention and recognition.
*Mindreaders! *Nobody has possessed the internet, to my knowledge *Maybe because legitimate business people don't send unsolicited emails to strangers

There is no way for me to know whether I will be properly understood, but it is my duty to write and reach out to you as a person of transparency,honesty and high calibre. *and as a person who does not proof read

My names is Barrister Benn Ross an attorney at law,I am contacting you in respect of a business concerning a huge sums of money/treasures left behind by a deceased client of mine, deposited with a Security and Finance company here in the U.K. I actually decided to contact you due to the urgency of this transaction. *Again no space after the comma *If it were urgent, one would generally use the telephone to make contact *Wouldn't it be expedient to contact somebody locally in an urgent situation?

PROPOSITION:

I discovered that the late client of mine who died along with his entire family as a result of an automobile crash has no one to stand for claim of his deposit left behind. He actually deposited his funds amounting to US$17,500,000.00 (Seventeen million five
hunderd United States dollars), for safekeeping with a firm in U.K. Company records shows that the funds were actually for a project my client wanted to start in the near future (A multi million Dollar steel plant inFlorida, USA) *records show, not shows *Use the spacebar! *being his lawyer, wouldn't you know of the plans to start a large business overseas, not need to "discover" from the records of an unnamed company?

As such, since his death none of his relations or next-of-kin has come forward to lay claims for this property as the heir, this is basically the reason why I have contacted you. The Company/Firm cannot release the deposit unless someone applies for claim through me as the next-of-kin to the deceased as indicated in their Operating guidelines. *So does he have no next-of kin, or have none come forward? *And you want some random person ("someone") to pose as next-of-kin?

Upon this discovery, I now seek your permission to have you stand as the Next of kin to the deceased as all documentations will be carefully worked out by me for the funds to be released in your favour as the sole beneficiary of the deposited fund. It may interest you to know that I have secured from the probate, an order of mandamus to locate any of deceased families,*any of deceased families?? what does that mean? please acknowledge the receipt of this message in acceptance of our mutual business, endeavour by furnishing me with your information’s, *I am keeping my informations thank you. *Random punctuation is one of my pet peeves these requirements will enable me file letter of claim to the appropriate departments for necessary approvals in your favour before you can personally appear for the claim.

COMPENSATION

I shall be compensating you with 30%, 10% will be for any expenses incurred during transaction and the remaining will be set aside for my colleagues and I on this project. *1,750,000 in expenses, wow *What are the colleagues doing to earn their portion of $10,500,000?

Please note that your share of the fund is not negotiable. If this proposal is acceptable to you, do not take undue advantage of the trust we have bestowed in you. *Always good to trust those who are breaking the law, probably in two different countries

However if you are willing to assist me in this venture i will establish a verbal telephone communication with you and bring you into a much better picture of the situation. *In other words, fill you in on the scheme

If this business proposition offends your moral values, do accept my apology. Please contact me at once to indicate your interest. *It would only be morally offensive if it were illegal, and if it were illegal, would one trust a lawyer who proposes such theft?


Please reply by sendig me a mail to the above address urgently. *If it's so urgent, why must I send mail to a physical address, presumably to include my "information's" such as my name, address, and phone number so he can establish a verbal telephone communication" with me? Wouldn't it be more efficient if he left his number in the message, or to request my phone number by email?

Best Regards

Barrister Benn Ross *If such a man does exist

It impresses me that scams such as this presist. Wonder why? It's because some people actually fall for them! If a criminal can dupe a stranger out of even $100 with a phony email that took maybe two minutes of his efforts, it's easy money.

An interesting note for you... I couldn't find Barrister Benn Ross on Snopes.com, my #1 stop for email forward (in)validation, but when I Googled the London address, many different (but similar) scam emails came up. Some were by cancer-stricken "widows", some were from people who claimed the Almighty told them to give their life savings to the recipient to do "great works for the Almighty"... All to the same address. I say, "Eeeeeeen-ter-es-ting."