Today I received notification from a "Bank Manager" via twitter that a vast sum of money is available for me in Dubai. What should I do?

2015-07-18T13:03:25-04:00

I have an "unlisted" Skype account that I use to communicate with one of my sons. Usually I receive requests to connect from young women I do not know. [Update - Skype account not a Twitter account - results of too many medicines, not enough sleep, and laughter about the message I received :-)
Today I received the following lengthy message ostensibly from a bank manager in Dubai. It is my first such experience on Skype, the Nigerian and other people with vast sums of money to send me seem to have stopped sending me email:-)
"mohammad khalil would like to add you on Skype
Hello Ford,

I am sorry to contact you unannounced through this medium. I am Mr. Mohammed Khalil a staff of Barclays bank Dubai, United Arab Emirate and Head of Administration and Government Relations at Barclays Bank PLC UAE . I write you this proposal in good faith hoping that I will rely on you . In 2006, one Mr.Daniel Ford who has same surname as yours and who has your country in his file as his place of origin, made a fixed deposit for 36 calendar months, valued at $18,400,000.00 with my bank. I was his account officer before I rose to the position of Manager Director now. The maturity date for this deposit contract was 16th of January 2009. Unfortunately, while on a business trip ,he died in a deadly earthquake that occurred on May 12, 2008 in Sichuan province of China which killed at least 68,000 people. Since the last quarter of 2009 until today,the management of Barclay's bank have been finding a means to reach him so as ascertain if he will want to roll over the Deposit or have the contract sum withdraw .Since September 2009,when I discovered that this will happen , I learn of his death ,so I have tried to think up a procedure to preserve this fund and use the proceed for charity .
Some directors here have been trying to find out from me the information about this account and the owner, but I have kept it closed because, I know that if they become aware that Mr Daniel is now late, they will corner the funds for themselves. Therefore, I am seeking your co-operation to present you as the one to benefit from his fund at his death since you have the same name, so that my bank head quarters will pay the funds to you. I have done enough inside bank arrangement and you only have to put in your details into the information network in the bank computers and reflect you as his next of kin. I am not a greedy person, so I am suggesting we share the funds equal, 50/50% to both parties My share will assist me to start a charity organization to help the poor and also own a company which has been my dream. Let me know your mind on this and please do treat this information as TOP SECRET. We shall go over the details once I receive your urgent response strictly through my personal email address [login to see] . Have a nice day.
Bet regards,
MR. Mohammed Khalil
[login to see] "

Response by PO1 John Miller made Jul 18 at 2015 1:10 PM

2015-07-18T13:10:42-04:00

Definitely send them all your personal information so that you can get your money!!! :>)

Response by PO2 Peter Klein made Jul 18 at 2015 1:23 PM

2015-07-18T13:23:10-04:00

Block the sender and delete the message, after you stop laughing.

Response by SGM Steve Wettstein made Jul 18 at 2015 1:55 PM

2015-07-18T13:55:47-04:00

LTC Stephen F. Sounds legit. LOL

Response by SN Greg Wright made Jul 18 at 2015 2:01 PM

2015-07-18T14:01:43-04:00

Pfft. I got you beat colonel. I have a Nigerian princess just squirming in her seat to marry me!

Response by SGT Roberto Mendoza-Diaz made Jul 18 at 2015 2:05 PM

2015-07-18T14:05:22-04:00

If you don't know who's the sender and the subject looks fishy, do not, I repeat do not open the email.

Response by CW5 Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 18 at 2015 2:28 PM

2015-07-18T14:28:07-04:00

Report it to the cyber crimes folks at the FBI. They probably know about the information, but it doesn't hurt to ensure they know what you received. You can report it online at fbi.gov: https://tips.fbi.gov/

Tips

Response by LTC Stephen C. made Jul 18 at 2015 2:31 PM

2015-07-18T14:31:25-04:00

LTC Stephen F., delete the correspondence, perform an immediate about face and double time away from your phone seems like appropriate action!

Response by SGT Forrest Stewart made Jul 18 at 2015 2:49 PM

2015-07-18T14:49:03-04:00

I would block the sender and ignore such messages. They're scams, of course. Enjoy you moment of vast wealth and happiness!

Response by LTC John Shaw made Jul 18 at 2015 3:14 PM

2015-07-18T15:14:59-04:00

LTC Stephen F. Reply: In an odd coincidence that you too are a bank Director and a Mr. Khalil left $20M in an account that you will gladly split with him 50/50%. All he has to do is send you a bank account number and make a payment of $2500 required to setup the new account and estate planning fees...

Response by SFC Mark Merino made Jul 18 at 2015 3:40 PM

2015-07-18T15:40:06-04:00

Some people have ALL the luck....lol

Response by CSM Charles Hayden made Jul 18 at 2015 3:58 PM

2015-07-18T15:58:52-04:00

Would you please sell me 1/2 of the deal for 75% of what you need to forward to the bank? I need a windfall also. Then you can split 1/2 the proceeds with me? My check is in the mail!

Response by SSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 18 at 2015 7:14 PM

2015-07-18T19:14:02-04:00

They take advantage of elderly people who get overwhelmed

Response by Capt Seid Waddell made Jul 18 at 2015 8:25 PM

2015-07-18T20:25:55-04:00

Notify the FBI.

Response by Sgt Ken Prescott made Jul 18 at 2015 8:35 PM

2015-07-18T20:35:42-04:00

Do something like this:

"I am currently pulling the legs of some Zimbabwean scamsters who think my name is Jon Arbuckle of the Garfield Lasagna Cat Food Corporation. My contact information resembles that of the US Secret Service, Financial Fraud Division :)"

Or else try to recruit him into the Cthulhu cult.

"Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!"

:)

Response by SPC Margaret Higgins made Jul 19 at 2015 11:24 PM

2015-07-19T23:24:51-04:00

Have him drop and give you 50- via Skype.

Response by SGT William Howell made Jul 20 at 2015 10:37 AM

2015-07-20T10:37:07-04:00

I would let Mr. Mohammed Khalil know that ironically Mr. Daniel Ford thought he was such a kick ass banker for him in Dubai that he left HIM $20 Gajilion dollars at the Robbjou and Steel Credit Union, of Smalsamich, UT right here in the good ol' US. Tell him you would be happy to secure his money for him if he could just open a bank account here by depositing 50,000 Durhams and 20 sheep.

Tell him that he needs to hurry because if the banks finds out Mr. Ford is dead they will execute his last will and testament that says they are take the money and invest it in a group of Ex-Special Forces who are to hunt down internet spammers and kill them very slowly, then all of their family, and burn everything they own to the ground.

You know that is just me.

Response by SP5 Michael Rathbun made Jul 25 at 2015 8:42 PM

2015-07-25T20:42:01-04:00

There are hundreds of thousands of these "Nigerian 419" (also known as the "Spanish Prisoner") scam messages sent every day through a growing number of online media. Having been one that wrote rules to keep this drek out of inboxes, I have seen thousands of variations in dozens of languages.

What was heartbreaking was processing some "False Positive" spam reports ("You marked this message as spam and you shouldn't have") and seeing that some folks you would expect to know better were falling for it and shipping money off to Nigeria or a neighboring locale.

There really is nobody to report these folks to.

There are some web sites dedicated to ridiculing the scammers, and often scamming them back or exposing them to view.

One contest was to see what sort of behavior they could trick the scammer into. One of the best involved getting the scammer to agree to meet someone at a particular intersection in Lagos (which had a handy webcam available) holding up a sign that said, in Dutch, "I am a total shithead."

I strung one of the guys along for quite a while by replying in a mixture of Arabic and broken English, but scared them off when I tried to set up a meeting in Abuja with him and my brother Salman, who would be returning to Nigeria on business in six weeks.

Ah well, on to a different hobby.

Response by COL Mikel J. Burroughs made Jul 27 at 2015 12:17 PM

2015-07-27T12:17:38-04:00

Delete it every time!