Scam ATM Card Payment
Money Transfers
Example - Ms. Nancy Berkshire at NATWEST BANK PLC
Compliment of the day to you. We hereby send to you the information submitted by Mr. Chris Conrardy of Edison Welding Institute (EWI) with an application to receive your payment sum of Ј1,000,000.00 GBP in cash credited to file FRBN/000-555-90101 on your behalf.
Sir. Richard Gordon
Have you received an email from "Ms. Nancy Berkshire" at "NATWEST BANK PLC", claiming
"Compliment of the day to you. We hereby send to you the information submitted by Mr. Chris Conrardy of Edison Welding Institute (EWI) with an application to receive your payment sum of Ј1,000,000.00 GBP in cash credited to file FRBN/000-555-90101 on your behalf." ?
If this doesn't immediately strike you as a scam, then allow us to point out the inconsistencies and how the scam works.
Did you notice the email came from the "Unclaimed Payment Department"? Apparently, NatWest has so many "unclaimed" payments, that they have a whole department for it. Sounds like a really great banking system, huh?
This one uses a twist of logic on the usual scam. Instead of saying you are owed a huge sum of money from some unknown source, the scammer says you authorized someone else to collect a huge sum of money on your behalf.
The average person might think, "hey, someone's tried to clean out my bank account, and the bank is doing due diligence and caught it!"
Not a chance. The scammers hope you will think that and then contact them to "clear it up" and in doing so either give them your bank account details or deposit a fake check from them.
In addition, notice the strange way of phrasing things (like "to come for the claim of this"), poor spelling, odd capitalization. These are things that someone who is not a native English speaker would do, and certainly not to be found in real business correspondence.
If you would like a step by step explanation of how this type of "Advance Fee Fraud" works, click here!
Scam email from "Ms. Nancy Berkshire at NATWEST BANK PLC":
NATWEST BANK PLC.
Unclaimed Payment Department
100 Barbirolli Square
Manchester Lancashire M60 2FT
England - United Kingdom13TH - MARCH - 2008
Customer Service: 580 NCA 85914
Ref: SHL/9420X2/68
Batch:074/05/ZY369Dear customer,
Compliment of the day to you.
We hereby send to you the information submitted by Mr. Chris Conrardy of Edison Welding Institute (EWI) with an application to receive your payment sum of Ј1,000,000.00 GBP in cash credited to file FRBN/000-555-90101 on your behalf.
As a matter of urgency, you are required to verify the following information and inform us if you are aware or know anything about this.
*1. Did you instruct Mr. Chris Conrardy of Edison Welding Institute (EWI) to claim and receive the payment on your behalf?
*2. Did you sign any "Deed of Assignment" in his favor thereby making him the current beneficiary with the below account details?
Account Name: Edison Welding Institute
Bank Name: Bank of America
ABA routing number: #0260-0959-3,
Account number: 003927219434
International Swift Code: BOFAUS6S
You are hereby advised to contact the International Claims Officer if you are or not the person that instructed Mr. Chris Conrardy to come for the claim of this fund.
Sir. Richard Gordon
International Claims Officer
Phone: +44 7024 053 120
Fax: +44 7005 807 163
eMail: rkgordon@live.com
I anticipate your prompt response.
Sincerely,
Ms. Nancy Berkshire
NatWest Customer Relations.
And please let us know about any suspicious calls or emails you receive. We look for patterns so that we can alert the authorities and victims to new scams, before it is too late!
For a comprehensive list of national and international agencies to report scams, see this page.