419 Scams - Now Made in Asia

Today I received an email from Sudhir Thirumurthy [sagthirumurthy@fastermail.com] with a subject which screamed 419 scam. However I hadn’t received any from Singapore and by someone who is clearly of Indian origin. So I decided to give him the benefit of doubt.

The email in full:

Hello,

My name is MR. SUDHIR A.G THIRUMURTHY,a legal practitioner with SUDHIR & CO. (Advocates & Solicitors) a Law Firm in Singapore.
I saw your contact and profile and decided that you could co-operate with me in this proposition.
I have a client who was deceased in November 2001 here in Singapore,I am contacting you because you have the same surname as my deceased client and i felt that you could help me in the withdrawal of the funds that are left in my deceased client’s accoun
t.

This fund is close to been declared un-serviceable by the Finance house as there were no indicated Next of Kin or Beneficiary of the fund in the account,having remained dormant for long.
The total amount of cash in the account of my deceased client is US$3.8Million
(Three Million Eight Hundred Thousand United States dollars Only ).

The finance house had issued me a notification to contact the next of kin of my deceased client to make beneficiary claim of the fund in the account, with a month surcharge of 6% to be deducted as an Escrow safe keeping fee of the account,so as to avoid
the indefinite closure of the account.
My proposition to you is to seek your consent, and to present your kind self as the Next-of-Kin and Beneficiary of my deceased client since you have thesame last name with him.
This means that the proceeds of his account would be paid to you as his Next-of-Kin or the Legitimate Beneficiary.
When the proceeds in his account are paid to you,we would share the proceeds on a mutually agreed-upon percentage of 60% to me and 40% to your kind self.

All the legal documents to back up your claim as my client’s Next-of-Kin would be provided by me. The most important thing I would need is your honest cooperation in this proposition.
This would be done under a legitimate arrangement that would protect you from any breach of the law,If this business proposition offends you or your Values in any way,please,feel free to decline this proposal.
Please contact me at once if youre interested by replying the mail.
Hope to hear from you as soon as possible.
Warmth Regards,

Barr.Sudhir A.G Thirumurthy

The email headers are:
Return-Path:
Received: from n2now2977.com (cm8.gamma157.maxonline.com.sg [202.156.157.8])
by taragana.com (8.11.6/8.11.6) with SMTP id k67HkD917347
for ; Fri, 7 Jul 2006 11:46:13 -0600
Message-Id: <200607071746.k67HkD917347@taragana.com>
From: “Sudhir Thirumurthy”
To: angsuman@taragana.com
Date: Sat, 8 Jul 2006 01:46:12 +0800


It just made me sad. In case you are not aware of 419 scams, remember these:
1. They are always a scam to swindle you of money and more
2. Even your life could be in danger
3. Safest way is to ignore them