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Scam Emails: Dan Watkins - Money Transfer Scam

Scam Money Transfers
Example - Dan Watkins,
"Head of Auditing Department in a Bank in Scotland"

Did you receive an email from a "Dan Watkins" who claims to be the "Head of Auditing Department in a Bank in Scotland".  He claims that he wishes "to make a transfer involving a huge amount. I am proposing to make this transfer to a designated bank account of your choice".

Even if this were all true, you would be committing several felonies and would end up in prison.  In reality, it is all a scam.  Dan Watkins (not his real name, obviously) hopes to con you into sending money for various "fees" to free the fortune.  If you would like a step by step explanation of how this type of "Advance Fee Fraud" works, click here!

Notice (highlighted below) that the scammer sent out a bulk email to many, many people!

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Scam email:

-----Original Message-----

FROM AUDITOR DAN WATKINS
HEAD OF AUDITING DEPARTMENT IN A BANK

Hello Sir/Madam,

My name is Dan Watkins, a senior staff and executive of a bank here in Scotland, United Kingdom. I have only written to seek your indulgence and assistance. I wish to make a transfer involving a huge amount. I am proposing to make this transfer to a designated bank account of your choice. Thus, for your indulgence and support, I propose an offer of 25% of the total amount to be yours after the transfer has been successfully concluded.

Kindly reply me stating your interest, and I shall furnish you with the details and necessary proceedure with which to make the transfer.

I anxiously await your response. Thanks and Godbless.

Sincerely yours,

Dan Watkins

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Scammer's response after the victim contacted him:

Hello Friend,

Thanks for your response and your willingness to participate in this business. I am assuring you that you are not going to regret anything in this deal, so feel free to corporate with me. However, I will like to let you know more details of this business and reason why I contacted you.

First, let me introducemyself to you, I am Mr. Dan Watkins, 49yrs old audit Manager of Alpha Bank here in London, happily married with one wife Mary by name she is 35yrs with three children, 2boys and 1girl. I am from a reputable family here in London.

I and my entire family will ever remain indebted to you if your willingness to assist me in this very transaction becomes true.

I contacted you independently, based on my internal audit investigation and no one is informed of this communication except me and you and I decided to intimate you with certain facts that I believe would be of interest to you.

HOW THE MONEY CAME ABOUT:

On 22nd March 1999 an Amerian Citizen Native of Alaska most prominent business leader and the CEO of Akardis Ltd UK Late Mr Morris Thompson, Made a (Fixed deposit) valued at (15,000,000.00US) Fifteen Million Pounds Strealing GPD Only with our bank (Alpha Bank London) which he wished to have us turn over on his behalf. I was assigned to his transactions with the bank/investments. I made numerous suggestions in line with my duties as the Consulting Investment Auditor of the Private Banking Services Department, especially given the volume of funds he wished to put into our bank. We met on numerous occasions prior to any investments being placed. I encouraged him to consider various growth funds with prime ratings. The favored route in my advice to customers is to start by assessing data on 600 traditional stocks and bonds managers and alternative investments. Based on my advice, we spun the money around various opportunities and made attractive margins for our first months of operation, the accrued profit and interest stood at this point at over (15,000,000.00US) Fifteen Million Pounds Strealing GPD, this margin was not the full potential of the fund but he desired low risk guaranteed returns on investments.

On January 2000, he asked that the money be liquidated because he needed to make an urgent investment requiring cash payments in other parts of Europe. He directed that I liquidate the funds and had it deposited with HANDELS BANKEN, a top Swedish bank. I informed him that our bank would have to make special arrangements to have this done and in order not to circumvent due process, the bank would have to make a 9.5% deduction from the funds to cater for banking and statutory charges.

He complained about the charges but later came around when I explained to him the complexities of the task he was asking for. I contacted my affiliate in Sweden. However, the exercise was not carried out due to the complex nature of the task and having been instructed again to stop further proceedings in line with his instructions the transfer was stopped. He told me he would use the money thereafter upon his arrival from America later that week. This was the last communication I had from him which was around 27th January 2000.

Four days later, information started to trickle in that Late Mr. Morris Thompson and his wife Thelma Thompson with their only child Sheryl Thompson was among the victims of the plane crash of Alaska Airlines Flight 261 which crashed on January 31st 2000. On hearing about this information, the bank immediately launched an investigation into possible surviving next of kin to alert about the situation and also to come forward to claim his deposit. In his bio-data form, he listed her only child Sheryl Thompson as his next of kin to his eastate. In the field of private banking, opening an account means no one will know of its existence, accounts are rarely held under a name; depositors use numbers and codes to make the accounts anonymous. As things stands now, my bank has no single idea of the history or nature of the deposit. They are simply awaiting instructions to release the deposit to any party that comes forward with the correct information to this account.

PLANS FOR THE TRANSFER:

To summerize my proposal i am seeking your consent as a foreigner to stand and act as the next of kin to Late Mr. Morris Thompson so that my bank will approve the money to you. All documents and proofs to enable you get these funds will be carefully worked out. I have secured from the probate an order of mandamus to locate any of the deceased beneficiaries, and more so I am assuring you that this business is risk free involvement. If this proposal is acceptable by you do not take undue advantage of the trust I have bestowed on you as you have to assure me that I am not misplacing my trust on you concerning to this matter.

Please, note that i have been working with Alpha Bank London for more than 10 years, I want you to have in mind that I intend to use only very secure and legitimate banking procedures in line with British inheritance claim Act" and how it concerns this kind of transaction to move this money out of my bank in your name as the beneficiary. As the informant, I have all the information and also know what to do for the money to be approved and remitted into your account as soon as possible, Send to me your personal profile

i.e:

1. DATE OF BIRTH

2. YOUR OCCUPATION

3. YOUR PICTURE I.D

4. YOUR CONTACT ADDRESS

5. YOUR PRIVATE TELEPHONE AND FAX NUMBERS

6. A ZERO BALANCE CREDIT ACCOUNT DETAILS FOR THE

TRANSFER.

Upon the receipt of the above information from you, I will apply to the Foreign Payment Approval in your favour in other to obtain Foreign payment Control Approvals from our bank, HMT Treasury, Judiciary and the Bank of England for the transfer to be made to your nominated account, please if you don't have it,that means that you need to open a new bank account as a matter of urgency. Once the transaction is concluded, our disbursement ratio will be 75/25, that is 75% of the total amount will be for me while 25% of the total amount will be yours. Finally, I will put resignation letter to my bank to enable me travell to your country once the money has been transferred to your designated account and transfer concluded. I want you to understand that we have no time in regards to this transaction before the eyes of the Scottish's Financial Control takes the money to the purse of the Government treasury. I awaits hearing from you so that i will advise on the next step to follow or you can as well contact me with my private telephone and fax numbers:

Tel: +44 704 0125139, Fax:

+44 870 4796545.

Yours Faithfully,

Mr. Dan Watkins.

NOTE: HERE ARE MY OWN DETAILS/INFORMATIONS.

MR. Dan Watkins

AGE: 49 Years

TEL: +44 704 0125139

FAX: +44 870 4796545

OCCUPATION: BANKER

OFFICE ADDRESS: Alpha Bank, 66 Cannon Street,London

EC4N 6EP United Kingdom

HOME ADDRESS: 55 Sloane Street London SW1X 9SR United

Kingdom

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