This message wants to know why I am ignoring the sender’s emails.
Supposedly, there is an abandoned fund that has been approved and is ready for payout. And, all I need to do to claim this money is to respond to the email. The message promises that, after responding, I will be contacted with further details.
The signature in the email suggests that it was sent by the chairman of the Foreign Operations Department at the Economic & Financial Crimes Commission.
If I did respond, I would receive a reply explaining that I am eligible to make a claim to a multi-million dollar fund that had been left abandoned in a foreign bank account.
I would be told that I would have to send money to cover various expenses before this “abandoned fund” could be processed. After I sent the money, I would then receive further requests for even more money, ostensibly to cover various unexpected expenses.
The scammers would explain that it would not be possible to pay these expenses out of the “abandoned fund” itself under any circumstances. And, they would warn that, if I did not send the money to cover the supposed costs, I would lose my chance to get hold of the promised million dollar fund.
The demands for money would continue until I either had no more spare money to send or belatedly realised that I was being scammed.
At that point, the criminals would disappear with all of the money that I had sent to them. They may also manage to steal my identity using the personal and financial information I sent during the scam.
Advance fee scams like this one continue to be very common and, sadly, some people still fall for them.
A screenshot of the scam email:
