Here's A Different One!

[Caran]

Atkins Thomson Solicitors & Associates
Third Floor 303 Regent Street ,
London , LND - W1B 3HH

Attn: Sir/Madam


My name is Atkins Thomson, a legal practitioner based here in London, United Kingdom and personal attorney to late Robert Fitzpatrick an American who was a contractor with the Shell UK Limited, who shall be referred to as my client,

Robert Fitzpatrick unfortunately lost his life in a terrorist attack in Philippines on the 4th March, 2003 during one of his trip to Asia, and left no clear beneficiary as Next of Kin except some vital documents related to the deposit with me.
Particularly, the finance company where the deceased had the said fund valued at US$10,500,000.00 (Ten Million Five Hundred Thousand United Sates Dollars Only) has issued me a notice to provide the next of kin. I am seeking your co -operation to present you as the next of kin to the account. Our sharing ratio will be 40% for you, 50% for me and 10% for reimbursement of any expenditure we may incur.

If you are interested, you should reply back immediately and as well include your full name , address and direct phone number so we could discuss more as regard the transaction.
Thank you and Please treat this with utmost confidentiality. I wait your urgent response.


Regards,

Atkins Thomson, Esq.
Direct Tel: [phone]
Phone:+ 44-7087-698-229

[stuey]

My sisters and I received a letter a few years quite similar to this regarding a distant relation who died in Wales. It turned out to be a very convoluted affair, and took about three years to settle; however, we each eventually received around $5,000 each.

[Buenchico]

The firm's name is, of course, entirely genuine (and well-respected):
http://www.atkinsthomson.com

I love the fact though that the fraudster hasn't grasped that the company's principals, Graham Atkins and Mark Thomson, are two separate people! Even if everything else about the email seemed 'kosher' (which it most definitely doesn't), that really ought to set alarm bells ringing with the recipients of that email ;-)

It's been doing the rounds since at least last September:
http://www.419scam.org/emails/2015-09/23/00975546.252.htm

[Caran]

I only got this today along with another long excruciating email from another rambling idiot.

[david small]

Why don't they simply get a proper job? It must be easier, or at least more lucrative.

[stuey]

There are actually legitimate firms which do search for heirs to people who die intestate and leave a substantial estate behind. When everything is settled, which can take years as it did in our case, they take a percentage of each heir’s inheritance. The percentage in our case was a lot less than mentioned in the original post: I think it was around 25%. It turns out that we were related to the man who died through my father’s mother who was born in Liverpool; in fact most of the heirs, not all, were located in that area of England. A total of 206 relatives were located, and the amount due to each individual was based on shares depending upon how close up the “family tree” you were to the deceased. (We all received a copy of each heir and how much they got). We were pretty far down the tree and, as I said, received $5000 each; a couple of people at the top of the tree got 25,000 pounds each. It was quite a long drawn out affair with lots of faxes, emails, and registered letters. However, it was legitimate.

[Peter Pedant]

I got one from the performing arts thingey over copyright
saying it was thro my gandfather

I had to admit I knew he was a stone-mason and not the lithographer with the same name ....

[stuey]

Petah, in your opinion, was this a legitimate inquiry?

[Buenchico]

>>> There are actually legitimate firms which do search for heirs to people who die intestate and leave a substantial estate behind

Agreed, Stuey, but it's always best to err on the side of caution - especially when the sender of the email thinks that 'Atkins Thomson' is one person ;-)

[Buenchico]

^^^ PS: Legitimate firms don't contact legatees by email, simply because they won't have the person's email address. Further, any genuine correspondence would address the legatee by name, rather than "Attn: Sir/Madam".

[stuey]

I Googled the information in the OP, and thought something was "off" in this case; however, I just wanted to point out that there are reputable firms out there...One must do their homework. Anyway, is LND part of a postal code there?

[Buenchico]

^^^ No. 'LND' is meaningless in the address given.

[Hypognosis]

10% of 10.5M for "any expenses" is steep in its own right. 50% "share" for executor service ought to classify as theft under most countries' jurisdictions. I would have tempted to ignore it even if they'd picked a name which, miraculously, tied up with my own family history research.

The most I can see any fraudster gaining are your personal details which are only valued at about £150 (cf. SnapChat/Facebook valuations, as businesses) but the nightmare scenario would be that they invoice you an arbitrary amount for the "expenses" part.