Email scam...

... because your relative just died in some accident...

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Subject: PROJECT
Monday, August 15, 2011 1:42 PM
From: "Sipho Themba"

HI, YOU BEAR THESAME LAST NAME WITH MY CLIENT WHO LOST HIS LIFE IN A BOAT ACCIDENT KILLING HIS ENTIRE FAMILY,CAN I PRESENT YOU TO MY BANK WITH ALL LEGAL DOCUMENTATION IN PLACE TO MAKE YOU HIS HEIR GET BACK TO ME WITH YOUR PHONE NUMBER FOR MORE INFO.

THANK YOU

SIPHO THEMBA
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That's the email...
If you cannot tell the email is a spam and a scam... or just call it scpam ("ska-pam"), here is how you know.

1) all capital
2) some weird name
3) says someone with your same last name died unexpectedly and you are the closest next of kin
4) lots and lots of money
5) bad grammar
6) common email address domain (ie. yahoo, hotmail, etc.)
7) doesn't address you by name
8) asks for personal info (usually bank account)

My last name is too common to be related to someone who just "happens to die" in an accident... I'm reading this email over and over again and I can't help but laugh at the wording of "boat accident killing his entire family." I think it's the way it's written. They put it in a way that is so tragic that you feel the need to respond.

I have also gotten another email about a "relative" titled Dr. who "died" in some jungle in Africa...

Who or what is a "sipho themba?" "Sif-fo Them-ba" or "Sip-ho Them-ba"? Google pulled up 2 interesting sites: a twitter account of a musician and a LinkedIn profile of a South African. Hm... South African... Anything that somehow links itself to Africa has scam written all over it but usually it is Nigeria.

And look at that email address... I cannot even make out what the username is trying to be.

Did you also look at the subject? Yes, that IS the subject... "PROJECT." A project to see how many suckers fall for it? A project to see if it works? A project to see how much info you get back?

Remember some rules to weird email...

1) read the content...
2) if there are links, don't click on it BUT move your mouse over to the link (without clicking) and it will show you a link - usually it is to a site that LOOKS like the real thing
3) it is not making any sense

And most importantly...

IF IT'S TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE, IT PROBABLY IS.