I am about to inherit $7.5 million!

[NW-Bound]

I am about to inherit $7.5 million. Fugget about business-class seat. Nothing but first-class seat for me from now on.

Yes, that's what Mr Li Jie, a personal banker of Ping An Bank in China told me in his unexpected recent letter. What happened was that his client with the same last name as mine recently died intestate while traveling in China. As this poor short-lived Mr Bound left no will, Li Jie proposed to me that he could forge the necessary documents, and we then split the loot. Of course, he knew we both could get into trouble, so this had to be kept a secret. Since ya'all do not know me in real life, and I am so excited about this, I think it's safe sharing this news so you can be happy for me.

The letter is written in very good English. The envelope has no return address. The postage shows that its origin is the US, while Mr Li Jie is in Hong Kong, as one can tell from the phone number he gave me, in addition to a gmail address. Mr Jie preemptedly covered this, by saying that he had a US contact who forwarded this letter to me.

I am urged to contact him ASAP. I am sure that he will want me to send some money to cover some costs for his "operation". Maybe he will have to bribe some clerks at his bank, or something like that. But for a $7.5 million loot, what's $10K or even $50K as the necessary expense?

But what will I do with this windfall money? I do not spend enough of my own money as it is. This is going to cause me more trouble. I guess I can always up my charity donations. Hey, there are almost-FIREd posters who need some money to pad their accounts for additional safety. Maybe I can be kind and help them out.

What do you think?

PS. On second thought, forget about donations. This amount will put me safely way into the decamillionaire rank. I will not want to lose this status.

 

[Walt34]

Yes, by all means contact Mr Li Jie forthwith and follow his instructions to the letter. Do let us know what happens.

 

[MichaelB]

I think you should put the whole into cryptocurrency. In fact, don’t wait. There’s a new one coming out, the Scheisse-coin, and I know a guy who can get us noth in on the ground floor. Buy now and replace the funds when you get that new cash infusion. You’ll be a billionaire by year end. No more first class air, now you’ll have your own jet.

 

[Markola]

Pfffft, sounds fishy. Everyone knows, one should only do business with Nigerian princes.

 

[38Chevy454]

Only pay him in Western Union money transfers so it hides your account info so nobody can trust as ce that you are the fake mr. Bound.

 

[Golden sunsets]

Well you caught my attention with your topic title, that's for sure.

 

[SecondCor521]

I'd never do this, because I'm too chicken, but you could consider turning the tables om Mr. Li. Here's a website with tips:

https://www.419eater.com/html/baiting.htm

 

[GalaxyBoy]

Be sure to stock up on Google Play gift cards. All the big wheels prefer them for payment, even the IRS.

 

[CardsFan]

This is the first time I have heard of a letter (versus email). I guess they figure us old farts may not be computer literate? He will probably want cash, cause us old folk don't know how to do the card thingy.

 

[street]

You are going to be filthy rich!!

 

[W2R]

Well you caught my attention with your topic title, that's for sure.

Yeah, that's for sure!! I was going to post a strong caution not to take anything for granted until the money hits the bank.

 

[Major Tom]

On first seeing this, I thought it meant that you were actually going to inherit $7.5M. Based on this, my first two thoughts were -

1) NW-Bound doesn't really need the money, though I'm sure he'd love an extra $7.5M (wouldn't we all!)
2) Even though he doesn't need the extra dosh, it is going to someone who will know how to handle it, which is a good thing.

Sorry to hear this isn't really happening. An extra $7.5M would make my year!

 

[eytonxav]

I have an african contact who would be delighted to share his fortune with you. Maybe you can get to $20M status.

 

[audreyh1]

You are going to be filthy rich!!

He won't spend any of it. He prefers to dive into large piles of money.

 

[Dtail]

Pfffft, sounds fishy. Everyone knows, one should only do business with Nigerian princes.

There you go.

 

[EastWest Gal]

The first one of these I saw was a letter.

 

[ejman]

Aha! Now you'll really be Rico McPato.

 

[street]

He won't spend any of it. He prefers to dive into large piles of money.

LOL! He will need to find another site to spend his time on. He will be in a class of his own.

 

[NW-Bound]

Yes, I have read about this type of scams, but this is the 1st time I am a target, and by snail mail, and not email.

I looked again at the envelope. The stamp is Canadian for C$1.30. The letter did not originate from the US as I wrote earlier. The gmail address means nothing, but the phone number is indeed a Hong Kong number.

I was too busy laughing when I scanned through the letter, but have read it more carefully. It said that the ill-fated Mr. Bound opened an account with his bank (Ping An) in 2005. In 2006, he gave the instruction to Li Jie to transfer US$15 million to the investment bank of Gaoteng Asset Management for him to make some investments. Gaoteng never heard again from Mr. Bound, and just recently learned the poor Mr. Bound died in China while traveling, probably while researching for his investment, and reached back to Mr. Li Jie for information on how to dispose of the money.

Li Jie said that if there was no heir, the China government would take the money, and there was nobody getting hurt if we colluded to split it.

I researched the Web, and found that this scam has been going on for quite a while. Here's an article on South China Morning Post, dated 2012: https://www.scmp.com/article/996454/fraudsters-offer-fake-inheritance-bank-cash-scam.

Excerpts follow:

Letters claiming to come from a Hong Kong-based director of one of the mainland's biggest banks are trying to lure victims into a cash scam with the promise of a share in a fictitious US$12.2 million fortune...

The story quickly unravelled when the Sunday Morning Post obtained one of the letters sent to a London address and e-mailed the sender, who gave a Causeway Bay address and a Hong Kong phone number.

The address - 36 Haven Court, Leighton Road - turned out to be a narrow corridor of shops beneath an ageing block of low-rent flats and offices. Number 36 is a derelict one-room shop which a neighbour says is used for storage only. 'There's definitely no Mr Wei there,' he said.

The phone number is a forwarding number that can be bought for about US$15 a month and which enable calls to be patched straight through to overseas numbers. The e-mail address is an untraceable account.

When we contacted Wei pretending to express an interest, he replied with a long e-mail complete with a copy of his passport, a bogus ICBC staff card and a utilities bill purporting to show his address....

Well, that amount of $12 million in 2012 has now grown to $15 million. The bank did pay interest during those years, you know?

 

[RobbieB]

Just send me the dough and you can cut yourself in for 10 times your expenses off the top.

 

[aja8888]

Originally Posted by Markola View Post
Pfffft, sounds fishy. Everyone knows, one should only do business with Nigerian princes.

Good advice as I am still waiting for my $25 Million check from the Prince I sent the $15 K to to handle the transfer. Hopefully, it will be here soon! I sent the check last summer.....but you know, these things take a while!

 

[NW-Bound]

Just send me the dough and you can cut yourself in for 10 times your expenses off the top.

Come to think of it, Mr Li Jie is the one at risk here of being cheated. He said that once he put in the fake paperwork, it's the bank that transfers money to me, and it's not even his bank but the other investment bank who is holding the money.

How can he be sure that I will hand him his half of the $15 million after all the work he has done for me?

I think Mr Li Jie is going to want some serious earnest money from me. He will ask for as much as he can up front, to protect himself. $100K? $500K? $1M?

I think you should put the whole into cryptocurrency. In fact, don’t wait. There’s a new one coming out, the Scheisse-coin, and I know a guy who can get us noth in on the ground floor. Buy now and replace the funds when you get that new cash infusion. You’ll be a billionaire by year end. No more first class air, now you’ll have your own jet.

Now that you have mentioned cryptocurrency, I think Mr Li Jie will want me to send money in Bitcoin. It's perfect and not traceable for authorities to link us together. It's for the protection of us both.

It's beautiful. Don't you love it when a plan comes together?

 

[street]

I would take Mr Li Jie up on his offer. Like you said, he has all the risk. I would give him a chance till he proves himself wrong. Lol You have nothing to lose yet!!

 

[brett]

My spouse had the same challenge.

A long loser relative fell off his perch. Because my spouse is such a wonderful person he left his entire estate to her. I think it was Nigeria.

We decided to ignore it for fear that money would change our lives too much.

 

[NW-Bound]

I would take Mr Li Jie up on his offer. Like you said, he has all the risk. I would give him a chance till he proves himself wrong. Lol You have nothing to lose yet!!

It's too bad that you do not share the same surname with the unfortunate heirless man, else I would suggest to Mr Li Jie to forge the will in your name. I will take only a small referral fee from you.