ABPA - Australian Bush Poets Association

Good Morning, Manfred,


I have recently had an email supposedly from a woman in America, speaking of a dear friend of hers who recently died from Cancer.

The email claimed her friend had received comfort in his last months from several of my poems, and had bequethed some money to me from his estate, of which he had named her Executor.

I was then asked if I would email my phone number, when she would contact me, or if I preferred, I was invited to ring a phone number reported to be hers. The email claimed to have got my email address from an entry in her friend's diary.

My book has proved quite popular with American and Canadian people, so it was possible that there may have been someone in this situation, while highly unlikely to be genuine. Virtually all of our email addresses are freely available in the APBA (and our own) websites, together with some samples of our work and mine had already been contacted.

I emailed back, asking several questions:
the name, date and cause of death of her friend
which particular poems her friend had most enjoyed
the date of the diary note found in her friend's diary.

I received a reply which said only that the 'friend' had died of cancer and that I needed to act quickly or risk not receiving the bequest, as the man's son was keen to finalise his Fathers estate.

I believe this to be purely a scam, have not replied back, and have not received any further emails in this matter in the week which has passed.

I thought I should let you know, in case you wish to advise members through the ABPA network.




Best wishes

Dennis Scanlon.

Wooooohooooo NEVER EVER REPLY!!!! it's a scam not only to try to get your bank details, but also to recognize active email addresses and sell to other scammers! I REPEAT NEVER PEPLY and if possible bounce the email.

....must be s lot of spare cash around at the moment, you won't be hearing from me for awhile, both Sheryl and I got seperate text messages this week from a Pommy mob telling both of us that we have won 700,000 GBP in a Coca Cola lottery, not bad seeing we have never heard of such a thing, much less bought a ticket! Not too sure what the exchange rate is but I reckon it is enough to tell PowerWater to shove their contract while we head off on holidays........

[NOW NOW ROSS DON"T YOU GO SPENDING ALL THAT MONEY AT ONCE

My facebook profile has caught the attention of a nice young man in France apparently. His message (translated from the French) says that he thinks we have a lot in common. Obviously the one thing we surely don't have in common (a language) doesn't matter.

The Phone scammers are are also at it again (I mentioned before they tell you your computer is infected and they work for microsoft and can fix it if you give them access to your puter) and they're persistent little beggars had to get quite rude with them last time, haven't heard from then since.

Terry

Leonie sounds like your lucky day! Does he have a friend?

Heather

Wee Wee ma cheree'

Rober'

me too,

I was the outright winner of GBP500,000. But I didn't hold my breath \. nor did I reply.

I have had several of the 'computer risk' calls. I usually say I don't have a computer. That shuts them up.

Just a footnote, the reason these scam emails are on the increase here is because the strength of the Australian dollar has drawn scammers from overseas, in particular Nigeria, to our shores, as we are suddenly more financially attractive to these schemes, so expect a lot more in the immediate future. But NEVER reply, no matter how annoyed you are. It only lets them know that your email address is active.