My friend received an email from unknown foreigner regarding business proposal.Please read full question.?

Unknown person(banker) wants my friend to fill a form so that unclaimed fund (in US dollar )may be transferred to his bank account in INDIA. Then 40% of the fund received will be my friend's share. The depositor of the fund died in Iraq war died in 2006. Is it a fraud? Have u received similar email titled "very urgent"?What may be his intention ?
My friend received an email from unknown foreigner regarding business proposal.Please read full question.?
Read the news item that appeared in The Hindu:


Quote:


RBI cautions against Internet fraud


K.P.M. Basheer





India is a prime target for international financial fraudsters


--------------------------------------...


Many Indians duped by fraudulent offers. Fraudulent offers even use RBI’s name


--------------------------------------...


KOCHI: Against the backdrop of an increasing number of “robbery using Internet” by international gangs, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has come out with a caution to the public.





In a notice published in leading newspapers, the RBI warns that “fraudulent offers of huge money in foreign exchange are being made through letter/e-mails by certain foreign entities or individuals, including Indian residents acting as representatives of such entities or individuals.”





In the caution, titled ‘Beware of fictitious mails offering money,’ the RBI says: “The offers of huge money in foreign currency are made to resident individuals/entities (including schools/hospitals) on the pretext of helping them in their business/ventures in India.





Once the contact is established, the entities request for details of bank account of the individual or Indian entity and ask for some amount to be remitted to them as initial deposit/commission so that the offer money could be transferred.”





The fraudulent offers even use the RBI’s name and copies of fake RBI certificates or deposit receipts to win the gullible public’s trust.





The RBI says it does not maintain “any account in the name of individuals/companies/trusts in India to hold funds for disbursal.”





Pointing out that some of the offers related to winning money in lotteries, the bank warns that remittance in any form for participating in lottery schemes is prohibited under the Foreign Exchange Management Act 1999.





With the expansion of Internet use, fraud over the net has been on the rise around the world.





India being an emerging economic power with thousands of young entrepreneurs starting new ventures every year, the country is a target for international financial fraudsters.





They send out e-mails offering “highly profitable” business ventures. Some of them offer clandestine deals for parking their “millions of illegally earned dollars.”





One such e-mail “from the desk of Mr. Kofi Hassan, director of International Commercial Bank in Ghana,” which landed in the inboxes of some people in Kochi reads: “I am a banker by profession from Accra, Ghana, in West Africa, and currently holding the post of director for the Auditing and Accounting unit of the bank. I have the opportunity of transferring the leftover funds ($11.5million) of one of my bank clients who died along with his entire family on 31 July, 2000 in a plane crash. You can confirm the genuineness of the deceased persons by clicking on this website. (The URL of a British TV corporation is given).





“Hence, I am inviting you for a business deal where this money can be shared between us in the ratio of 60/30 while 10% will be mapped out for expenses. If you agree to my business proposal, further details of the transfer will be forwarded to you as soon as I receive your return mail.”





At the end of the mail, a questionnaire seeks a lot of personal and communication information of the e-mail recipient.





The RBI caution comes after innumerable Indians got trapped by such fraudulent offers.





Unquote





An advertisement also appeared in Indian Express dated 05/09/2008 issued by RBI on the same lines.





AJM
Reply:It's Spam and surely high risk of fraud! I was working in a bank and believe me, there are no unclaimed money, that the can transfer to somebody else than it's legal owner. If they got some "unclaimed money", like in case of the jewish money left by swiss banks after the WW2, the bank is obliged to keep it on a trust account and pay some interests. It is not allowed to give it to anyone. Except he the legal owner of the money having good proofs and he can claim it with a courts ruling.
Reply:This is commonly known as the "Nigerian Scam" as it is a form of a scam that was and probably still is prevalent in that country. Do not reply to these types of e-mails as they are very skillful in manipulating people. Law enforcement all over the world have been trying to break these groups up but to no avail. They scam hundreds of thousands of dollars out of people every year - not all goes reported because of a couple of factors: Embarrassment or believing it was a legit business loss (they con business people as well - they're that good).





Never put your trust in an unsolicited e-mail.
Reply:This is a famous email scam wherein it is said that a rich millionaire has died and his fortune could be yours. They will start by asking basic questions about your bank details. Then they will say that you need to send some money for processing. Once you send the money they will just vanish.





Avoid such things as the saying goes, "There is no FREE LUNCH"
Reply:To scam you, as usual. Delete it, don't even read it. Report it as spam. The monies left over by a dead soldier would go to his next of kin, and if there isn't any kin, it would sit in an American account the govt. has just for these purposes.
Reply:ive gotten it before so have my friends its someone sending it so that they can get the money out of ur bank account. this is a fraud, spam, lie and threatning thing tell ur friiend tio delete it immediately.





everyone gets them .
Reply:i had one similer to this a few weeks ago,


its definitly fraud,


u should never give anyone your bank details!!!


DONT DO IT!!
Reply:Spam, fraud, hoax. Delete it, do not reply. I get these all the time.
Reply:It should be from 1 african country?
Reply:i have only one question. why the mail was not deleted immediately. how can u beleive that some unknwon person will give u such an offer.


delete the mail and forget about it,sir
Reply:its SPAM mail. i have also got this time of mail a number of times





kindly ignore it
Reply:It's a scam. Never trust any of this kind of emails. I got at least 3 to 4 every week.
Reply:my yahoo is filled up with such mails





because of that i had to switch 2 gmail
Reply:ever hear this one? why did the chicken cross the road...
Reply:see RBI add in 6th sept news paper about these proposals then make a mind
Reply:I GOT MANY OF THOSE STUPID FAKE EMAILS
Reply:A scam...we all get them.
Reply:a variation of the 'classic' nigerian 419 advance fee fraud scheme, so called because of the sheer number of such scams that originate from the country. The scam is not restricted to Nigeria, many scammers from all over the world are involved.





Here is text from the FBI website concerning such scams. Although the specifics may be different, believe me, the underlying scam is the same:





Nigerian Letter or "419" Fraud





Nigerian letter frauds combine the threat of impersonation fraud with a variation of an advance fee scheme in which a letter, mailed from Nigeria, offers the recipient the "opportunity" to share in a percentage of millions of dollars that the author, a self-proclaimed government official, is trying to transfer illegally out of Nigeria. The recipient is encouraged to send information to the author, such as blank letterhead stationery, bank name and account numbers and other identifying information using a facsimile number provided in the letter. Some of these letters have also been received via E-mail through the Internet.





The scheme relies on convincing a willing victim, who has demonstrated a "propensity for larceny" by responding to the invitation, to send money to the author of the letter in Nigeria in several installments of increasing amounts for a variety of reasons.





Payment of taxes, bribes to government officials, and legal fees are often described in great detail with the promise that all expenses will be reimbursed as soon as the funds are spirited out of Nigeria. In actuality, the millions of dollars do not exist and the victim eventually ends up with nothing but loss. Once the victim stops sending money, the perpetrators have been known to use the personal information and checks that they received to impersonate the victim, draining bank accounts and credit card balances until the victim's assets are taken in their entirety. While such an invitation impresses most law-abiding citizens as a laughable hoax, millions of dollars in losses are caused by these schemes annually. Some victims have been lured to Nigeria, where they have been imprisoned against their will, in addition to losing large sums of money. The Nigerian government is not sympathetic to victims of these schemes, since the victim actually conspires to remove funds from Nigeria in a manner that is contrary to Nigerian law. The schemes themselves violate section 419 of the Nigerian criminal code, hence the label "419 fraud."





Some Tips to Avoid Nigerian Letter or "419" Fraud:





If you receive a letter from Nigeria asking you to send personal or banking information, do not reply in any manner. Send the letter to the U.S. Secret Service, your local FBI office, or the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. You can also register a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission’s Consumer Sentinel.





If you know someone who is corresponding in one of these schemes, encourage that person to contact the FBI or the U.S. Secret Service as soon as possible.





Be skeptical of individuals representing themselves as Nigerian or foreign government officials asking for your help in placing large sums of money in overseas bank accounts.





Do not believe the promise of large sums of money for your cooperation.





Guard your account information carefully.