One of the many versions of the 'Nigeria scam' that have been circulating the web for some time.

I am not 100% certain of the details, but this scam usually starts with divulging of personal contact info- address, name, phone, etc. Then they will proceed to wanting to know what the victims bank account number is for the transferring of funds, and often they will ask for a small financial contribution from the victim to cover the cost of something or other, as a gesture of 'good will'. These things will all occur over a few or several emails and slowly draw the victim into a sense of security in dealing with them. Of course the funds never get deposited.

The scam preys on the gullible, trusting, and those lacking in common sense, often by offering huge amounts of money for little effort, just a small financial contribution (small in comparison to the amount being offered.)

The 'From:' address is almost always forged, and the reply-to and source addresses are often from countries and domains without the best histories for cooperation with foreign law enforcement or extradition requests.

please note anywhere you see #.#.# or #@#.# I've obfuscated my personal information

Code:
Subject:
DEAR FRIEND YOUR CONSENT NEEDED
From:
"Smith Bankole" <smith5bankole@tiscali.no>
Date:
Sat, 12 Feb 2005 06:00:04 -0800
To:
smith5bankole@tiscali.no
X-Account-Key:
account2
X-UIDL:
<420B9ABB00000332@cpfe10.be.tisc.dk>
X-Mozilla-Status:
0001
X-Mozilla-Status2:
00000000
Return-Path:
<smith5bankole@tiscali.no>
Received:
from smtp220.tiscali.dk ([62.79.79.114]) by #.#.# (InterMail vM.6.01.03.04 201-2131-111-106-20040729)
with ESMTP id <20050212140058.PFRG10334.#.#.#@smtp220.tiscali.dk> for <#@#.#>; Sat, 12 Feb 2005 09:00:58 -0500
Received:
from cpmail.dk.tiscali.com (mail.tiscali.dk [212.54.64.159]) by smtp220.tiscali.dk (8.12.11/8.12.11)
with ESMTP id j1CE05TD093859; Sat, 12 Feb 2005 15:00:05 +0100 (CET) (envelope-from smith5bankole@tiscali.no)
Received:
from [81.199.84.66] by cpmail.dk.tiscali.com with HTTP; Sat, 12 Feb 2005 15:00:04 +0100
Message-ID:
<420B9ABB00000332@cpfe10.be.tisc.dk>
Reply-To:
smith_bankole3@hotmail.com
MIME-Version:
1.0
Content-Type:
text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-15"
Content-Transfer-Encoding:
quoted-printable

DEAR FRIEND YOUR CONSENT NEEDED


Dear Friend,
 
I am Mr. Smith Bankole senior manager accounts/audit department, in Standard
Trust Bank of Nigeria Plc. Mr. Mark Cin, who was a consultant with Shell-development
company in Nigeria and a personal friend Died and left behind his deposit
in this bank (Standard Trust Bank Plc) valued $18,723,822.90 My relationship
with Mr. Mark Cin started in 1992 when I was a supervisor in Standard Trust
Bank marina branch.
 
We met in my social club annual end of the year party and I introduced him
to my bank where he opened this account some few weeks later making me the
account officer to the account and he operated this account until his death.
 
On the 21st of April 1999, Mr. Mark Cin, travelled to the gulf Oil zone
in Iraq as a member of the inspection Team to the Oil rich country, unfurtunately
he did not return to the country. Since then I have made several enquiries
to your embassy to locate any of Mr.Mark Cin extended relatives this has
also proved unsuccessful. I have made effort to service the account untill
last year 2003, the bank insist of sending the money to the treasury, To
prevent the bank to claim this money I know decided to contact any body
from your country, I decided to contact you via  your email address with
hope to get this money out of the bank.
 
I am contacting you to assist in repatriating the money left behind by Mr.
Mark before they get confiscated since the bank has declared the account
unserviceable. I have been unsuccessful in locating the relatives for over
3years since I was recalled back to marina branch as a senior manager from
a transfer that took me to another branch of the bank.

I therefore seek your consent to present you as the next of kin of the deceased
, so that the proceeds of this account valued at $18,723,822.90(Eighteen
Million seven hundred and twenty three thousand eight hundred and twenty-two
dollars, ninety cents) can be paid to your account abroad or you may receive
it through diplomatic means which is more preferable,also if you show interest
we can negotiate in percentage on what you stand to gain for this kind gesture,
I wiil need to travell down to your country for the collection of my portion
of the money as soon as this fund get to you.
 
I and my attorney have access to all necessary legal documents that can
be used to back up any claim we may make. All I require is your honest cooperation
to enable us see this transaction through, of which we must present a forigner
with an account abroad to enable us to clear this money from the bank.
Your contact information are very neccessary, I mean your home address,
phone number and your full name.

I guarantee that this will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that
will protect you from any breach of the law. Please get in touch with the
above email address.
 
Best regards,
Mr.Smith Bankole.