The inheritance scam involves the fraudster telling the victim they are entitled to a huge amount of money following the death of the fraudster’s parents, but need assistance in claiming the fortune.
An example is that of “Miss Wumi Abdul”, who claims her mother died a few years ago and her wealthy businessman father was recently poisoned by work associates.
Wumi was left $12 million and not only needs to get the money out of the country – but needs the victim to act as the owner of the account as she is a minor.
The victim is offered 15% of the inheritance if they are willing to assist.
Only the victim’s bank account number is asked for initially, but this progresses to the fraudster requesting transfer fees, money needed to pay for a lawyer to complete work related to the winding up of her father’s estate, or other actions which require the victim to hand over cash.