Are you my mother?

The Pitch


Greetings !


I am sure this mail would be coming to you as a surprise since we have never met before and you would also be asking why I have decided to chose you amongst the numerous internet users in the world, precisely I cannot say why I have chosen you but do not be worried for I come in peace and something very positive is about to happen to your life right now and to the lives of others through you if only you can carefully read and digest the message below. The internet has made the world global villages where you can reach anybody you have not met before.


Before I move further, permit me to give you a little of my biography, I am Mother Rosemary Abery, 87 Years old woman and the wife of Late Sir Keith Abery who died in a Plane crash on Monday the 7th of September 1998 GMT 14:22 UK while they were flying from New York to Geneva. Please see site below for more  information. http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9809/swissair.victims.list/index.html


After the death of my husband I became the Head of his investment and now that I am old and weak I have decided to spend the rest of my life with my family and loved ones whom I never had time for during the course of my business life, but before the death of my husband we had a plan to use the last days of our lives to donate half of what we have worked for to the less privilege and charity homes and the other half for ourselves, family members and close friends, and it is so unfortunate that my husband is not alive today to do this with me and I am very weak and old now, hence I have decided to do this philanthropic work on behalf of my late husband and I.


Presently, I have willed out almost half of our assets to several charity homes and to some of the less privilege in different countries. Despite the agreement between my late husband and I to give aid to the deprived, we also agreed to render support to an individual we have not meet before in life due to the fact when we were still young in life we receive an anonymous help from an individual we did not know and which we have not being able to know till date, the impact we got from such gesture made us to do same.


I am sorry to inform you that you will never have the chance to know me because I have just concluded the assignment which my husband and I have agreed upon before his sudden death and you happened to be the beneficiary of our last WILL, irrespective of your previous financial status, hence I need you to do me a favor by accepting our offer that will cost you nothing.


 I have presently deposited a parcel containing a Bank Draft in the sum of 2,800,000(two million Eight hundred thousand British  pounds) presently  with DHL express UK to be  delivered to you, what you have to do now is to contact the DHL COURIER SERVICE in UK as soon as possible to know when they will deliver your package to you  I have paid for the delivering Charge,Insurance fee all You have to do is  contact the DHL COURIER SERVICE UK immediately for an urgent delivery of this parcel to you, please  HERE IS THE CONTACT INFORMATION OF THE DISPATCH MANAGER




 Contact person:Mr. ANDY MORRIS


Email: dhlparceldeliverydep@post.com


phone,+447024034931


Again, you are not to pay for the delivering Charge, the only money you are expected to pay is 98 pounds for the security keeping fee  of your parcel so far.


I would have paid the fee but the company insisted that I should not because they don't know when you will be contacting them and to avoid demurrage or further cost.


You are to reconfirm the below information to them to avoid any mistake on the Delivery.


Postal address;
Full Names:
Direct telephone number;


Below is the security keeping code: (SCT/0433/F) of your Bank draft, you are to also present it to them for verification before delivery.


Please, try to contact them as soon as you receive this mail to avoid any further delay


Note: Please I do not want you to thank me or my husband all I need you to do is to invest wisely with it and do the same good to someone’s life someday as this is the only way this world would be a better community if we render selfless services to one another.


Also be notified that I will no longer be reading my email or surfing the INTERNET as I have retired completely from the outside world to my ranch at this moment. I have nothing to do with cars, emails and other luxuries. All further correspondence should be forwarded to the courier company for the delivery of the Bank Draft to you.


Yours Faithfully
Mother Rosemary Abery

Grammar
This is a nice piece of work. A lovely formal tone that makes me yearn for the olden days of letter writing, wax seals, billowing corsets and side-saddle horse riding. Some nice word useage too - 'hence', 'demurrage' (I had to look that one up), 'render selfless service' and so on. The length of this one lends it some legitimacy, too, like an airport novel. Big problem in the first sentence, though, as 'numerous' doesn't exactly capture the number of internet users out there. Some other careless errors that flag this as written by a non-English speaker.

Amount Offered
£2.8m. When it comes to UK pounds the old grey mare ain't what she used to be, but I'll settle for this.

Gullibility Rating
Despite its many strengths, and this phish is quite convincing in its language and tone, the story just doesn't add up, Rosemary.

1. She's waited a hell of a long time to start spending some quality time with the family. 87?
2. If you want to send me soemthing via DHL, just send it lady. I don't need to pay for nuthin', they'll deliver it no problemo.
3. Retiring to the ranch and giving up 'luxuries' like cars and emails sounds bizarre for someone who has the amount of money you have, Mother Rosemary. I'd work on that section.