An Old Death Insurance Scam

They have never heard of just going away and not bothering us anymore. They have no moral compass, and nothing to do with their day but do the thing that annoys everyone but those gullible enough to buy the con. I speak, of course, of the vile horde of homo sapiens spammeritis annoyingus, aka the internet scammers and spammers. They send random emails to us with promises of money, or infest our blog comments with spam. The following came my way recently.

Hi there,

I trust you are doing great and well. I am reaching out to confirm that this email address is active, as I have important matters to discuss regarding a payable on death policy related to your late relative.

Please feel free to reach out at your earliest convenience at the email address (chenjieofbc@gmail.com) to discuss the details. This information may be valuable to us both.

Best regards,
Chen Jie

CONFIDENTIALITY NOTE: The information contained in this transmission is intended only for the persons or entities to which it is addressed. It may contain privileged and confidential information, including Protected Health Information (PHI). If you are not the recipient, you are hereby notified that any revision, dissemination, distribution or duplication of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you receive this communication by error, notify the sender immediately and destroy this message.

Sigh. They never learn, do they? Yes, I received it at my email, which in fact is fairly active. But it was received for what it is- in the junk folder. Because at least the filters recognize junk as junk. They say they have important information regarding a payout for a dead relative. That's nice.

I haven't had a relative die in the last year and a half, actually, and that was my father. And the inheritance was settled last year, as is usually the case. So I know for a fact that this is nonsense.

Our unfriendly neighbourhood scammer (by way of Beijing, or wherever this nonsense is really coming from) has the gall to bring up that confidentiality nonsense as a conclusion as well. They say that any "distribution or duplication of this communication is strictly prohibited." Well, I've just duplicated it in this post for the sake of ridiculing you. What are you going to do to me? Do you really think that worries me?

Nice try, numbskull. But there's no dead relative, there's no such policy. Because I know better. I know your type. Maybe someone else you send this crap to will buy it. Somebody by the name of Jethro, perhaps, whose grandpappy disappeared twenty years ago without a trace.

But I've seen your sort before, and I know your games.

Do us all a favour and spend a little time on the Death Star. And try this nonsense on the guy in black who wheezes a lot.