Scams arrive in the letterbox

Scams arrive in the letterbox
By Meg Kennedy

A Bacchus Marsh resident has received a sketchy letter in the post, aimed to scam people into giving personal information to a potentially dangerous source.
The printed letter, addressed to the resident, is from what appears to be Matt Wong of ‘Dah Sing Bank’ in Hong Kong, and says the resident is entitled to a sum of money following the death of a “late customer”.
The customer is described as a “business tycoon”, and is a distant relative of the resident, with the resident’s surname.
“Your contact details was [sic] taken from the Australian public record, in the quest for a last name similar to that of a late customer from my bank, Mr William ******, a business tycoon that lived in Hong Kong for about nine years,” read the letter.
The letter then says part of a $62,487,850 amount will be transferred to the resident as a next of kin, and says that the “transaction is 100% legal and risk free”.
According to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), ‘Inheritance scams’ are one of the most common forms of scamming.
The scam usually involves being contacted out of the blue by a scammer posing as a lawyer or banker and offering a large inheritance from a distant relative or wealthy individual.
They may even ask you to pose as the next of kin to an unclaimed inheritance.
Scams can be reported to ACCC’s Scam Watch at https://www.scamwatch.gov.au/report-a-scam
Have you received a similar scam letter? Let us know via 5368 1966 or (email) [email protected]