Urgent: Advice Needed

[competentone]

I received the following email and am wondering if this is real or some sort of scam. Has anyone heard of anything like this before?

-------------------

Subject: Request for Urgent Business Relationship

Dear American:

I need to ask you to support an urgent secret business relationship with a transfer of funds of great magnitude.

I am Minister of the Treasury of the Republic of America. My country has had crisis that has caused the need for large transfer of funds of $700,000,000,000 (700 billion dollars US). If you would assist me in this transfer, it would be most profitable to you.

I am working with Mr. Phil Gramm, lobbyist for UBS, who will be my replacement as Minister of the Treasury in January. As a senator, you may know him as the leader of the American banking deregulation movement in the 1990s. This transaction is 100% safe.

This is a matter of great urgency. We need a blank check. We need the funds as quickly as possible. We cannot directly transfer these funds in the names of our close friends, because we are constantly under surveillance. My family lawyer advised me that I should look for a reliable and trustworthy person who will act as a next of kin so the funds can be transferred.

Please reply with all of your bank account, IRA, and college fund account numbers and those of your children and grandchildren to wallstreetbailout@treasury.gov, so that we may transfer your commission for this transaction. After I receive that information, I will respond with detailed information about safeguards that will be used to protect the funds.

Yours faithfully,
Minister of Treasury Paulson

[old man neri]

Scam, don't believe it. The cheque marked 'From the Gov't of America' will no doubt bounce. Report to the FBI.

[svandamme]

even if it was real it would be a scam

[Brian Cameron]

Dunno, this sounds legit. I'd go for it.

Do your cheques have enough spaces for all those zeros?

[BReif61]

Minister of Treasury Paulson?

I skipped to the end and saw that... BRIGHT red blinking light.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

It's always best to make big decisions while in a panic.

[legion]

Originally Posted by Brian Cameron

Dunno, this sounds legit. I'd go for it.

Do your cheques have enough spaces for all those zeros?

That would be my concern. Better go to the bank and order business cheques. They are wider and have more room for all of those zeroes.

Some people have all of the luck.

[Nathans_Dad]

I think it is your patriotic duty to go ahead with this request. The future of the country is at stake!

[sand_man]

Yes, it's legit! Everyone knows that a "Minister of Treasury" would NEVER lie...and it came by way of email, so it must be safe!

[onewhippedpuppy]

Dude, that's totally real! You lucky SOB......

[DanielDudley]

Very clever. Witty, Wilde.