Subject: TREAT AS URGENT AND CONFIDENTIAL REPLY IMMEDIATELY

Ooh, abandoned money. Millions just laying around collecting dust. And there's even a link to a BBC article. I shall demand payment in women's shoes and Barbie heads.

From The Desk of JAMES SAKATO
Bill and Exchange Officer
Foreigner Remittance Dept
African Development Bank
Burkina Faso
Dear Friend,
I am the officer of bill and exchange at the foreign remittance department of African development bank.

In my department i discovered an abandoned sum ofUS$10.5 US dollars (ten million five hundred thousand US dollars) in an account that belongs to one of our foreign customer who died along with his entire family in July 2000 plane crash.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/859479.stm

Since we got information about his death, we have been expecting his next ofkin to come over and claim his money because we cannot release it unlesssome body applies for it as next of kin or relation to the deceased as indicated in our banking guidlings and laws but unfortunately we learnt that all his supposed next of kin or relation died alongside with him at theplane crash leaving nobody behind for the claim.

It is therefore upon this discovery that I decided to make this business proposal to you and release the money to you as the next of kin or relation to the deceased for safety andsubsequent disbursement since nobody is coming for it and we don't want this money to go into the bank treasury as unclaimed bill.

The banking law and guidline here stipulates that if such money remained unclaimed after seven years, the money will be transfered into the bank treasury as unclaimed fund. The request of foreigner as next of kin in this business is occassioned by the fact that the customer was a foreigner and a Burkinabe cannot stand as next of kin to a foreigner. I agree that 30% of this money will be for you as a respect to the provision of a foriegn account , 10%will be set aside for expenses incurred during the business . Thereafter, I will visit your country for disbursement according to the percentage indicated.

Therefore, to enable the immediate transfer of thisfund to you as arranged, you must apply first to the bank as relation or nextof kin of the deceased indicating your bank name, your bank account number,your private telephone and fax number for easy and effective communicationand location where in the money will be remitted.

Upon receipt of your reply, I will send to you by fax or email the text ofthe application . I will not fail to bring to your notice that thistransaction is hitch-free and that you should not entertain any atom of fearas all required arrangements have been made for the transfer.You should contact me immediately as soon as youreceive this letter. Trusting to hear from you immediately.

Yours faithfully
MR JAMES SAKATO
Bill and Exchange officer
sak48jam48@hotmail.com

Update 05/05/07: Sakato sent me this exact same email today, but with a different email address to write him back (sak12jam12@hotmail.com).