Is this scam? [email protected]

[AlanJones]

We we're contacted by a woman from togo 4 weeks ago. My mother has a music promotion business and therefore her e-mail adress is publicly available. The content of the e-mail was, that she has inherited $7mio from her husband and that she wants her 17 year old son to get education in europe

A classic Advanced Fee Scam - no one in real life contacts random strangers on the Internet for help investing large sums of money.

edit: we have not send a penny to anyone!!

Yet! The requests for money are just about to start - how do you think the TRANSFER CLEARANCE CERTIFICATE and CERTIFICATE OF ANTI MONEY LAUNDRY (which are non-existent made up certificates) will be paid for - I'll give you a clue, it won't be the lady in Togo who contacted you who will be paying for them - you will be asked to.

After that, there will be made up fee after made up fee.

Please post the original email, with headers, so that anyone else who gets it will know that it's a scam.

I'm afraid I have to confirm your thoughts, this is a scam. Alanjones is completely right: For those various documents a fee is required, and you will be the one that has to pay them. Obviously the fees are fake, as you discovered for yourself. The documents, the transaction, the inheritance, it is all fake and nothing but an elaborate con to scam you (and your relatives) out of your money. It's only logical the scammers spend a lot of effort into this - they're expecting to steal thousands of dollars (euro's in your case) from you.

Stop all contact at once. Block the email addresses. Ignore any future emails,don't even let them know you found out it was a scam.

The contract that was signed is a fake, so you don't have to worry at all about any repercussions. You found out it was a scam before you lost any money, and I'm glad you came to us in time