Canton Police Warns Residents to be Cautious of Scam Emails Promising them Money

Cantonreo.com reported on 12th August, 2013 stating that officials are urging residents to be on the lookout of spam emails which may come from Canton, a city based in Ohio, US.

Cantonrep.com published news on 12th August, 2013 quoting a warning from Service Director William Bartos saying not to reply to any emails that come from the address: contactus@cantonohio.gov.

The address employs the city's email server suffix, that is, @cantonohio.gov in an attempt to trick recipients of the email.

The bogus email says that the sender of the email has funds which are left behind by recipient's dead relatives and asks him (recipients) to reply with complete personal details including his mailing address and also his mobile phone number to claim the wealth.

The email urges the recipient to treat the email seriously and to keep its details secret.

Bartos said that he is uncertain about the creation of the e-mail account by the sender.

Bartos also said "...We have received couple of phone calls from people of California and hence it must be widely spread."

Officials investigating the scam emphasize that this is known as 'inheritance scam' and the modus operandi of an 'inheritance scam' is quite tricky. In an 'inheritance scam' a fraudster contacts the email recipient to tell him that he is allowed to claim a large amount of inheritance from a dead family member or affluent benefactor, as in the abovementioned case.

The officials add that the scammer asks for details of your bank accounts and in some cases asks for copies of documents of identity for verification. The scammer asks for series of fees towards charges, certificates or taxes to release or transfer the money out of the country through your bank.

Hence Officials suggest that if you receive a suspicious email from the city (referring to Canton), then you may contact the city of Canton at webmaster@cantonohio.gov.

Conclusively, it is not only Canton citizens who have been targeted by this spam email campaign. The Virginia Department of Treasury also warned Virginians of a fake email which promised a large sum of money to be claimed from a dead relative and can be claimed in exchange of personal information.

» SPAMfighter News - 8/22/2013