"Well, that may be," said Mr. Hawkins, "but Iıd surely give a thousand dollars hard cash to be one of them millionaires."

Once again the computer comes to the rescue. I get at least one e-mail a day offering me fortune beyond imagination. They call me Dearest, Loved one, Mr. and many other names. And they all come from places far, far away. Places like Namibia, Rhodesia, Sri Lanka and The Ivory Coast. The most recent, just today, was from: Miss Amanda Williams, Abidjan, Côte D'ivoire, Western Africa. Now, I donıt know Miss Amanda from Adam. But she must like me a lot; she wants to share 15% of $17 million US with me. All I have to do is to let her use my bank account to receive the money so she can then buy real estate in America.

What a deal. At least it is different. Most have a lot more money and are anxious to launder it in my bank account. Most offer a much richer cut, usually 40% as a minimum. Let me say again I am receiving these offers daily, sometimes several each day. The sad thing is some folks are actually sending money to grease the skids for this transaction. They do it even though they are told up front that "this is extremely risky and illegal so please do not contact the authorities."

Here's an example of what happens:

1. You receive a request from a foreigner with the prospect of millions of dollars coming your way.
2. You reply and through a series of exchanges via email, fax, and phone, you are presented with documentation and convincing proofs of the identities and the credentials of the people you are dealing with.
3. You'll be asked to provide information about yourself or your company including letterhead, Social Security and other identification.
4. You may be asked to come see them in person in their country, or they may ask to come see you.
5. Very often, some strings will be pulled on your behalf such as illegally getting you into the country that is your destination.
6. Once you are feeling good about the transaction and can taste the millions of dollars in your bank account, there is a sudden complication. You are told that the money is secure and ready to be transferred, but that in order to get it released, a government official needs to be bribed or a fee needs to be paid. You are given a last-minute request to advance thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars to get rid of the unexpected glitch. Or, in the worst cases, you may actually be trapped in a foreign country and will have to pay your way out. The amount of money the scammers ask for is based on how much they've learned about your assets. If they think they can get hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars, that's how much they'll ask for. If they know you can pay only a few thousand dollars, that's how much they'll ask for.
7. You never see your money or the crooks again.