Open Coffee, Open Spam....closed account!

So....finally got round to signing up to Open Coffee today on Meetup and within minutes this arrived...my very first message from Open Coffee, from another - erm - "entrepreneur".....a salutary lesson in the benign goodness of global social nets !

I am sure the gentleman is a respected member of the Kuala Lumpur Koffee Klub, but this looks suspiciously like a 419 Scam.

Disgraceful, I hear you say - who in our esteemed membership would do such a thing - without even a terms sheet or an NDA attached

A hint from a Web 1.0 Old Fart....someone needs to take on a membership moderation role or this sort of thing eventually kills off any SocNet grouping. The way we run similar groups is for e.g. to make the a one liner about the person mandatory, stops most of this.

Postscript...had a few emails from others who got the same email, extraordinary how many people on the OpenCoffee list have the same surname as dead rich people in Kuala Lumpur

One email also said the article seemed a bit snarky, and re - reading today I guess could be read that way, though it was intended as tongue in cheek - so apologies if anyone felt offended - we are supporters of OpenCoffee, its a great idea.

********************************************************

Hello Alan Patrick,

Muhammad Jeffery Charles sent you this message from London
OpenCoffee Meetup on Meetup.com:
----------------------------------------------------------------
Attn:Alan Patrick

My name is Mr Muhammud Jeffery Charles. I am a legal
practitioner with MAK.ONG & NG. Law Firm in Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia.

I saw your contact and profile i decided that you could
cooperate with me in this proposition.I have a client who was
deceased in March 12, 2004, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.I am
contacting you because you have the same surname as my deceased
client and i felt that you could help me in the distribution of
funding that were left in my deceased client's bank account.

This funds is closed to be declared UN-serviceable by the bank
as there were no indicated next of kin or next of beneficiary of
the funding in the bank account.

The bank had issued to me a notification to contact the next
of kin of my deceased client for either to re-activate the
bank account or to make claim of beneficiary, of the funding
in the bank account, with a month surcharge of 6% to be
deducted as an Escrow safe keeping fee of the bank account,so
as to avoid the indefinite closure of the bank account.

My proposition to you is to seek your consent, and to present
your kind self as the next-of-kin and beneficiary of my
deceased client, since you have the same last name with him.
This means that the proceeds of his bank account would be paid
to you as his next of kin or the legitimate beneficiary.
When the proceeds in his bank account are paid to you, we
would share the proceeds on a mutually agreed-upon percentage
of 60% to me and 40% to your kind self.

All the legal documents to back up your claim as my client's
next-of-kin would be provided by me. The most important thing
I would need is your honest cooperation to in this proposition.
This would be done under a legitimate arrangement that would
protect you from any breach of the law.

If this business proposition offends your moral and ethic
values, do accept my sincere apology. Please contact me at once
if you are interested by replying the mail and ignore it if
you are not.

Best regards,
Muhammad Jeffery Charles Esq