Titlepicture: Pixabay
You have likely received a fraudulent email purporting to be from Mrs Füsun Tümsavas, a supposed bank officer at ISBANKASI in Istanbul, Turkey. In the message, she states that she discovered you because of your last name and nationality, and she offers you the opportunity to claim a large dormant account worth US $9,500,000 belonging to a deceased man named Adrian who supposedly died of COVID-19.
She proposes that you pose as the next of kin, promises a 50/50 split of the funds, assures you there is no risk, and asks you to send your full personal details, address, date of birth, phone number, occupation, gender, and a photocopy of your valid ID. She also suggests exchanging passports and identity cards to “build trust” and provides a private email address (fusuntumsavas2@seznam.cz) for further communication.This message is a well-known type of advance-fee scam, sometimes called an inheritance scam, dormant account scam, or “next-of-kin” fraud.
Criminals send thousands of these emails every day, hoping to find just a few victims who will fall for the story. The email uses several classic manipulation techniques: it flatters the recipient by claiming it is “the will of God,” creates a sense of urgency and secrecy, invokes sympathy for a deceased person with no relatives, and positions the scammer as a helpful insider who is risking her job to help you. By asking for your personal information and documents early on, the fraudsters aim to steal your identity, open accounts in your name, or use your details in other crimes. More importantly, once you engage with them, they will eventually invent reasons why money is needed upfront – for taxes, legal fees, bribes, transfer costs, or “anti-money laundering” certificates – before any funds can be released. These upfront payments are real money that disappears forever, while the promised millions never exist.The story contains multiple obvious lies and inconsistencies that any legitimate bank or professional would never include in official correspondence.
Real banks do not search for random people with the same last name on the internet to hand over millions of dollars. They follow strict legal procedures involving probate courts, published notices to heirs, and government oversight. A genuine bank officer would never propose an illegal scheme to falsify next-of-kin documents or suggest splitting funds 50/50 outside official channels.
Furthermore, professional banks communicate through verified corporate email addresses ending in their official domain, not free webmail services like seznam.cz. The request to treat the matter confidentially and to reply urgently is designed to prevent you from checking the story or consulting trusted advisors.If you respond and send your information, you will likely face escalating demands for more money and documents. Victims of these scams often lose tens of thousands of dollars – sometimes their life savings – before realizing they have been deceived. In many cases, the scammers also use the victim’s identity to commit further fraud.
Under no circumstances should you reply to the email, send any personal data, documents, or money, or contact the provided address.If you have already responded, stop all communication immediately, do not send any funds, and monitor your bank accounts and credit reports for suspicious activity. Report the email to your email provider’s spam/abuse team, to the police or cybercrime unit in your country, and to organizations such as the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in the United States, Action Fraud in the UK, or equivalent authorities elsewhere. Forwarding the scam message helps authorities track these criminal networks.Stay vigilant. Legitimate opportunities do not arrive unsolicited from strangers promising huge sums of money in exchange for your cooperation in questionable arrangements. When something sounds too good to be true, it almost always is. Protect your personal information and your finances by deleting such messages and refusing to engage.
