I am dying . . .

Here is an email that showed up in my spam folder.

From: jamesbradley08@web.de

To: jamesbradley@web.de

From: James Bradley

Reply to: jamesbradley04@gmail.com

Hi, my name is James Bradley from Sydney, Australia, I am an E.C. patient, and presently hospitalized, my doctor says I have a few months to live, and I desire to stay within the confinement of my hospital room and live out my last days on earth quietly. I asked that my hospital room be equipped with a laptop so that I can take care of some outstanding issues. One of which is my desire to donate a sizable amount of money to cancer research institutes and other deserving charity organizations, so I decided to go online and find some one remotely afar who can receive the funds from where it is presently deposited, and assist me in disbursing the funds to cancer research institutes and other deserving charity organizations. By the way the full meaning of (E.C.) is Esophageal Cancer, and don't mind the time taken from your busy schedule to work with me on this sole act of charity, because you will surely be compensated.

Indicate your wiliness to assist me by sending an email to my private email box (jamesbradley04@gmail.com) by doing so I will be able to send you more details.

Kind Regards,

James Bradley

This is an angle that many scammers use . . . they play on a person's sense of kindness and wanting to do the right thing . . . helping a man fulfill his dying wish by assisting him in donating his money to a charity.  If it were true, it would be a very kind gesture.  Here are some of the tips that it is not real.

1. The use of several different email addresses between the from, reply to and the address within the email.  Scammers use multiple emails addresses because they may be spoofing a real address, because their email accounts get turned off once reported for spam so they need a back up, or because of the way their "ring" works . . . one person could be sending all of the emails while a totally different person works the scams once the victim is hooked in, and that second person is the one on the receiving end of the reply to address.
2. He says that he only has a few days to live, but he is using it to email strangers?  How does he even know you will see this email before he dies?  Some people don't check email daily, like I do.
3. If a person truly wanted to donate all of their money to charity, they could easily contact the charity directly to set up this donation.  They would not need the help of a third party stranger to do this.