First Rant

I seem to be receiving more and more scam e-mails these days and it's seriously annoying!

Generically, they are known as '419' scams after the section of the Nigerian penal code that they infringe.

If you haven't come across anything like this before, they work like this...
Typically, some supposedly "important" person or one of their close relatives tries to persuade you to let them transfer funds out of some third-world country via your bank account in exchange for a significant "commission".
However, as soon as they get hold of your account details,they proceed to clean it out!
As the old adage goes, "If it LOOKS too good to be true then it IS too good to be true"!
My advice is NEVER respond to them.

Even if you are tempted, millions of dollars suddenly appearing in your bank account is bound to raise suspicion.
Partly because of the threat from terrorism, your bank is now legally obliged to notify the authorities of unusual/suspicious transactions.
You would almost certainly find yourself under investigation and the funds frozen.

Until very recently, I always junked these e-mails.
However, on reflection, I decided that as these are serious attempts to commit major fraud, they should be reported to the appropriate authorities.
In the UK, that turns out to be your local county constabulary or failing that the Metropolitan Police Fraud Squad.
If, like me, you are based in Dorset, and you receive one of these e-mails, please forward it by clicking on this link and I will forward them to the appropriate contact within Dorset Police.