We are all familiar with the infamous Nigerian email scam in which you are promised great sums of money if you assist a Nigerian in his effort to transfer money out of his country.  Variations of this scam include the movement of embezzled funds by corrupt officials, a dying gentleman who wants to make charitable gifts or a minor bank official trying to move the money of deceased foreigners out of his bank without the government taking it.  A common element in all of the versions of this scam is that although you are told initially that you do not need to contribute anything financially to the endeavor, you soon learn that it is necessary for you to contribute continuing large amounts of money for various reasons, such as fees, bribes, insurance or taxes before you can get anything.  Of course, the victim ends up paying money to the scammer, but never receives anything in return.
Recently, the Better Business Bureau issued a warning about a new version of this old scam. In the new version of the scam, nurses are being sent an email purportedly from the Canadian law firm Bill Millman & Associates, which actually is a real Toronto law firm, but it has absolutely no connection with this scam. The email informs the nurse that the law firm is handling the estate of a client who left money in his Will to the particular nurse out of gratitude for excellent care given to him while he was on a business trip to the United States. While initially it may appear that nothing has to be paid in order to claim the bequest, demands for various fees or taxes soon follow.
TIPS
This version of the Nigerian email scam is a bit more sophisticated than the usual version that still circulates on the Internet. The story is not so outrageously ridiculous as is commonly found in the more common versions of this scam. However, the common thread of something for nothing still appears in the scam and should make you immediately skeptical. In this case, you can call the real Bill Millman & Associates in Toronto (who probably are being inundated with calls) to confirm that it is a scam. You also could research the name of the deceased person both at any medical facility where you may have worked and in the probate records in Canada to confirm that it is a scam. If no name is given, which is often the case, you can be immediately sure that it is a scam.