When I returned from holidays yesterday I was surprised to find an blank envelope with a postal stamp from Lisbon, Portugal in my postal mail since I do not know anyone in Portugal.
When I opened it, it contained a letter with the letterhead Prades Asociado, supposedly from a Spanish(!) law firm. The letter was addressed to Meulie Evert (instead of Evert Meulie) and was supposedly from Barrister Jose Grande. (a quick Google has shown me that there is a law firm named Prades Asociados Spain , and that they do employ someone named Jose Grande.)

I will include the entire text here so that people who receive similar letters can easily find this posting/warning with Google:

Dear Meulìe Evert,

My names are Barrister Jose Grande and I work with Prades Asociados Spain. Actually, I got your contact information through the Norway public records while searching for a last name similar to my late client’s a business magnate by name William Evert, who lived in Spain for over a decade prior to his death, he died along with his nuclear family during the Tsunami catastrophe, which occurred December 2004.

Prior to my explaining further, I must first make an apology for this unsolicited mail to you. I am conscious that this is certainly not a predictable way of approach to foster a relationship of trust but because of the circumstances and urgency surrounding this claim.
Before the catastrophe; He deposited One Trunk Box/Diplomatic Personal Treasure, containing the sum of $10.8M TEN MILLION, EIGHT HUNDRED THOUSAND US DOLLARS) with a Safe Security Company here in Spain, because of security and personal reasons he did not disclose the exact content of deposited diplomatic box to the SAFE house. As the attomey to late William Evert, the security company has mandated me to present a member of his family (heir/inheritor) to make Claims or the vault will be confiscated and taken to the Bureau of Diplomatic Security as unclaimed.
After exhaustive efforts of search for a direct family member to my late client which came to no avail, I was given an ultimatum to look for some relative to come for the claim or have the Vault liquidated and made unserviceable in accordance with existing laws.
Against this backdrop, my suggestion to you is that I will like you to stand as the next of kin. I know you may not be anyway related to my late client but having a common surname with him and the modality I have in place I can guarantee that if you follow my instructions (The rule of laws) and capitalizing of some judicial loop holes the vault will be release to us.
Mind you that this transaction is 100% risk free; there is no atom of risk connected to this business as I have worked out all modalities to complete the operation effectively. Once the consignment (vault) is released to you, we shall divide the content in the ratio of 50% for you, 50% for me as our benefit. (S 5.4 Million each)
Kindly indicate your responses to this mail either via my office email address, my private email address, you can also call or send me a fax for further clarification. Please be kind to get back to me if you are not willing to collaborate with me so that I can further my search for another partner.

Kind Regards,
José Grande Egüez. (ESQ.)

Why I am sure this is a scam? Hmm… Where do I start…

• the letterhead says Prades Asociado while the real firm is named Prades Asociados…
• Spanish companies do not transport their postal mail first to Portugal and mail it from there…
• Evert is not my last name, but my first name, so I am in no way related to anyone with the surname Evert…
• The real Jose Grande practices Maritime Law. I don’t think the Tsuname disaster, no matter how wet everything and everyone got, counts as martitime…
• The entire letter is written in absolutely horrible English, and reeks of Google Translate and/or Altavista Babel Fish.

What next? I have reported the letter to the Norwegian Police, and I encourage anyone else who receives a letter like this to also report it to the authorities.