It was inevitable. With the creation of Google+, a new social network already boasting over 20 million users, the scammers were sure to follow. Here’s a note a probable fraudster sent to reader Geoff through his Google+ profile, informing him that someone died in Africa and he needs to be contacted about a “business transaction” of “magnitude.”

Most likely if Geoff responded they would try to rope him into an advance fee fraud scam. This is a grift where you are given a check to deposit and then told to send on a smaller portion elsewhere but then the check turns out to be fake. You lose all the money you deposited, the scammer keeps the money you forwarded on, and your bank could even press charges against you.

Geoff of course isn’t falling for it but it’s both amusing and sad how quickly scammers are figuring out how to leverage Google+ for their schemes. It might be the newest and greatest social networking platform ever, but it’s still the same ol’ internet.

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