The Hawai’i Police Department is warning the public about a mail scam.

A Hilo man received a letter from a Mr. Smith of a company called ABC Financial Solutions Limited from the United Kingdom. The letter states that the company has recovered an unused account and are looking for heirs to transfer the amount of $15.5 million.

The letter asks the recipient to provide an account number. It also instructs the recipient to correspond by fax and to buy a fax machine if he does not have one.

These letters are different variations of the same scam, all designed to attempt to get the recipient to provide a bank account number. Persons who provide account numbers will find the accounts emptied out by the scammer.

Police caution the public not to respond to suspicious letters, especially any requesting personal or financial information. The public should also be aware that a lot of these scams originate from foreign countries, and recovery of stolen funds for victims of these scams is highly unlikely.