Sniff, sniff…I’m going to miss Mr. Spondular.
(About 20 minutes ago, I was on the way home from the grocery store with my son, who asked, “Mom, do you know who invented the spork?” I replied, “Why, Crandall Spondular, of course!”)
Well, here’s a turn-up for the books.
I just checked my Yahoo email and there’s a message right at the top titled ‘Urgent Mr Crandall Spondular’
But it’s not from any of the addresses relating to the previous baiting session, and it makes no mention of Sandra Dickson. Here’s the text:
Weird. Could it just be some doper is playing games with me? Otherwise, could it be part of the same scam? If it’s a new one, I’m wondering how they got the name (given that I thought it became pretty obvious I was baiting them before). Also, it seems to be in a bit of an advanced state (already asking for fees) for a fresh scam.
Dude, it’s from Dikembe Mutumbo. That’s an actual semi-famous person in the US. It’s gotta be real!!!
It sounds like your spammer, either out of a sense of homor or because he was bearing a grudge, gave your info to his colleague at the next PC.
" I tell you, mon brave, this Crandall guy is ripe for the picking. But I’m leaving him to you, cos we’re practically family. Speaking of which, how is Rosa Mwemba? Did she say anything about our date last week?"
I agree that it is probably someone familiar with the previous emails. This phrase is the key:
“As i have stated in the above mail, there is a need for you to pay the sum of $2500 dollars only which can not be deducted from the Said amount simply because the beneficiary right has not been Transferred to your name.”
They are trying, in the first email, to squash a question they know you have asked another. So it may be the same guy trying you out again just in case you really are a sucker. Or like Maastricht says, he gave your address out to another.
Maybe you could play this guy up by talking about how down you are over being dumped by a woman named Sandra.
Don’t these things usually come with a great story as to why the vast sums of money are being transferred to your name? And isn’t Mutombo from the Congo, not from the US?
I don’t know Mr. Spondular… this one just doesn’t seem like a genuine offer to give you vast heaps of cash in exchange for a modest up-front payment.
I emailed back with:
And got another reply that was more or less a copy/paste of the first email - the first bit was different - it said:
Which didn’t really answer my important question about Sandra, so I sent exactly the same reply again:
And I see I have new mail this morning, which helpfully advises me:
OK Tarzan, let’s play…
“My friend nothing go wrong ok”…
:: shakes head ::
These scams are so incredibel (ha!) crude. I gotta wonder, how dumb are the scammers behind it? Are they all ten years old? Scamming has nothing to do with education, and all the more with street smarts, which I presume even these scammers do posess and take pride in. Then why so crude?
I sent him a quick promise that I’d pay by Western Union today (have to forge one of those Special High Importance Transfer receipts again later…)
He replied with yet another copy/paste of the same email, with only this little bit of difference from the others:
He’s really pushing it, isn’t he? I think he needs taking down a peg or two.
Anyway, I thought I’d try this:
Is Dikembe Mutumbo still wandering around raising money for Africa? If so perhaps “he” could “help” with the funding for the “tax clearance certificate” (does such a thing even exist in the UK? And even so, wouldn’t the recipient be required to obtain it himself?). If not, perhaps the friendly foreign banker “underestimates” Mr. Mutumbo’s accessability in the states and your innumerable personal contacts here as well.
Just offering a couple of angles, good luck.
-Nate
That, my friend, is totally awesome!!!111!!!
If I created a fake passport, I would use a leap day as my birthday or maybe January 32.
I tried this on the first round and they slapped it down pretty firmly. I notice this time they clumsily and repeatedly stated that I have to pay the $2500.
Fortunately for me though, I’m a semi-professional wrestler called The Spork. That sort of cash is pocket money to me.
Oh yeah, I had forgotten about “The Spork”. That part kills me, esp. the “I’ve been Sporked” pictures.
You should make up a “Tax Clearance Certificate” and copy it once or twice, and then send it to him. Then include a form from “British Drug law enforcement Agency which is under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs” asking him for his information, and then include one of those ever so tasteful warnings that the information must be sworn to, and notarized, and will be included in the “International Anti-terrorism Police Information Database.”
Go nuts on the information asked for. Make it a two pager!
Tris
This guy is a real buffoon. I just got this email:
So I replied
I mean, he’s just about at the point now where he’s saying “look, don’t you want to be scammed?”
Maybe he’s just testing you to see if you really are who you claim to be. If he’s satisfied, maybe “Ms. Dickson” will make a return visit.
No, I don’t think they’re that uneducated, but I do think they are not English speakers, and therefore are using an online translator to compose the emails. Have you seen some of the awkward phrases those things produce?
I don’t think it’s quite awkward enough to be produced by an online translator. They’re just not native English speakers, and my guess would be that in Nigeria, as in India, some slightly Victorian-sounding phrases are still in current use, which makes them sound slightly stilted to modern ears, or eyes.
oh this is good (links disabled)
The graphics look genuine (I’ve never seen RBC’s website so I am guessing) with a logo and company colors, but I moused over the links, they are not RBC websites. They are numeric ISPs, followed by a seemingly random collection of letters.
Dearie me, this one’s getting a bit shirty with me. I just got this: