I keep getting these ignorant emails and I just wondered what’s up with them and who the hell might answer one?
To wit:
ATTN:
MY NAME IS MR LOUISE SACHIKO CHAIRMAN OF CONTRACT
AWARD AND MONITORING COMMITTEE OF THE MINISTRY OF
INDUSTRY AND INTERNATIONAL TRADE DEVELOPMENT ,MY DUTY
AS EMPOWERED BY THE MAURITIUS GOVERNMENT IS TO
PROVIDE THE BASIC AMENITIES,SOCIAL RECREATIONAL
ACTIVITIES IN URBAN AND RURAL AREAS.
THIS PROGRAMME INCLUDES ASSISTANCE TO DEPRIVED LOCAL
COMMUNITIES AND TO CO-ORDINATE PROJECTS AND
DEVELOPMENT AT THE NATIONAL LEVEL, FURTHERMORE, FROM
THIS PROJECTS WE HAVE BEEN ABLE TO SECURED SOME
REASONABLE AMOUNT OF U.S.$21.8(TWENTY ONE MILLION
EIGHT HUNDRED THOUSAND U.S.DOLLARSONLY) AS COMISSION
FROM VARIOUS CONTRACTORS RESULTING FROM OVERINVOICING
,HENCE ALL THE NECESSARRY APPROVALS
HAS BEEN COMPLETED.
THESE APPROVED FUND WAS PACKAGED AND DESPATCHED
THROUGH A SECURITY COMPANY FOR ONWARD DELIVERY TO ITS
DESTINATION IN EUROPE.
THESE FUND ARE FIRST DEPOSITED INTO A VAULT SECURITY
BEFORE WE ARRANGE FOR ITS MOVEMENT T O EUROPE THROUGH
DIPLOMATIC CHANNEL USING DECOY PURPORTING THAT THE
FUND BELONGS TO AN EXPATRIATE/COMPANY, AS WE ARE
GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS,WE ARE NOT ALLOWED TO OPERATE
FOREIGN BANK ACCOUNT,HENCE WE NEED YOU TO STAND AS THE
BENEFICIARY AND CLAIM THE FUND ON OUR BEHALF FROM THE
SECURITY COMPANY.
PRESENTLY I AM NOW IN EUROPE TO SEARCH FOR A ARELIABLE
PERSON/COMPANY OF HIGH INTERGRITY /DIGNITY AND ONE
WITH CONSCIENCE WHO WILL CLAIM THIS FUND ON OUR BEHALF
AS THE BENEFICIARY ,AND WE HAVE AGREED TO GIVE YOU
25%OF THE TOTAL SUM AS COMMISSION FOR YOUR
ASSISTANCE/EFFORT.AND 5% WILL BE USED TO SETTLE EVERY
EXPENSES INCURRED .WE WILL USE 70%TO INVEST UNDER YOUR
RECOMMENDATION AND GUIDE AND GO INTO JOINT VENTURE
BUSINESS WITH YOU.
I WOULD GREATLY APPRECIATE YOUR ASSISTANCE . I LOOK
FORWARD TO YOUR RESPONSE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.
BEST REGARDS
LOUISE SACHIKO
Umm, technically speaking the ‘scam’ is everything after the word ATTN:
You should have gotten a speach from your bank when you opened your account to NEVER give out your banking account number to ANYONE.
Then again I don’t follow this advice personally, I do have CPS (power company) take my monthly bills directly from my checking account. But they are quite easy to sue if they steal from me.
But they don’t Which makes me sad… because them screwing me followed by my lawsuit plays a key role in my retirement plan.
Alternately, they will ask you to use your money to open the account (since of course they can’t) but don’t worry, they’ll immediately deposit the funds and you can reimburse yourself.
Don’t rely on that–you would be entitled to recover whatever they took but probably very little else. You’re better off visiting their plant and falling into a turbine.
Here is the question though. I at least one of these per month. I am assuming its the same group of clowns behind each of them. Why do they keep doing it? Do they actually get some gulliable western businesses in on this?
Side: The sender on my email said Mr. Richard. When I first saw it I thought it said Little Richard.
Of course, I went through the trouble of changing the phone number but not the email addy. Oh well. I don’t give a crap if he gets spammed (or worse) but if the mods want to edit it, go ahead.
i imagine these scammers are just working the odds…
it costs next-to-nothing (just whatever it takes to join up to the Internet so they can send e-mail) for them to send out this crap.
and if they get even 1% response from their victims, the returns of a couple hundred/thousand dollars (whatever is in the bank account) versus their own minimal outlay probably make it nicely lucrative.
When you get one of these, check out the “reply to” address, and forward the email to “abuse@domain.com”, along with a copy of the email’s properties. (In Outlook Express, you access the properties of an email by clicking on the email, clicking File–>Properties, and clicking on the “Details” tab; you can then copy and paste the properties into your forwarded email). Usually, the Abuse department at the domain will delete the offending adress, invalidating that copy of the spam.
Of course, if it’s a version of the scam in which the rube thinks she’s stealing money from a fledgling democracy, you may want to let it go ahead and do its dirty work. I don’t have much sympathy for the victims of such scams.
The scammers have caught a few people who were willing to engage in an act which, if it actually occurred would be larceny. That also makes it easier for the scammers to get away with it. Would you want to call the State Dept. and say “I was involved in an under the table money transfer to steal from the government of Nigeria, and they stiffed me?”
Very common, that. Here’s an example that got a lot of attention via slashdot.
The Nigerian scam seems like a slightly elaborated version of the Spanish Prisoner scam, which is such an old chestnut that even in the thirties and forties anyone who fell for it was marked as a hopeless rube. The e-mail version is probably more successful because the con broadcasts the messages like spores, doesn’t have to place himself in the same locale as the fish and the possibility of attendant bunko investigators, and has the advantage of targeting the kind of people who are apt to open and read spam e-mail, who are more-than-likely more credulous and slow-witted than the rest of the herd.
I read this online, I think the guy used the pseudonym Buddy Weiser. He had the scammer running all over the place, showing up for meetings, etc. The web site had a complete journal and photos. Really a hoot.
Interesting article on the Nigerian scam e-mailshere. The most interesting fact is that it is one of the top five industries in Nigeria! They also comment that it is the second most common spam on the Internet and that about 1% of the people who receive it fall for it.
Which makes me sad… because them screwing me followed by my lawsuit plays a key role in my retirement plan.