read this and tell me what the scam is exactly

[Gatopescado]

I know an idiot who fell for something very similar. Damn near lost a boatload! What a moron!

[Scuba_Ben]

Snopes is running a Nigerian Scam collection contest. Whoever submits the most versions of the scam wins.

(Their site’s down, so I can’t check the exact link. Check their message board.)

[Futile_Gesture]

*Originally posted by Winnowill *
**I read about someone who actually scammed the scammer. Damn. Wish I could remember where it was… it was awesome. **

The LADS From LAGOS

[bernse]

Don’t these pieces-o-crap ever give up… two in the same day:

(AUDITING AND ACCOUNTING UNIT)
FOREIGN REMITTANCE DEPT.
DEVCOM MERCHANT BANK, LAGOS NIGERIA.
I am Dr. OMA BELLO, the Director, in charge of the
auditing and accounting section of the above named bank.
I have decided to contact
you on a business transaction that requires utmost confidentiality,
trust and transparency, where both of us have a lot to benefit. During my investigation and auditing in the bank,
I , came across a huge sum of money
belonging to a deceased person, a foreigner
who died on November 1999 in a plane crash. This
fund has been dormant in his account with the bank
without any claim to this fund in our custody, either
from his family or relation.
Personally, I kept this information secret
so as to enable the whole plans
and idea become profitable and successful during the time
of execution. The said amount is US$15,000,000.00M (FIFTEEN MILLION UNITED STATES DOLLARS)

I want you to know that, I got your contact through international
business enquiry at the chamber of commerce, and industry in my search for a trust worthy business partner that can handle a business of this magnitude Meanwhile all
arrangement to put claim to this fund in your name as the bona
fide next of kin to the deceased, and get the required
approval to transfer this money to a foreign account,
have been put in place. While the next line of action
to conclude this transaction in the next 10 working days,
Will be relayed to you as soon as you indicate your interest in this transaction.
I must also inform you that
this transaction is 100% risk free, and genuine. And Upon the completion
of this transaction, you will be entitled
to 25% of the total sum as gratification, for your role and assistance, while 5%
is set aside to take care of any expenses that may
arise during the time of the transfer of this fund (Example: Telephone
bills, stationeries and etc).And the remaining 70% will be for me.
Please, you have been advised to keep this as a top secret since I
am still in service and intend to retire
after I conclude this project. I will be monitoring the whole situation here in the bank until
you confirm the money in your account. Then, immediately, I shall
come down to your country for subsequent sharing of
the fund according to percentages previously indicated
and further investment( Real estate business and brokerages).All other
necessary information will be sent to you when I hear
from you.
I await your prompt reply on my email address.
Yours faithfully,

kindly reply me,only on my private box below:

omabello2005@netscape.net

DR. OMA BELLO

and

DR. DERREK FREEMAN

Dear Sir,

I am Dr. Derrek Freeman, Bank manager of Standard Bank, Johannesburg,South Africa. I have an urgent and very confidential business proposal for you, an American mining consultant/contractor with the South African mining Corporation, Mr. Bill William made a numbered time (fixed) Deposit for twelve (12) calendar months, valued at US$48,000,000.00 (FORTY EIGHT MILLION, US DOLLARS in my branch. Upon maturity, I sent a routine notification to his forwarding address but got no reply. After a month, we sent a reminder and finally we discovered from his contract employers, the South African mining corporation that Mr. Bill Williams died from an automobile accident. On further investigation, I found out that he died without making a (WILL) and all attempts to trace his next of kin were fruitless.I therefore made further investigation and discovered that Mr. Bill Williams did not declear any kin or relation in his official documents, including his Bank deposit paper work in my Bank. This sum US$48, 0000.000.0

Thanks.

DR.DERREK FREEMAN.

Actually, I kind of like this last one… William William

[ShibbOleth]

I was kind of hoping this would bounce back up where it would be easy to find.

In this week’s News of the Weird

Least Competent Criminals
…And according to authorities in Winona, Minn., in February, Carl Fratzke defrauded seven people of a total of $200,000 in a bogus investment in gloves; Fratzke (not a very sophisticated investor, himself) then immediately fell for one of the myriad Nigerian scams, blowing the entire $200,000 (plus $550,000 of his own money). [Excite-Associated Press, 2-12-03] [Winona Daily News, 2-11-03]

[blinx]

Danish news (offline so no link/cite) recently reported that a man in some east european county shot the nigerian consulate in his country - apparently he had been fooled by this kind of scam and wanted revenge.

[bernse]

Least Competent Criminals
…And according to authorities in Winona, Minn., in February, Carl Fratzke defrauded seven people of a total of $200,000 in a bogus investment in gloves; Fratzke (not a very sophisticated investor, himself) then immediately fell for one of the myriad Nigerian scams, blowing the entire $200,000 (plus $550,000 of his own money). [Excite-Associated Press, 2-12-03] [Winona Daily News, 2-11-03]

That is just dripping with soooo much irony I’m wet.

That is just bizzare.

[bernse]

Um, upon re-read, maybe forget I said that second-last line.

:eek:

[Sunspace]

A couple of months ago I got one in Esperanto. I’ll see whether I can dig it up.

I pity the honest Nigerian* though: since by far the most frequent mention of Nigeria the average person outside Africa receives is within these scam spams, this creates an almost-indelible impression of Nigerians as criminals. If I was the actual Nigerian government, I’d be royally pissed off at them for defaming the reputation of Nigeria abroad.

Yes, I know Nigeria has problems, but these scams aren’t helping.

*or resident of other West African country

[Mooney252]

I lived for 2 years in Zaire under the corrupt Mobutu Sese Soku. he took a country with a per capital income of about $350 in 1970 and made it $100 in 1997 dollars.

So about two months ago I get the Congo scam letter, allegedly from his son or widow. Really: you ought to do a little better job of target marketing!

Had to send it to my former roommate; who else would appreciate it? I read somewhere (perhaps on a Nigerian government website) that the 419 scams rake in $250M per year.

If we had a Darwin award for these financial blunderers, what would it be called?

[IrishRideGirl]

www.quatloos.com also has a very good section on this scam (and many others)

[paperbackwriter]

I like that the OP’s example shows they are branching out, however. Mauritius, huh? I guess Nigeria is getting too well known for this, like Sunspace said.

According to the CIA’s World Factbook, this “minister” is offering you almost 2% of the national government’s annual receipts. Nice offer, I think you should look into it.

[StGermain]

I feel quite left out - I"ve never gotten one of these e-mails. I don’t normally open spam, but I’d think you could tell but the subject line.

StG

[hardygrrl]

Ahh, nothing like Nigerian fraud rings to keep my job safe…
Originally posted by tanstaafl

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.

Yep. Fraud is an industry there. Bank fraud, credit card fraud…just busted one scammer trying to buy $40,000 worth of jewelery on an fraudulent application. If they get caught in the States, they usually just get deported.

hardygrrl, fraud analyst who sees this daily

[photopat]

*Originally posted by Sunspace *
**A couple of months ago I got one in Esperanto. I’ll see whether I can dig it up. **

Are you sure it was the Nigerian scam? Maybe it was just the script of Incubus.

[Sunspace]

I have Incubus on DVD. No match, although the scam text is easier to understand than William Shatner’s accent…

[Skywatcher]

You could respond but refuse to give your account number, demanding theirs instead.

[Sunspace]

My scam message in Esperanto:

Delivered-To: xxxx@xxxx.xxx
Date: Sun, 12 Jan 2003 17:10:17 -0800 (PST)
From: Masasi Sivu Mosa <sivumosa@yahoo.com>
Subject: Nia Firmao
To: sivumosa@yahoo.com

*Estimata Samideano!

Mi, devas unue, petegas grandan pardonon de vi ke mi nepre devas gheni vin per tiu chi mesagho je tiu chi tempo. Mi tre scias ke via respondeco ne etendas al tiu chi situacio, sed lau la ideo de Zamenhof, ke ni klopodu estu frato de unu de la alia malgrau niaj devenoj, racoj, koloroj de la hauto, ktp, mi bezonas vian sinceran kaj treege fratan helpon pri tiu chi afero ke mia vivo kaj ankau tiuj de miaj kolegoj ne estu tute detruitaj.

Tamen, antau ol mi daurigu, mi iom prezentu min al vi. Mi estas S-ro Masasi Sivu Mosa, delonga Fakdelegito, kunlaboranto de la Universala Esperanto Asocio kaj Civitano de la Popola Demokratia Respubliko de Kongo, petante vian tujan kunlaboron por liberigi min kaj ankau mian komercadon kaj entreprenadon de la nuntempa embarasego.

Mia kompleta nomo kaj adreso vi povas trovi sur la pagho 227 de la 2001-1 jarlibro de UEA kaj pagho 211 de la 2002 jarlibro de UEA. Kiel aferoj povas okazi, estis ribela atakego je la reginta registaro de mia onklo, PREZIDANTO MOBUTU SESESEKO, la Prezidanto de la Popola Demokratia Respubliko de Kongo, dum kiam la trupo de la ribelinta Laurent Kabila forpelis la regintan registaron.

Do, mia onklo PREZIDANTO MOBUTU SESESEKO, por savi sian vivon, estis devigita fughi al Morocco. Sed bedaurindege, li poste mortis en Morocco kompreneble pro la kora soko de la atakego suferita de la trupo de Lauret Kabila.

Tamen, tuj post la trupo de Lauret Kabila venkis la regantan registaron de mia onklo, Prezidanto Mobutu Seseseko, la gvidanto de la ribelanta trupo ankau kiu farighas la nova Prezidanto, Lauret Kabila, ekkomencis persekuti la kabinetanojn
ministrojn, familianojn, firmaojn, kaj la amikojn de la antaua Prezidanto, Mobutu Seseseko. Pro tiuj Demokratia Respubliko de Kongo dum mia onklo, Mobutu Seseseko ankorau regis en la lando, estas multege persekutitaj kompreneble pro la ligo de kelkaj de la estraranoj de la konsorcia firmao al la tiam prezidanto de la lando. Do, nia firmao estis fermita kaj niaj agadoj kaj entreprenadoj estis cesigitaj kaj prokribitaj de Lauret Kabila kaj siaj trupanoj. Poste, la nova Prezidanto konfiskis la proprajojn de la firmao inkluzivante la monon de la firmao en la bankoj kaj ankau arestigis kelkajn estraranojn de la firmao
kiujn li povis tiutempe trovi, kompreneble por pli persekuti la amikojn, familianojn ktp de lia venkito, Mobutu Seseseko.

Tamen, antau la trupo de Lauret Kabila forigis Prezidanto Mobutu Seseseko, mi jam sukcese eluzis la diplomatan servon de mia onklo por forpreni la sumon de ok milionoj, tricent kaj kvindek kvin mil Usonaj dolaroj, US $8,355,000, parton de la rezervoj de la Konsorcia Firmao, al Contonou en la Respubliko de Benino, Okcidenta Afriko.

La mono estas de tiam prizorgata de la TRUST WORLD SECURITY COMPANY en la Respubliko de Benino. Helpe de la ankorauaj bonvolemaj amikoj de mia onklo (Mobutu Seseseko) kiuj logas en la Respubliko de Benino, la sumo estas zorge pakita en granda valizo kvazau gi estas nur simpla proprajo. Pro la troaj ghenoj de Lauret Kabilaj kaj sia trupo, kaj por eviti arestigon kaj longegan enprizornigadon, mi kaj mia familio tuj forlasis la landon al la rifugejo en Pretoria, Sud-Afriko, helpe de S-ro Nelson Mandela, la antaua Prezidanto de la Respubliko de SudAfriko por resti tie kiel rifugantoj.

Nun, ke chio estas iom trankvila post la morto de Laure Kabila, mi, la amikoj de mia onklo kaj la aliaj estraranoj de la firmao deziregas reestabli nian firmaon, ci foje NE en Afriko sed EKSTER Afriko. Tion ni volas fari per la sumo de US $8,355,000 kiu ankorau estas kun la Trust World Security Company en chi ghenoj, nia konsorcia firmao; LASCO MERCHANT COMPANY LIMITED, kiu efektivigis la plejmulton de la entreprenado de la registaro de la Popolala Respubliko de Benino.

Ni nun devas kolekti la monon por reestabli la firmaon. Pro tiu chi, mi, la ankorauaj bonvolemaj amikoj de mia onklo kaj la aliaj estraranoj de LASCO MERCHANT COMPANY LIMITED decidis serci por fidindega fremda komerciisto, entrepreniisto au iu kiu havas gravan laboron por veni al Cotonou en la Respubliko de Benino por kolekti la valizon kiel sian personan proprajon kaj por helpu al ni en alporti la monon al iu ajn banko kiu placas al li en au Ameriko, Azio, Europo au Australio.

Aldone, vi bonvolu helpi au almenau konsili al la estraro de la firmao pri kiel reestabli la firmaon pere de via rekomendo pri en kiu lando ni establu la firmaon kaj pri kiu entreprenoj estas treege investindaj en via lando. La advokato de la firmao, S-ro Baye Tombo kiu estas civitano de Kamerunio ankau kiu rifugas ci tie tuj donos al vi la atestilon por la posedanto kiun vi nur subskribu por informi ke la valizo estas la via ke oni transdoni gin al vi.

REZOLUCIO DE LA ESTRARO DE LA FIRMAO.
La estraro de la firmao jam rezoluciis ke la 80% de la mono apartenas al ni. Per tio ni volas reestabli la firmaon en lando kiun vi rekomendos al ni. La estraro, aldone, rezoluciis doni al vi 20% de la mono kore aprezante vian kunlaboreman kaj samideanan helpon helpante al ni realigi nian treege trezoritan revon pri la reestablado de nia konsorcia firmao.

Chu vi pretas helpi al ni pri tiu chi situatcio? Bonvolu tuj sendi tujan retmesaghon al mi por ke ni pli detale pridiskuti chion. Memoru ke ni chiam renkontighos en Cotonou, la chefurbo de la Respubliko de Benino. Tiun chi aferon ni traktas treege konfidencia ghis kiam ni solvos chionke ghi ne endangherigi nian statuson kiel rifugantoj. Mi esperas ke vi perfekte komprenas.
Tial, ne diskutu ghin publike, mi petegas. Mi esperas ke ghi estos ora ebleco por mi, la amikoj de mia onklo, la estraranoj de la firmao por reestabli nian firmaon.

Fine de tiu chi afero, mi esperas vojagi al Belgio, kie mia onklo (Prezidinto Mobutu) havas ptujan respondon. ersonecon gravan kaj mi povos ekloghi tie komforte kun mia familio.

Aprezante vian koran,samideanan kaj fratecan helpon, mi atendegos vian tujan respondon.

Samideane Via,
S-ano Masasi Sivu Mosa
Delegito de UEA Pri Informadiko*

[thinksnow]

A couple people have mentioned the “revenge on the scammers” thing they have seen. I wonder if it’s the same one I saw: this guy sent partial info, stringing the guys along for weeks, and eventually sent emails claiming to have killed his wife and needing the transfer of funds to get out of the country. It was a riot.

[Skywatcher]

Just got to work and found this in my box.

From MISS. LUCY AHMED

Dearest one,

Permit me to inform you of my desire of going into business relationship with you. I believe you are a reputable and responsible and trustworthy person I can do business with from the little information so far gathered about you during my search for a partner and by matter of trust I must not hesitate to confide in you for this simple and sincere business.

I am MISS. LUCY AHMED 28 years of age the only daughter of late MR MICHEAL AHMED who was killed by the rebels that attacked our country cote d’ivoire and took over our town BOUAKE.

I ran to Abidjan the economical capital of cote d ivoire from were I am contacting you. Before the death of my father he told me that he has a sum of usd $14,000,000 (fourteen million united states dollars) kept in a private security company in cote d ivoire in my name as the next of kin, but during the rebel attack in cote d ivoire, I was informed by the company that all consignment have been moved to their branch office in Madrid Spain.

Dear, in the capacity of the next of kin, I am contacting you with due sence of humanity and responsibility and with few awareness that you will give it a sympathetic and mutual consideration.

I am honourably seeking your assistance in the following ways.

1. to provide a bank account where this money would be transferred to.

2. to serve as the guardian of this fund and to visit the security company in Spain to take delivery of the consignment.

3. to make arrangement for me to come over to your country to further my education and to secure a residential permit for me in your country.

4. to provide good investment plans for the fund and to manage the fund for 5 years, during the investment period,only our profit will be shared annually 70% for me the investor while 30% will be for you the fund manager annually.

Moreover, I am willing to offer you 20 % of the total sum as compensation for your effort /input after the successful transfer of this fund to your nominated account overseas before the investments starts.

Furthermore, you can indicate your option towards assisting me as I believe that this transaction would be concluded within a stipulated period of time you signify your interest to assist me.

Anticipating hearing from you immediately.

Thanks and God bless.

Best Regards.
MISS. LUCY AHMED.

This is the second one that I’ve received at work. It contiunes to amaze me that these people continue to send this crap here. Don’t they know any email address that ends in .gov indicates it goes to an employee of the US Government?