# Scam alert: Nigerians want to give you $10 mil. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 17, 2000, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scam-alert-nigerians-want-to-give-you-10-mil/41534 "2000-11-17T00:12:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Major\_Feelgud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3be4f8/32.png) [@Major\_Feelgud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Major_Feelgud)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2000, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scam-alert-nigerians-want-to-give-you-10-mil/41534/1 "2000-11-17T00:12:35Z")
I thought this was old news but it’s still happening. A pal of mine in the UK got a letter or a call from a Nigerian. The scammer says he has millions of dollars he can’t get out of Nigeria because of the civil war or something and he wants you to help him and split the money. He wants your bank account information or to send him some money first. The scam is going on the Net now because I recently got the same e-mail. I deleted before I realized I should have forwarded to the local FBI or news. ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2000, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scam-alert-nigerians-want-to-give-you-10-mil/41534/2 "2000-11-17T00:21:26Z")
The Secret Service is the U.S. agency tracking the Nigerian scam. At one point (this info is a couple of years old) 25% of all phone numbers in Nigeria had been associated with the scam. If you’ve received any of those (I’ve received ~50 over the years) then you know it’s hard to feel too sorry for the victims. The offer is basically, “I’m some sort of Nigerian in a position of authority and I’ve manged to steal millions of dollars, which i’ll share with you for the use of your bank account.” ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2000, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scam-alert-nigerians-want-to-give-you-10-mil/41534/3 "2000-11-17T00:40:31Z")
I live in Melbourne, Australia, and we got two faxes from them in as many weeks, each variations of each other. I am amazed people fall for this stuff, but I guess greed must blind some people. ---
**Author:** ![Major\_Feelgud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3be4f8/32.png) [@Major\_Feelgud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Major_Feelgud)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2000, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scam-alert-nigerians-want-to-give-you-10-mil/41534/4 "2000-11-17T01:30:46Z")
A few years, huh? Now I feel silly. I first heard about it on the news this year, and this is the first time it happened to me or someone I knew. Anyone know why Nigerians are so into this type of thing? I don’t live on the East Coast, but I heard that they regularly pull all sorts of scams over there. ---
**Author:** ![techchick68](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ea5d25/32.png) [@techchick68](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/techchick68)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2000, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scam-alert-nigerians-want-to-give-you-10-mil/41534/5 "2000-11-17T01:44:29Z")
I got that letter back in 1994 or 1995…I was working for my father’s company as a sales rep in Grand Junction, 300 miles from the corp office. My home was listed as the company address there, some how they got that address. I tore it up and called our receptionist to let her know to be on the watch out of such a load of crap. ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2000, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scam-alert-nigerians-want-to-give-you-10-mil/41534/6 "2000-11-17T01:48:04Z")
all I get are the endless missing child things, the “angel” sightings, various phone scams, and faux gang reports. Sigh. I must not be visiting the right sites. ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2000, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scam-alert-nigerians-want-to-give-you-10-mil/41534/7 "2000-11-17T02:32:40Z")
I’m sure the reason I received so manny was my being listed in several industry directories as head of a petroleum consulting firm. Almost all that I received purported to be from officials in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and they presented some case where $XXXMM had been allocated to a project, but they’ve paid all the contractors and now there’s $XXMM that is left over and “off the books” and they need your help to get the money out of the country. I’ve seen others tailored to other industries. These guys get a hold of these industry specific directories and send their missives to every company officer listed. The snail mail ones were distinctive, as the envelopes were sized normally but the sealing flap was on a short side, they were _always_ hand addressed and followed the same basic script. Often enough they were addressed to President beatle (_not_ the norm for business correspondance). In the last couple of years I’ve received them via fax and email. I’ve noticed a trend over time towards higher and higher amounts of swag being bandied about. I, too, am amazed that they actually seem to be successful in bagging victims. You can read all about it at the [419 Coalition Website](http://home.rica.net/alphae/419coal/). ---
**Author:** ![SpinneZiege](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9e8a1a/32.png) [@SpinneZiege](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpinneZiege)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2000, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scam-alert-nigerians-want-to-give-you-10-mil/41534/8 "2000-11-17T02:40:46Z")
HELP US!!! From:Idris Mohammed Abacha Nigeria, West Africa. ATTN: CEO/PRESIDENT I am contacting you on behalf of my family, and l strongly solicits your assistance in the name of the Almighty Allah. I presume my dad did business with your company, because l found your contact address in one of his personal files. I am Idris Abacha, the son of the late General Sani Abacha, a past Head of state of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Since my father’s death, my entire family has been under immense pressure from the present Government of Nigeria, to make available the funds in my father’s possession. As a result of this, my family has lost over US$775,000,000.00, which my father left behind for his family. Immediately after my father’s internment, my mother made numerous attempts to travel out of the country with funds my father kept in his country home, but all her efforts were frustrated by the government of the day. This gave my mother a lot of psychological problems. As a result of these foiled attempts, l decided to tactically move some of the funds to a neighboring country this I succeeded in doing without the knowledge of my country Government .The funds are in a total amount of US$42,000,000.00, and sealed in trunk boxes. I have made arrangements with the Security Company where I lodged the trunk boxes as photographic printing materials, to help airlift the trunk boxes to my would be destination (your country). At the moment, I cannot travel out of the country, because my country’s Government is holding on to my International Passport. It is in view of this, l have decided to solicit your assistance in the dispensing of these funds in your country. I would be sending my lawyer down, so that both of you can work on the process of dispensing the funds. Remuneration is open to negotiation. I appeal to you in the name of almighty Allah, the beneficent and the merciful, to sincerely and honestly render us this assistance, l know you would wonder why l am not soliciting for assistance from well placed Nigerians, its really sad. You see, my late father’s friends, whom we have asked for help absconded with our money. This disgraceful act by Nigerians has made it necessary for us to seek foreign assistance Please, we implore you to treat this project with utmost confidentiality, as we would not want our family’s name in further trouble. Thank you for your anticipated assistance. Please, send your response to my E-mail address [mohaba@mail.com](mailto:mohaba@mail.com) please note that this fax line is obtained strictly for this purpose, my private Telephone number: 234-1-7750578 Yours faithfully, Idris M. Abacha. Tel: +234-1-7750578 Email [mohaba@mail.com](mailto:mohaba@mail.com) NB:Please Destroy this mail if you are not interested ---
**Author:** ![SpinneZiege](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9e8a1a/32.png) [@SpinneZiege](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpinneZiege)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2000, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scam-alert-nigerians-want-to-give-you-10-mil/41534/9 "2000-11-17T02:43:22Z")
When I got the message, I was coming down from a high and had no idea what to do with it. When I read it again a few days later, I decided that, if this thing was real, I didn’t want to help the son of one of the most evil, Machiavellian men ever in Africa (General Abacha). I forwarded it to one of my hacker friends; he figured it was a scam. ---
**Author:** ![capacitor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@capacitor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capacitor)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2000, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scam-alert-nigerians-want-to-give-you-10-mil/41534/10 "2000-11-17T03:44:43Z")
I think that it is a joke e-mail that spreads across the Internet as well. That it uses a variation of the Nigerian laundering hoax as the crux of the joke makes it more amusing. ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2000, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scam-alert-nigerians-want-to-give-you-10-mil/41534/11 "2000-11-17T05:17:19Z")
This scam has been shown on TV newsmagazines several times. It makes you wonder how gullible people can be. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_Bowe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df788c/32.png) [@Doug\_Bowe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_Bowe)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2000, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scam-alert-nigerians-want-to-give-you-10-mil/41534/12 "2000-11-17T06:23:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by sailor \* > \*\*This scam has been shown on TV newsmagazines several times. It makes you wonder how gullible people can be. \*\* –Amen. When it first appeared on “60 Minutes” Harry Reasoner was still alive.