This is hysterical. I wonder if anyone’s falling for it.
In the spam folder this morning – it was in all caps, but I wouldn’t do that to you guys so I retyped the sucker, typos and all!
Subject: West African has desided to compensate you for what you might have lost by the African imposters
From the Board of West African Board of Directory
ATTEN: BENEFICIARY,
This mail is only for the owner of this e-mail address. If you find it in an erro, please delete it. [No problem there!]
We are sorry for what you might have lost by the African imposters and the shame they have putting into Africa shoir [“shoir”?] After the meeting held by the presidencial and governnorship of West Africa and the Board of Directory on 15th of September 2007, we decided to compensate you for all you might have lost by the African fraudester with the sum $350,000 (three hundred and fifty thousand USA dollar) inform of a chashier cheque.
You are here by advice to contact the monitoring office with the information below.
[deleted]
Contact him with the above information and forward to him you full contact information to enable him send your check to you.
Note that upon contacting him, you are advice to send to him $95.00 the delivery fee of you cheque to enable him send your cheque to you.
Just ask them to take the $95 out out the cheque that they are sending you. Tell them that you don’t mind just getting $349,905 instead of the full $350K.
No, it’s the overseeing body of the Board of Directory… the Board of the Board. I can see how the “West African” part in there may have thrown you off a bit.
It sounds like another scam to me. I think you need to contact the Board of the Board of West African Board of Directory and have these guys reported. You just can’t be too careful these days. And just in case, check to see if the Board of the Board of West African Board of Directory has an oversight committee. They can help keep an eye on things.
I especially liked the part about Miscreants, Hoodlums, and Touts. The email goes on (and on) to describe how they will deliver 10 Million USD directly to my door, as long as I don’t tell anybody the money is coming, OK? So don’t tell anybody, OK?
When I lived in the Congo, I actually met a whole bunch of Nigerians who were doing police duty for the UN, and they all were more literate than these jokers.
Does anyone actually know someone who has fallen for one of these scams? There must be a few, but I still find it almost beyond the realm of possibility. Anyone that gullible shouldn’t have an email account in the first place.
On the subject of these scams I recently saw an email from one of these jokers asking for a tax payment before the supposed winnings from the “UK Lottery” could be released. The email was from the “Ministry of Finance” located in Buckingham Palace. Perhaps Prince Phillip is behind all these scams ?
Not personally, but I’ve seen a few of these types on TV court shows. Generally, what has happened is this:
A is notified she (it’s always a “she” on the court shows) has won the…oh, let’s say the UK Lottery. But she needs to send $3456 for “taxes and fees.” She borrows it from her friend B, telling B that she will pay her back out of the lottery winnings. B isn’t aware of the scam and so loans the money. Of course, A never receives any lottery prize and B never gets paid back. So B takes A to court, for repayment of the debt.
The really scary thing is that A (and the others like her who are on these shows) doesn’t get it. She doesn’t understand that it’s a scam, that she’s been taken, that no UK Lottery prize is forthcoming. She still continues to believe somebody somewhere in the world will cut her a cheque for a large sum representing her lottery winnings; and she does so even after the judge explains the scam. And that’s both frightening and pitiful.
I think its genius, and they should send the letter directly to those who fell for the previous scam. I saw some college professor or other such supposedly bright person who fell for it on TV explaining the other day how (paraphasing) “it’s not just dumb people who fall for this, these guys are good, smart people have fallen for this as well”. :rolleyes: Uh no, by definition, if you fell for this, you are no longer smart, if you ever were.
But the mad thing is that e-mail scams, one would think, are by definition going to people who have some computer access and ought to be able to use a bit of wit to check up things online. Ah well.
To be fair, though, the various names of the various Lottery, Lotto, whatever the damn thing is called, games are a bit confusing, as I found recently. BUT that’s because I don’t normally go near it, and recently was buying tickets for my mother. I suppose it’s lucky that my mother never touches a computer, but I reckon all it should take is even the sense to consult a friend for an opinion on how trustworthy any emails like those ones are.
But these people do give the rest of us a laugh. Now if only they gave us money.
