The omega of Nigerian Scam letters

The BBQ Pit
1

Not sure why, but lately I’ve been getting 2 or three variants
of the old “Nigerian Scam” per week. Usually I just ignore them,
but this one has got to to set some sort of record for cheek.

Let’s all just pause a moment and shed a tear for poor
“Dr. Mrs. Abacha” (yeah, right) and her blocked
funds.
---------- Forwarded Message ----------

From: “Ms Abacha”, INTERNET:msabacha@uymail.com
TO: (unknown), INTERNET:El_Kabong@his_biz_address
DATE: 3/26/02 4:48 AM

RE: ATTN: THE PRESIDENT/CEO

ATTN: THE PRESIDENT/CEO

Dear Sir / Madam,

I am Dr. Mrs. Marian Abacha, wife to the late Nigerian Head of
state,General Sani Abacha who died on the 8th of June 1998 while still on active service for our Country.

I am contacting you with the hope that you will be of great assistance to me, I currently have within my reach the sum of 25MILLION U.S Dollars cash which l intend to use for investment purposes outside Nigeria.

This money came as a result of a payback contract deal between my husband and a Russian firm in our country’s multi-billion dollar Ajaokuta steel plant. The Russian partners returned my husband’s share being the above sum after his death.

Presently, the new civilian Government has intensified their probe into my husband’s financial resources, which has led to the freezing of all our accounts, local and foreign, the revoking of all our business licenses and the arrest of my First son.

In view of this I acted very fast to withdraw this money from one of our finance houses before it was closed down. I have deposited the money in a security vault for safe keeping with the
help of very loyal officials of my late husband. No record is known about this fund by the government because there is no documentation showing that we received such funds. Due to the current situation in the country and government attitude to my financial affairs, I cannot make use of this money within.

Bearing in mind that you may assist me, 20% of the total amount will be paid to you for your assistance, while 5% will be set aside for expenses incurred by the parties involved and this will be paid before sharing.

Half of my 75% will be paid in to my account on your instruction once the money hits your account, while the other half will be invested by your humble self in any viable business venture you deem fit, with you as manager of the invested funds. Remunerations, during the investment period will be on a 50/50 basis.

Your URGENT response is needed. Please do not forget to include your direct tel/fax line for easy reach.

I hope I can trust you with my family’s last financial hope.

Regards,

Dr. Mrs. Marian Sani Abacha.
C/o abbas bundu (counsel)

2

Man, you must be important. Getting personal emails from the wives of dead heads of state. How is Imelda these days? :rolleyes:

Do people still fall for this scam?

3

Oh, that poor woman!

Quick, give me her address so I can send my contact info, Social Security number and bank account information. :rolleyes:

4

Don’t forget your mother’s maiden name!

5

Yep, I got one like this too. Here. At work. As if the moron who sent it on behalf of “the eldest daughter of Mobutu SeseSeko the late president of Zaire” wasn’t aware that they were attemting to defraud an employee of the US Federal Government. I dutifully faxed a copy of the letter to the US Secret Service.

6

>> they were attemting to defraud an employee of the US Federal Government

I forget where I read it but I believe that, as an employee of the Federal Government, you are entitled to see her tits and she must show them to you upon request.

7

man, i wished i worked for the gumm’int!

8

I love that really personal “Dear Sir/Madam”. Geez, the folks rich people have to beg to nowadays…

9

When I die and my dear Russian friends deliver my $25,000,000 kickback anyway, even after my death, (once again demonstrating the deep sense of honour that Russian businessmen are known for) I can only hope that I will also have some very loyal officials who will, out of their love and devotion to me, deliver all the cash to my widow and help her hide it away. Some values and ethics are more important than mere money, don’t you think? I’m touched by this story and my faith in fundamental human goodness is restored.

10

My office fax gets about 2 to 3 of those a week, in various forms.

Stupid enough, but it’s noteworthy to mention that I work for one of Europe’s largest banks. I mean, preying on clueless individuals is one thing, but why try your luck with professionals?

11

the question is, do people actually fall for this?

12

According to my dad, who works in a bank, often what they really want is a nice examle of the company’s headed notepaper and the name of someone who works there, presumably to be used in a more subtle scam elsewhere.

Alex

13

About 4 years ago, I was reading some opinion column in which the writer told of his experiences with the Nigerian Scam. According to his story, he thought it sounded like an unusual but believable opportunity, and was close to making one of the first “advance preparation payments” when he decided to check out a book on scams and con games. The rest of the column was him warning the rest of us to be on the lookout these kinds of get-rich-quick schemes.

While I don’t know how truthful he was being, I found it rather unsettling that this guy was a permanent columnist for Barrons.

14

Coincidentally, there’s an article in my newspaper this morning about the Nigerian scams and, without naming names, they mention a local woman, a “charity fund raiser” who ended up in jail because she stole half a million dollars and gave it to the Nigerians in anticipation of a six or seven million dollar profit. They also mention a “businessman” who flew to Nigeria with five hundred thousand cash and had it taken away at gunpoint. I also remember a story on TV a few years back, on the Canadian version of “60 Minutes”, where they interviewed the top selling real estate salesman in Ontario about his experience of giving every cent he could scrape together to Nigerians. They also mentioned the Canadian consulate in Nigeria having to send an armoured vehicle to rescue a Canadian in Lagos from his Nigerian hosts. There’s a lot of really stupid gullible people out there, try and make that work for you.

15

People are still getting scammed by these letters. I’ve heard stories from law enforcement about trying to stop people from getting on planes to go to Nigeria, but still the mark gets on the plane convinced that riches await.
I believe that the Secret Service has some agents assigned just to investigating Nigerian scams.

16

Snopes on the Nigerian scam:

17

Me: Ohhh one of those scam letters, lets have some fun with this poor son of a bitch.

<clicks reply to>

Hello and thank you for your letter,

While I personally am unable to help you, contractual obligations make it impossible for me to do so. I as able to assure you that my employer, the United States Department of the Treasury, IS firmly commited to assisting both our political allies and their families. I have forwarded your request for assistance to my supervisor’s supervisor who is in a better position to coordinate efforts with national banks for money transfers and the State Department to set up relocation efforts should you wish to move to the United States.

Since this email was recieved at work, we have already identified your location, and we’re pleased to know that you’ve already escaped <whatever country you’re from>. We’ve alerted the local Consulate/FBI field office to contact you and arrange protection for you and your surviving family, our deepest sympathies, until such time as we assist in recovering your money and safely relocating your family.

God bless and someone will be contacting you shortly. Should you feel that your life is in danger go straight to the nearest US Consulate or Embassy of FBI field office <as appropriate after I trace the IP>, they have been alerted to your situation and will provide any assistance you require.

<attaches a copy of the origional email>
<adds a cc to the whatever that email address is for email scams>
<adds the IP trace, which sometimes even brings up a name!>

Hey, sure nobody will probably ever do anything about it, unless its a really slow week but maybe, just maybe it’ll make someone :frowning:

18
19

Interestingly, I myself have been contacted by none other than Barrister Ijewele Ego, who is the family lawyer for the Abacha family. According to Mr. Ego, Mrs. Abacha is being held under house arrest in Kano at present. You should be aware of this before you send her money. Mr. Ego says they have $30 million deposited outside the country.

Anyway, to hell with a mere widow of a head of state. I got one from ROYALTY:

I’ve also received letters from:

Mrs Chibuzo Nwetego, daughter of the security chief of the deposed president of Cote d’Ivoire.

Daniel Eze, a banker at the United Bank for Africa, who has located a “lost” bank account of a deceased foreigner

Usman Bello of Nigeria, who is overseeing the Petroleum Trust Fund of that country and who has found some loose change.

Miss Rita Kazu Guei, niece of the former military head of state of Cote d’Ivoire

Grace Moris, daughter of the former finance minister of Sierra Leone

Interestingly, all seem to have funds stashed away of between $25-30 million.

20

Jeff Olsen, if you don’t mind me asking, may I have an e-mail address to someone in the Treasury I could forward these too, just in case? I know they probably get plenty themselves, but I’d always like to help at least a little…