Nigerian entrepeneurs- a complete waste of time?

[aboutlastnight]

Ask her if she's ever been to Hull.

[TraceyQ]

Anyone want to play with this?:

Dear Friend,

I am Mrs. Laurie Oki Bank Manager of Lloyds TSB bank Tower Bridge
Road
London . I have urgent and very confidential business proposition
for
you.

On June 6, 2000, Mr. Barry Kelly made a numbered time (Fixed) Deposit
for forty eight months, (being four years) valued at
US$40,000,000.00,
(forty Million, 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 employers, that Mr. Barry Kelly died from
tsunami on
his holidays in Thailand 26 December 2004 . On further
investigation, I
found out that he died without making a WILL and all attempts to
trace
his next of kin was fruitless.

I therefore made further investigation and discovered that Mr. Barry
Kelly did not declare any kin or relations in all his official
documents,
including his Bank Deposit paperwork in my Bank. This sum of
US$40,000,000 has carefully been moved out of my bank to a security
company for
safekeeping.

No one will ever come forward to claim it. According to British Law,
at
the expiration of (three) years, the money will revert to the
ownership of the British Government if nobody applies to claim the
fund.

Consequently, my proposal is that I will like you to stand in as the
owner of the money I deposited it in a security company in two trunk
boxes though the security company does not know the contents of the
boxes
as I tagged them to be photographic materials for export. I am
writing
you because I as a public servant (Manager with the bank), I cannot
operate a foreign account or have an account that is more than $1m.

I want to present you as the owner of the boxes in the security
company
so you can be able to claim them with the help of my attorney. This
is
simple. I will like you to provide immediately your full names and
address so that the Attorney will prepare the necessary documents
which
will put you in place as the as the owner of the boxes.

The money will be moved out for us to share in the ratio of 70% for
me
and 30% for you. There is no risk at all as all the paperwork for
this
transaction will be done by the Attorney and this will guarantees the
successful execution of this transaction.

If you are interested, please reply immediately via my email address
upon your response, I shall then provide you with more details and
relevant documents that will help you understand the transaction.

Please observe utmost confidentiality, and rest assured that this
transaction would be most profitable for both of us because I shall
require
your assistance to invest my share in your country.(Buying of
properties like houses, hotels etc)

Please do send me your private/mobile telephone fax number so that we
can have a smooth communication.

Awaiting your urgent reply via my email.

laurieoki@xasamail.com

Thanks and regards.

Laurie Oki

She sounds like a very professional lady and not at all a conwoman. Tsunami? I mean, come on... please? How sick is that?

[Pinball]

I'd love to "spike" these mofos a la GoldenEye. It would be a joy to behold their Amstrad 1512s and 386s burning up.

[Pinball]

Here's the lowest one I've yet received from these advance fee fraud cocksuckers. Interesting that the illegal London-based Nigerian gangmember used a tiscali.co.uk address, and knows about the UK female site (run by the Daily Mail?) handbag.com...

Date: Mon, 21 Mar 2005 17:06:50 +0100
From: <elijah@handbag.com>
Subject: Your Urgent Assistance Needed

Mrs. Susan Elijah
Home Address: No 264 abudul Road,
Kabul, Afghanistan

Dear Friend,

Greetings to you, I am Mrs. Susan Elijah, a widow to Late Mr. Jerry Elijah,
I am 64 years old, suffering from long time cancer of the  breast. From all
indications my condition is really deteriorating and it's quite obvious that
I have a limited time to live according to my doctors.

This is because the damage the cancer has done to me is very bad .My late
husband was killed during the US raid against terrorism in Afghanistan, and
during the period of our blissful marriage we couldn't produce any child
of our own. My late husband was very wealthy and after his death, I inherited
all his business and wealth.

The doctor has advised me that I may not live for more than Six months and
that it is only by the power of God [Allah] that can d! etermine my life
span, so I now decided to divide part of this wealth, to contribute to the
development of the less privileged and poor in Africa, America, Asia and
Europe.
I am willing to donate the sum of $25.000, 000.00 Million Us Dollars to you
for the less privileged. Please I want you to note that, this fund is lying
in a security Firm and upon my instructions, you will file in an application
for the transfer of the money in your name.
Lastly, I honestly pray that this money when transferred will be used for
the said purpose, and not other wise. please send your respond to me on this
email.
susanelijah@telkom.net or susancelijah@netscape.net

I await your response.

Mrs. Susan Elijah.

___________________________________________________________

Book yourself something to look forward to in 2005.
Cheap flights - http://www.tiscali.co.uk/travel/flights/

Bargain holidays - http://www.tiscali.co.uk/travel/holidays/

[wheatgod]

Dear seller,
          I am Tega Austin a buisness woman i saw your item on ebay which i will like to get for my only daugther as a gift  who will be celebrating having her 15TH yrs birthday and, i will pay you through PAYPAL and i will prefer using the (UPS/ROYALMAIL/DHL) for the shippment service and get in touch with me so mail me  your paypal account email address and the shippment cost of the item to nigeria plus the total cost of the item.I hope to hear from you as soon as possible ,and i will like to drop my daugther  address in nigeria ,
 Paul kazeem
 19 Fadare street off kayode street ogba ifako
 Agege
 Lagos
 Nigeria
           
Regards.

Its a present for your daughter Paul? how delightful!

Sold my unwanted phone on eBay, and this happened. bugger.
Put in a complaint, do these things get cancelled easily enough?

[petula dusty]

This site is much fun, especially this thread

http://www.thescambaiter.com/forum/showthread.php?t=109  

I think I got site link from a thread on here but can't remember what the thread was about.

Be warned it is about 40 pages long but  reading the death threats makes it worthwhile.

It seems these people will do almost anything if they think they are going to make money out of it.  The theory is if you can keep a scammer occupied and dangling for as long as possible it's saving some naive fool from being taken in by them.

[mothman]

When I sold my laptop on eBay, I got lots of earnest emails telling me how they will be paying via bidpay (this despite my listing saying PayPal only) and it should be shipped to Nigeria (need I mention my auction specified shipment within the UK only?).

Then one of the fuckers went and bought it for the full price on Buy It Now. No chance I was actually going to go through with the transaction though, but I was saved from having to haggle with eBay over the listing and completion fees because the buyer's account suddenly went to No Longer An eBay Member status, enabling me to get all fees waived instantly.

Then the guy who did buy it (second time round, no Buy It Now this time) had an unverified address in Paypal but paid quickly, so I let him stew for about ten days while I waited to see if someone objected to the money being taken form their account, then sent it via work's courier account to give me as much control as possible. I have the money, he has his laptop, all seems OK. But in future I set all auctions to block bids from foreigners (if I'm selling something that I don't want to ship abroad that is) and also require payment from verified-address Paypal accounts only.

[smoker]

i think i just got a new one, i've never seen one like this before:

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am Soumitra Sen Business Dev. Executive of OTS Solutions Pvt Ltd, India. OTS looks forward to explore the business opportunities with *******Ltd and propose our services to you.

OTS is a state of art Solutions Provider, offering an array of IT related services with a determined focus on being a leader in providing software solutions and services. OTS with the help of its well proficient and experienced professionals help its clients with.


Software Development


Software Maintenance


Quality and Testing


Technical Support


Business Process Outsourcing

OTS' corporate governance has been designed to greater agility and market focus in the new globally competitive environment. We continue to build our business with all our approaches focusing on "Customer" and "Quality".

The best reasons due to which outsourcing the projects to OTS may benefit your organization:

Time Efficiency: We approach to all our projects with a belief in 'Dead-Lines are Neck-Lines'. This helps us deliver quality work within dead lines, setting them on our own to meet and go beyond our call of duty to meet our clients' and our own expectations.

Cost Cutting: The cost offerings from India are very less as compared to what are available in other countries. Quality mixed with the best costs globally we make the best mix possible to get things developed in IT industry. We offer our services at rates are as low as US $10 per man hour OR US$ 1500 per man month.

Please provide me with the names and e-mail address of the relevant persons (Technical / R & D / Operations) whom can be contacted in your organization, with respect to offshore software development.

I would appreciate your endeavor in directing me to the appropriate contacts. We look forward to hear from you soon. Thank you.

Regards,
Soumitra Sen
Business Development Executive
OTS Solutions Pvt. Ltd.
Tel :
+91-124-5101349
+91-124-5101350
E-mail : otssen@indiatimes.com




Please send a blank mail after pressing reply to this mail to stop recieving these messages.

[TraceyQ]

This is from the letters page of this week's edition of the TTG (Travel Trade Gazette). Made Oi larf, anyway.

Agents frequently get stupid enquiries from Nigeria for flights from Lagos to everywhere in the world apart from the UK.
We get them all the time but we recently decided enough was enough and exacted revenge for the Nigerian fraudsters who took us for nearly £4000 ($7500) five years ago.
We received an email enquiry for three business-class seats on an Ethiopian Airlines flight from Lagos to Singapore.
We immediately checked the ABTA website to see if these passengers were blacklisted and it was no surprise to find they had tried this on many times before.
We emailed back with some ridiculous prices, which the man was very pleased with. He told us to make the reservation and faxed us a copy of the card and a copy of the cardholder's signature.
We emailed him a suitably devised reference- T0553R -but he did not twig that we were winding him up as he emailed us for yet more flights.
We confirmed these new flights for him with two more booking references- W8NK3R and FR8UD5 - and in the meantime reported the card as stolen so no money was taken from it. We took and address and a telephone number from the "customer" and reported him to the police.
On the day of the first flight our man rang: "There's a problem, I'm at check-in and there are no tickets for us". My manager replied "Have you ever been had?".
The total amount for these flights came to over £14,000.
So, if one of these enquiries comes to your email, give them a lesson they won't forget- and stop thousands of pounds of fraud at the same time.

[monkeyfart]

Found this in my Junk Email Inbox

-----Original Message-----
From: Mr Jonathan Mann [mailto:newmann_newmann@yahoo.co.uk]
Sent: 23 November 2005 22:58
Subject: AN OFFER YOU CANNOT REFUSE

Dear Sir/Madam

I am a member of staff of Natwest  Bank here in the United Kingdom. I am writing following an opportunity in my office that will be of immense benefit to both of us.
In my department we discovered an abandoned sum of £23.5million British Pounds Sterling (Twenty three million five hundred thousand British Pounds) in an account that belongs to one of our foreign customers Late Mr.
Morris Thompson an American who unfortunately lost his life in the plane crash of Alaska Airlines Flight 261 which crashed on January 31 2000, including his wife and only daughter. You shall read more about the crash on visiting this website.
http://www.cnn.com/2000/US/02/01/alaska.airlines.list/ and http://www.nativefederation.org/history/people/mThompson.html
Since we got information about his death, we have been expecting his next of kin or relatives to come over and claim his money because the Bank cannot release the funds unless somebody applies for it as next of kin or relation to the deceased as indicated in our banking guidelines.
Unfortunately I learnt that his supposed next of kin being his only daughter died along with him in the plane crash leaving nobody with the knowledge of this fund behind for the claim. It is therefore upon this discovery that I and two other officials in this department now decided to do business with you and release the money to you as the next of kin or beneficiary of the funds for safety keeping and subsequent disbursement since nobody is coming for it and we do not want this money to go back into Government treasury as unclaimed funds.
We agreed that 20% of this money will be for you as a foreign partner, while the balance will be for me and my colleagues. I will visit your country for the disbursement according to the percentages indicated above once this money gets into your account. Please be honest to me and trust is our watchword in this transaction.
Note this transaction is confidential and risk free. As soon as you receive this mail you should contact me by return mail whether or not you are willing to enter into this deal. In the event you are not interested, I sincerely ask that you disregard this email and tell no one about it. I am very careful on truncating my banking career should you mention this to someone else. I hope you can be trusted in this regard.
Please note that all necessary arrangement for the smooth release of these funds to you has been finalised. We will discuss much in details when I do receive your response.
Please in your response include your telephone number and fax number for a better communication between us.

Best regards

Jonathan  Mann
jonathanmann61@netscape.net  

Nigerian nutters.....now in the UK at a bank near you.

[Make me smile]

Nigerian nutters.....now in the UK at a bank near you.

Well I for one am delighted that NatWest are bucking the trend and not out-sourcing their internet fraud to some call centre in India.

The amount of times I have rung up trying to get $3.1 (three million one hundred thousand dollars) worth of diamonds deposited into my account and the silly woman on the other end of the line can't understand what I am saying.... [/whitevanman]

[Pinball]

Is that why the cashiers at NatWest point a gun at their customers? I just thought they were being cautious.

[monkeyfart]

Well I for one am delighted that NatWest are bucking the trend and not out-sourcing their internet fraud to some call centre in India.

good point

[Alberon]

I just got one of those pretending (very poorly) to come from SG Hambros bank.

I suppose some people must still fall for these, even though this scam is decades old.

[falafel]

Didn't know where to post this, thought I'd shove it here cause it's as good a place as any.

I've put my PS2 and a few games on Amazon. Won't link to it here. Listed it for £120. And got this question from a 'potential buyer':

Dear Seller, I am a medical Doctor from Brooklyn, NY in the US. I am on a
medical research program in West Africa in connection with the World Health
Organization (WHO). I would need your item for my private usage here. I
will like to know the present working conditions of the item. Does it have
it's accessories and it's box. I will be offering £160. 00 (GBP) for the
item including shipping via Royal Mail down here. I will be making payment
via Amazon Payment and I can increase my offer if the offer is not enough.
I need this item urgently so I would be expecting a quick response from
you. Please reply with your email address and with the full description of
the item in order to make the payment. Regards

Does that seem totally dodgy to you or what? I'm looking for opinions. Why does he need to pay me £160 or even more? And why does he conveniently live in Africa at the moment? And if he's from Brooklyn, why does he have what appears to be a distinctly African name?

Please confirm my doubts.

[Pinball]

Don't trust African enquiries with a bargepole. The payment, even if initially credited, will eventually bounce, and you will lose your money. The scammers are so prevalent there, it's almost inevitably one of 'em, sadly. Ask him to pay by one of the un-cancellable methods like banker's draft. He won't, of course...

More broadly, these bastards must be singlehandedly suppressing Nigeria's economic growth, because no-one in the world trusts Nigerian enquiries now.

[falafel]

Thought so. Ta.

[Rev]

I do like the fact that he feels the need to identify himself as a doctor in order to buy a PS2, though.  Maybe they're converting them into defibrillators over there or something.  Up+Left+Left+Down+Square+Right = infinite lives.

[Pinball]

Presumably the usage of "doctor" is to engender trust. Bless.

[The Boston Crab]

I do like the fact that he feels the need to identify himself as a doctor in order to buy a PS2, though.  Maybe they're converting them into defibrillators over there or something.  Up+Left+Left+Down+Square+Right = infinite lives.

That's very funny. Gold stars all round.

[Adrian Brezhnev]

It's incredible, the amount of effort these doctors from Brooklyn that happen to be in Africa put in to sending countless emails to people that advertise goods for sale online.

I have never used ebay, but I did go through a phase of listing items for sale on Amazon Marketplace. At least four out of every five enquiries I received were from Africa (or so they said), written in appalling English, with overly complicated payment arrangements, generally involving Western Union and cheques for £2,000.

We've all received (or know someone who has received) emails like this, but has anyone been caught out by their scams? Somebody must be feeding them - for them to be so prolific. Or is it just that there are an awful lot of Africans with computers and much time on their hands?

[Pinball]

Presumably Nigeria's police is so shit it allows these criminals to proliferate. I mean, it would be easy to track 'em down with t'Internet.

[TraceyQ]

Nah, they use internet cafes at night when the rates are cheapest. Bosses send out tens of these Mugus to spam mailbox after mailbox and wreck hundreds of auctions in the knowledge that one gullible twonk will think they've hit the jackpot and part with lots of cash and/or goods. The people who send the mail dont get much in the way of payment if it all comes good, either. These bosses also pay off the local police, customs officers and DHL officials to turn a blind eye when "gifts" start arriving.

[Huzzie]

I do like the fact that he feels the need to identify himself as a doctor in order to buy a PS2, though.  Maybe they're converting them into defibrillators over there or something.  Up+Left+Left+Down+Square+Right = infinite lives.

Ha!! :-)

It's a Cracker!

[keir]

My 419 emails have dried up recently, leaving me only the herbal vigarrra, genuine ralgex watches, stocks i should buy etc.  A pity - the 419ers were more amusing.

[Labian Quest]

http://j-walk.com/other/conf/index.htm

[Pinball]

Superb!!

[keir]

I spoke too soon, I just got this:

You can now email me at bmadiba2@yahoo.com


Dear Friend,

Please, I am sorry to disturb you. I know you may feel embarrased seeing my proposal to you. But please don't be. I am just under pressure that is why I'm contacting you,so just read my mail carefully to understand. First, let me introduce myself to you. I am Benson Madiba from Bunia in South-Eastern Congo democratic republic. but presently I am in Dakar the capital of Senegal where I am writting you from. I am currently satying at the Unted Nations High Commission for refugees.(UNHCR) I feel convienced to write you based on your listing which I have just read.

I swa your contact through the Internet directory and my instinct advised me to contact you. While I was searching for someone you can assit me in this great time of need. Someone whom can help me out of this my present predicament. Please, carefully read below to understand my plight.

I need somone like you,whom I can trust and someone who would be also sincere to me. I am writting to you hopeing that you would accord and give me the needed help and assistance that I am looking for.

My late father Engr. Mathew Madiba was a licenced miner and the chairman of Pierelin Diamond Mining company in bunia district,South East of Congo DR. He was killed as a result of the civil war that engulfed my country and all his entire properties and belongings where totally destroyed. But I and my aged mother managed to escape with few of my father's precious properties. however, we are saddled with the problem of securinga trusthworthy foreign partner whom can assit us for relocation.

We left with some vital documents (among few other few things). covering eight million, four hundred and twenty five thousand US dollars ($8,425 000). Deposited with my name as the beneficairy by my late father in a Holding Security Company, because I was the only child of the family. I was appionted the beneficiary the beneficiary to this deposit,but owing to our status/conditions of our stay here in Dakar-Senegal0 We can not be able to carry out the transfer because of our refugee status. I am convinced that your Country is politacally stable for meaningful investment like this. For this reason therefore I feel confortable to help and assistance towards withdrawing and transfering the sum ($8,425 000) to your custody on our behalf with your better status.

I and my mother have agreed to offer you a negotiable percentage of the sum,upon you acceptance to assit us with the money on our behald with your status. And also to see that the transaction is coucluded safely,sucurely, and on time.

Our desired interest is to establish a long and lasting relationship with you. As well as your expertise utilisation of thid deposit on our behalf for any meaningful/profitable investment opuurtunuties that may abound. As of this material time the life of both me and my mother is seriouly in danger. Please your urgent help is highly need and we shall forever reamin greatful to you for the rest of our lives.

Please you can reply me with this my alternate email address bmadiba2@yahoo.com as it is the most confidential for me at the moment. Thanks as we anticipate your urgent response to this proposal.

Best regards.
Benson Madiba

[Pinball]

If they give email addresses like this I always forward to abuse@yahoo.com or equivalent, with full email headers. If Yahoo can report the ID of democracy campaigners using Yahoo addresses to commie China, then I'm sure they should have no problem with these guys...

[keir]

the clever chap didn't send it from that address, he sent it from ben_madiba8@hotmail.fr

I don't think there's any point anyway, they'll just carry on with other email addresses