Some sucker will actually fall for this

[jarhead]

I received this email today...

FROM MIRIAM KOLONGA
RUE 6 BP 01COCODY ABIDJAN
COTE D IVOIRE.

DEAREST ONE,

I KNOW MY MESSAGE WILL COME TO YOU AS A SURPRISE SINCE I DONT KNOW YOU IN PERSON OR MET WITH YOU BEFORE BUT AM OF THE BELIVE THAT YOU WOULD BE OBLIGED TO COME TO MY ASSISTANCE AFTER HEARING ABOUT MY SITUATION.
I AM MIRIAM KOLONGA,18 YEAR OLD GIRL, I WAS FORMELY A MEDICAL STUDENT OF UNIVERSITY OF ABIDJAN,IVORY COAST WEST AFRICA.LATE LAST YEAR OCTOBER 2005,THE REBELS IN MY COUNTRY STRUCK OUR TOWNSHIP AND KILL MY PARENTS AND MY ONLY BROTHER BECAUSE MY FATHER WAS AN OPPOSITION LEADER TO THE PRESIDENT OF MY COUNTRY IVORY COAST .
BEFORE HIS DEATH HE HAS $9.5 M USD (Nine Million , Five Hundred Thousand dollars.)IN A DOMICILIARY ACCOUNT WITH A BANK IN COTE D IVOIRE WHICH I AM THE NEXT OF KIN.

PLEASE I NEED YOUR ASSISTANCE IN THE FOLLOWING WAYS.

1)TO SERVE AS THE GUARDIAN OF THIS FUND SINCE I AM ONLY 18.
2)TO PROVIDE A BANK ACCOUNT WHERE THIS MONEY WOULD BE TRANSFERRED .
3)TO MAKE ARRANGEMENT FOR ME TO COME OVER AFTER THIS MONEY IS TRANSFERRED TO COMPLETE MY STUDIES AND ALSO LOOK FOR A GOOD VENTURE WHERE THIS MONEY WILL BE INVESTED,I AM WILLING TO OFFER YOU 20% OF TH TOTAL SUM AS COMPENSATION OF YOUR EFFORT AND 5% FOR ANY OTHER EXPENCE YOU MIGHT MADE AFTER A SUCCESFUL TRANSFER.

THANKS AND GOD BLESS YOU
SINCERELY
MIRIAM KOLONGA

[dkhoward]

I get about a dozen of these a week. They are known collectively as the Nigerian Scam because a lot of them originate in Nigeria. In fact, seems like I read that the woman who shot her preacher husband had fallen victim to just such a scam and it was part of the stress that alledgedly led her to shooting her husband.

Yes, people do fall for this stuff . . . . it amazes me too

[jarhead]

...In fact, seems like I read that the woman who shot her preacher husband had fallen victim to just such a scam and it was part of the stress that alledgedly led her to shooting her husband.

Are you talking about the Winkler?

[dkhoward]

Yeah,, Thats the one. I was reading a newsreport from one of the major papers that she had invested a pretty substantial amount of money in an online scam that promised to deliver a huge amount of money from a foriegn country and that the loss of the money had really added a lot of stress to what seems to have been an troubled marriage anyway.

[DUD]

Again LOML works in a bank and people do fall for this crap..US Banks cannot do business with Nigerian banks. Bill

[just4funsies]

Yeah, the Nigerian Scams, along with the Foreign Lottery Scams, have been around for some time. P.T. Barnum said that there was one born every minute, so some do fall prey. Most of the scams are generated by computerized "bot" software, so millions can be sent out for mere pennies, and if even one sucker responds, well...

[buddyroo]

Amusing replies

There is a guy named Brad Christensen who has replied to several Nigerian scammers over the years. Much of it is pretty funny. His replies can be found here: http://www.quatloos.com/

I think some of his earlier ones were the funniest.

[MilDoc]

Let's see, for helping out this poor, unfortunate "woman" I get 25 % or $2.375 million?

Nah ... I want at least 50%!

[SARGE..g-47]

I get about one a month, jarhead. Same Barrister in Nigeria. My uncle Ted Thorton and my aunt have been tragically killed in an auto accident in Nigeria 5 different times and a large estate needs to be settled. Awaiting my reply!

My last name is Thompson (the NRA accidently spelled it wrong on my member-ship b-4 I corrected it years ago and I suppose mailing list do get sold on a regular basis with no questions asked). And... I have attended the funerals of all my uncles on my fathers and mothers side.

Each time the estate is worth more. Went from 1.2 mil to currently 3.4 mil. When it hits 5 million, I'm sending Delta Force.. guns blazing and ask questions latter to get my promised money. ha.. ha...

Regards...

[LinuxRandal]

Saw one listed on Groklaw, where a high powered NY law firm, had a lawyer fall for one. She paid the $1,000,000 in taxes, from the law firms account, expecting to reimburse it in 30 days. Youch

However see this all the time, and have seen websites devoted to wasting the spammers time. This could be fun...

Hi my name is B.T. Central, and I have opened an account that you can transfer the money into, I opened it via my uncle, it's in the same bank, so you just need to do a transfer and he will send it to me....

[jnesmith]

Although this one comes from Africa, it's not from Nigeria. Any fool knows that the best deals like this come from Nigeria. I'd stay away from this one.

[Jeffrey Schronce]

An 18 year old in medical school? She must be Dougie Howser or either maybe this isn't on the up and up, you know, one of 'dem 'der innernet scams.

[Joe Lyddon]

Well...

One could open a FREE Washington Mutual account, leave a dollar in it, and send her the account number.

Only after she gave you the account # of her account and gave you the authority to transfer money OUT of it...

Yes!!?

[LCHIEN]

These things are known as Nigerian 419 scams after the section 419 law it violates. (Sometimes the number 409 is used - I think someone got it wrong and it's propagated). Also know as advance fee fraud because they want you to put up money up front.

They tend to sucker those whose greed is greater than their common sense and a large number of instances go unreported out of embaressment and probably a low likelihood of recovery.

These things predate the internet and we used to get them hand-typed. I saw a documentary on them and its a whole industry in Nigeria where these guys go to the internet cafe every day to send out more letters and follow up on nibbles. They say one out of every thousand letters gets a response, if you can get $20,000 from a sucker it will last you a year in Nigeria probably.

It's an interesting excercise in psychology - you can see in these letters where they appeal to your sense of vanity, greed, pity and other emotions. Every one is different but they all have the same elements.