Nigerian Letter Scam

Leslie

Leslie

Communistrator
Staff member
People are still falling for it! :eek:
Withdrawal Symptoms

Another day, another Internet scam. And this one caught two Canadians squarely in its web. British police have uncovered a website designed to look just like a major British bank.

But the only vault in this savings institution was the owner’s own pocket. The site had been set up with a domain name very similar to a U.K. financial institution, and appeared to be almost an exact copy. A group of Nigerian fraud artists gave the URL to two unsuspecting Canadians, who accessed the site, and mistook it for the real thing. They were given access to bogus accounts, and used them – depositing around $34,000 each.

But the dupes weren’t totally innocent. They fell for a new version of the old “Nigerian e-mail scam”. They believed that if they gave the suspects the cash, it would be multiplied in a West African scam, then funneled back to them. It wasn’t. Neither the name of the bank being simulated nor the location of the two Canadians was released by authorities.

How The Nigerian Letter Scam Works

According to the R.C.M.P., here’s how the fraud artists try to get your money.

1) You receive an "urgent" business proposal "in strictest confidence" from a Nigerian civil servant /businessman.

2) The sender, often a member of the "contract review panel", obtained your name and profile through the Chamber of Commerce or the International Trade Commission.

3) The sender recently intercepted or has been named beneficiary of the proceeds from real estate, oil products, over-invoiced contracts, cargo shipments, or other commodities, and needs a foreign partner to assist with laundering the money.

4) Since their government/business position prohibits them from opening foreign bank accounts, senders ask you to deposit the sum, usually somewhere between $25-50 million, into your personal account.

5) For your assistance, you will receive between 15-30% of the total, which sits in the Central Bank of Nigeria awaiting transfer.

6) To complete the transaction, they ask you to provide your bank name and address, your telephone and fax numbers, the name of your beneficiary, and, of course, your bank account numbers.

7) The sender promises to forward your share within ten to fourteen working days.

8) The victim sends the money, then never receives a dime.

The Mounties estimate the scam has cost gullible Canadians about $30 million over the last ten years. There are an estimated 10,000-15,000 variations that have circulated through e-mail in this country.
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There's only 10,000,000 smart people in the world? Is that what you are saying? Doesn't put our odd too good to be two of those, now does it.
 
Anyone want to start a 'outlaw stupidity' petition? Let's get the lawmakers to put stupidity where it belongs.
 
Professur said:
Anyone want to start a 'outlaw stupidity' petition? Let's get the lawmakers to put stupidity where it belongs.
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They wouldn't be lawmakers then would they?
 
Heres an actual email I recieved ....

Status: U
Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2002 15:02:37 -0800 (PST)
From: cletus eduvie <[email protected]>
Subject: URGENT ASSISITANCE
To: FILE <[email protected]>

FROM: BARRISTER CLETUS EDUVIE
OKEAYE INNEH LAW FIRM
LEGAL PRACTITIONER.
NIGERIA



DEAR SIR,

COMPLIMENTS OF THE SEASON. GRACE AND PEACE AND LOVE
FROM THIS PART OF THE ATLANTIC TO YOU. I HOPE MY
LETTER DOES NOT CAUSE YOU TOO MUCH EMBARRASSMENT AS I
WRITE TO YOU IN GOOD FAITH. BASED ON THE CONTACT
ADDRESS GIVEN TO ME BY A FRIEND WHO WORKS AT THE
NIGERIAN EMBASSY IN YOUR COUNTRY. PLEASE EXCUSE MY
INTRUSION INTO YOUR PRIVATE LIFE.

I AM BARRISTER CLETUS EDUVIE, I REPRESENT MOHAMMED
ABACHA, SON OF THE LATE GEN. SANI ABACHA, WHO WAS THE
FORMER MILITARY HEAD OF STATE IN NIGERIA. HE DIED IN
1998. SINCE HIS DEATH, THE FAMILY HAS BEEN LOOSING A
LOT OF MONEY DUE TO VINDICTIVE GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS
WHO ARE BENT ON DEALING WITH THE FAMILY. BASED ON THIS
THEREFORE, THE FAMILY HAS ASKED ME TO SEEK FOR A
FOREIGN PARTNER WHO CAN WORK WITH US AS TO MOVE OUT
THE TOTAL SUM OF US$75,000,000.00 ( SEVENTYFIVE
MILLION UNITED STATES DOLLARS ), PRESENTLY IN THEIR
POSSESSION. THIS MONEY WAS OF COURSE, ACQUIRED BY THE
LATE PRESIDENT AND IS NOW KEPT SECRETLY BY THE FAMILY.
THE SWISS GOVERNMENT HAS ALREADY FROZEN ALL THE
ACCOUNTS OF THE FAMILY IN SWITZERLAND, AND SOME OTHER
COUNTRIES WOULD SOON FOLLOW TO DO THE SAME. THIS BID
BY SOME GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS TO DEAL WITH THIS FAMILY
HAS MADE IT NECESSARY THAT WE SEEK YOUR ASSISITANCE IN
RECEIVING THIS MONEY AND IN INVESTING IT ON BEHALF OF
THE FAMILY.


THIS MUST BE A JOINT VENTURE TRANSACTION AND WE MUST
ALL WORK TOGETHER. SINCE THIS MONEY IS STILL CASH,
EXTRA SECURITY MEASURES HAVE BEEN TAKEN TO PROTECT IT
FROM THEFT OR SEIZURE. I HAVE PERSONALLY WORKED OUT
ALL MODALITIES FOR THE PEACEFUL CONCLUSION OF THIS
TRANSACTION. THE TRANSACTION DEFINITELY WOULD BE
HANDLED IN PHASES AND THE FIRST PHASE WILL INVOLVE THE
MOVING OF US$25,000,000.00( TWENTY FIVE MILLION UNITED
STATES DOLLARS ).

MY CLIENTS ARE WILLING TO GIVE YOU A REASONABLE
PERCENTAGE OF THIS MONEY AS SOON AS THE TRANSACTIONIS
CONCLUDED. I WILL, HOWEVER, BASED ON THE GROUNDS THAT
YOU ARE WILLING TO WORK WITH US AND ALSO ALL
CONTENTIOUS ISSUES DISCUSSED BEFORE THE COMMENCEMENT
OF THIS TRANSACTION. YOU MAY ALSO DISCUSS YOUR
PERCENTAGE BEFORE WE START TO WORK. AS SOON AS I HEAR
FROM YOU, I WILL GIVE YOU ALL NECESSARY DETAILS AS TO
HOW WE INTEND TO CARRY OUT THE WHOLE TRANSACTION.
PLEASE, DO NOT ENTERTAIN ANY FEARS,AS ALL NECESSARY
MODALITIES ARE IN PLACE, AND I ASSURE YOU OF ALL
SUCCESS AND SAFETY IN THIS TRANSACTION.

PLEASE, THIS TRANSACTION REQUIRES ABSOLUTE
CONFIDENTIALITY AND YOU WOULD BE EXPECTED TO TREAT IT
AS SUCH UNTIL THE FUNDS ARE MOVED OUT OF THIS COUNTRY.

PLEASE, YOU WILL ALSO IGNORE THIS LETTER AND RESPECT
OURTRUST IN YOU BY NOT EXPOSING THIS TRANSACTION, EVEN
IF YOU ARE NOT INTERESTED.

I LOOK FORWARD TO WORKING WITH YOU.

THANK YOU.

TRULY YOURS

BARRISTER CLETUS EDUVIE
 
I used to work in a bank and we got several of these per fax or mail each month.

The disturbing thing was that more than one customer (talking corporate customers here) actually fell for it and approached us for assistance in these transactions. As proof they often showed a bank guarantee in excess of US$ 10 Million issued by major banks like UBS. (clearly recognizable as forgeries).

And these people were otherwise reasonable businesspersons, so I rather attribute this to greed than to general stupidity. Greed lets you often forget about basic common sense.
 
419er jailed for 376 years
Hard time for $2m scammer
By Lester Haines
Published Tuesday 14th February 2006 12:52 GMT

A Nigerian 419er was last Friday jailed for 376 years by a Lagos court for "stealing, forgery, impersonation and conspiracy to obtain money by false pretences" contrary to the Advance Fee Fraud Act, the Nigerian Daily Independent reports.

Harrison Odiawa, 38, aka Abu Belgori, managed to extract $1,939,710 from US national George Robert Blake on the promise of a percentage of a bogus $20.45m Ministry of Health contract. The classic advance fee scam saw a duped Blake transfer the "advance payments" after seeing forged documents - including a certificate of registration with the Corporate Affairs Ministry and the aforementioned forged Ministry contract - which convinced him he was indeed about to get rich. Blake raised the cash from his company, Quest Exploration and Development, and his own personal assets.

Odiawa was eventually tracked and arrested in Lagos by Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) operatives. During his trial, Blake appeared as the star witness and identified Odiawa from his voice because "because they had conversations for more than 100 times over the telephone". Odiawa countered that he was not in fact the person who had scammed the American but rather "chanced on the telephone number he found on a computer that was not lodged out from the internet in his cyber café".

Judge Joseph Olubumi Oyewale was unimpressed, and in jailing the 419er on 48 of the 58 counts on which he was charged, also ordered him to pay back $1.6m to his victim. He said he hoped the sentence would serve as a deterrent to others.

Blake (that's the victim) has already served a 30-month jail sentence in the US for money laundering and bank wire offences. ®
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Harrison Odiawa, 38, aka Abu Belgori, should be congratulated & given a job at an ad agency. Because some people are so incredibly blinded by greed is hardly a reason to send a man to jail when he obvioulsy could be selling Miller High-Life to cheeseheads.
 
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