So today I received THIS E-mail from wakka2004@strompost.com:

Hello.

I want to firstly apologize for contacting you without knowing you but what I propose needs little or no intimacy, just sincere cooperation and all will be concluded with easy.

I am Barrister John Wakka. My client ( Mr. Peter Haigh) died in the 27TH January 2002 bomb blast in Lagos,see a report of the incident : http://www.uneptie.org/pc/apell/disasters/lagos/home.html but unknown to me he left USD2.7M in a commercial bank in Lagos, I have just been informed of the development by the bank and was asked to provide the next of kin for the funds. It’s too late to get to his documents as they were all destroyed in the incident and I have not been able to locate his family. It’s imperative that I provide someone as the beneficiary of the funds else the bank will keep the funds to themselves.

I therefore want to present you as his next of kin so the bank can pay the funds to you. I have the necessary official and legal documents that will be used to back up the claim. All I require is your honest cooperation to enable me as the legal attorney to the deceased in seeing that you receive the inheritance fund. Be informed that it does not matter whether my late client is related to you or not. I guarantee you that this will be executed legitimately to protect us from any breach of the law.

Upon the payment of the funds to you, you and I will then split the funds in equal parts so as to avoid problems within us and thereafter the partnership can be dissolved. Please reply me soonest so you’ll know the details I need from you to facilitate the payment. If you have any questions or doubts then let me know. I will only contact another person if I don’t hear from you in due time.If you feel you can work on this with me then please write me at: wakka3000@strompost.com

Thank you,

Barr. John Wakka.



Did you read that? Have you HEARD of these scams?

So of course, I replied IMMEDIATELY:

FROM: DONRICO****@****.com

Re: YES!!!

Dear John:

I read your un-solicited "spam" e-mail, and all I can say is "Well HELL YEAH!!!"

I am totally down!!! I want a slice of that pie!!!

Please allow me to introduce myself: My name is Mark.
I am from the Great State Of TEXAS-- {TEXAS-- Home of President George W. Bush} -- I am an EXCEEDINGLY wealthy man of great financial status ($), some have called me "disgustingly rich", but I am ALWAYS searching for greedy opportunities like YOURS to make even MORE $$$ $USD!!!

GIVE IT TO ME, GIVE IT TO ME, GIVE IT TO ME!!!
I want EVEN MORE money!!!

... Forgive my blunt honesty, but I really do not care WHO died or HOW many people were maimed and left homeless... These things are not important when one is dealing with cash $ money as your proposition indicates...
Hell, I did not even read your e-mail all the way to the end!!!

I just know that I WANT IN!!!

I myself am a typical white male fat American pig who only lusts for cash and the finer things in life... Probably, much like yourself in those respects, I am certain!!!

I am a proud supporter of the great Bush-Cheney regime and want to see the American government's corporate tentacles spread tight all throughout the entire world!!!

U.$.A.! U.$.A.! U.$.A.!!! Whoo-Hoooo!!!

You just tell me WHEN and WHERE to send my $$$, as much as you need, and I will have it to you over-night (or sooner), tout suite!!!
Do you need my Social Security Number too? Just ask for it and I will e-mail that in my next message...

I want a piece of your pie! Your client's lucrative pile of CA$H!!!

So write me back SOON and tell me just where you want my money to be sent and how much you need... I can even send EXTRA $$$ to you, just for being such a nice and thoughtful person!!! A good deed of greed should be REWARDED, I always say!!!

By the way, I am just curious-- HOW on EARTH did you seek and find MY e-mail address?
I consider myself to be among the upper-tier, wealthy and privileged elite, and so it is slightly troubling to me that just any commoner from somewhere in Africa (of all places), whom I do not know and have never before met, could easily just obtain my private information and e-mail me "out of the blue" so to speak!?!?!?!

Any ways... No worries. I do not really care, I am just glad that you did!!!

Together you and I can become RICH (or I should say, you can become rich and I can become yet even MORE richer!!!)...
But what about the "taxes"??? How can you and I avoid paying the bloody "TAXES"!?!?!?!

Aw hell... That does not even concern me really... Why, I have enough money to pay for ALL of BOTH of our taxes!!! MANY times over!!!

So yeah...

I cannot WAIT for this GOLDEN opportunity!!!

Write me back quickly or else I might change my fickle American mind...

I have numerous other pending investments (including, coincidentally, quite a few in Nigeria) and even three in Sierra Leone investing in "black-market" (whatever THAT means?) diamonds and other precious commodities... None have paid off for me YET, but I am quite faithful that VERY soon, I will be EVEN richer and MORE wealthy!!!

And so I REALLY do not need YOUR client's MONEY--
I just want to get my hands on some MORE--
And I do not even care what unscrupulous methods I must do to get it!!!

You, sir, have a VERY WILLING AMERICAN SUBJECT here!!!

Awaiting your prompt reply,

Your colleague,

-- J.R. "Mark" Rico III



Whadday'all think huh???

Don Rico

I started getting that junk a few months ago and am still getting it. I'll bet I get at least 3 a day. Most are from the UK for some reason. However, I've gotten some from Italy, France, Nigeria.....you name it. I have never responded nor requested anything like this and don't know why I'm getting it. I looked within the contents of the letter for a "remove me from your mailing list" link,but there isn't one. They actually ask for an account number so they can transfer these supposed fund. I'm tired of crooks trying rip hard working people off. They need to make their own fuckin' money and not try and squeeze other people out of their money. I wish (and hope) that the penalties/jailtime for these kinds of crimes (if the perps are ever caught) is a very very very long prison sentence.

If you know of any place they can be forwarded that'll put an end to these, please let me know.

So damn many scam artists!!

My daughter's bank is Bank of America. She can access her account on-line. She got an e-mail saying there was a problem with her account. She opened a link which asked for her SS and other info. She know, of course, not to give it out. She called BofA and they said to forward it to them and they'd report it.
They told her they would NEVER ask for any personal info like that on line.

TIS

I never knew I had so many friends and family in Nigeria until I started getting those spams.

Yea, and you can always tell by the topic or how they start this scam: " My Dear Friend In Peace" Or " "I am trying to complete the process of transferring fund".....yada yada yada.

OMG, I'm learning their technique.



TIS

I think TIS might be the person behind all of this...she knows all of their tricks

I think the nigerian scam is as old as internet itself. I remember getting it almost 7 years back

The U.S. Secret Service used to have an E-mail address to forward all this stuff to, but I think it hasn't been operational for a couple of months now. It was 419.fcd@usss.treas.gov but anything I've sent recently has been bounced back. If there's a newer address to forward this junk to, I'd like know about it.

I get a lot of this crap on one of my other screen names. I wouldn't answer even one of these E-mails under any circumstances.

Spam = Scam

Words to live by.

Signor V.

I bet spamsters are smarter than the secret service. It is just not possible to monitor spam today, there are just too many. scams maybe. with bank accounts and what not.

FYI for those who use Paypal

I got another one today I haven't gotten before. It was regarding my PayPal account. I used paypal once probably 5 years ago and that's it. I didn't even know if it was still active or not.

Anyway, the e-mail "claimed" that several attempts to open my account were made (something to that effect) and I simply had to click the link and "verify" my info. Just beware anyone who has used Paypal. I think Geoff's mentioned he does.

TIS

I have absolutely no sympathy for anyone who is stupid enough to respond to such an e-mail inquiry. I actually hold such people in contempt. If they are stupid enough to fall for that, what other stupidities might they engage in that, perhaps, endanger people. Do they drive, plug in electrical appliances, input to databases, operate on people? Who knows how their stupidity has or might affect others.

I am surprised that your daughter even opened the link. It could have contained a virus at the very least. I'll tell you how careful I am. I got an e-mail from my boss yesterday about a former student. I don't have to open the e-mail to view it. Its content appears on my screen. There was something about it that made me hesitate to open and reply to it. So, I called my boss to verify that he had sent it. Indeed he had.

I think the people who just open any e-mails they get or respond to these stupid requests for personal information are similar to alot of the people you see on cell phones. They use e-mails and cell phones to plug holes in their self-esteem, to make themselves feel important, or just to have something to do. It's like overeating - you're not really hungry; you just eat because it feels good. Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!

The PayPal scam is a very common one. I've used PayPal and never had any trouble, but I never click on links in unsolicited E-mails. When in doubt, go to the official PayPal website.

Other common scams:

Ebay scams. It's usually some bullshit to the effect of "your account has been suspended" or "congratulations - you're now an Ebay Power Seller" or any one of a number of phony come-ons that try and get you to click on a link on the E-mail.

The same type of unsolicited scams can also come from banks (allegedly). Sometimes they say "there's trouble with you account" or "your account shows unauthorized activity" or some other crap. Again, don't click on any links.

Crap that promises you money for taking online surveys. Sometimes "sponsored" by a bank, sometimes from "other" sources. Avoid it.

If you want to see where the links contained in these scam E-mail really point to, take your mouse and let the pointer hover over the clickable links. The real web address should appear, and it's always someplace quite different than the site it purports to be from - and is usually from a foreign country, as well.

Also, note this: If you really do have an Ebay or PayPal account, the bogus E-mails will usually say "Dear Ebay user" or "Dear PayPal user" or something like that - they will never have your actual user name. That's another way you know it's fraudulent.

Spam = Scam

Signor V.

US is the leading originating country for spam, but the number reducing.

Thanks for the helpful hints SV. I am going to see if someone at work (perhaps the computer teacher) knows of a way to report these.

Although I agree there are people stupid enough to open these and buy into them, and it's hard to understand how some could be so gullibe. There is no law against being stupid,but theft, extortion, or whatever category this crime would fit under, is against he law. I have more contempt and hatred for the scam artist who can easily con these "stupid" people. You simply do NOT take what doesn't belong to you.


TIS

I found this very interesting and useful website:

Nigeria - The 419 Coalition Website

And yes, it seems the U.S. Secret Service has closed their E-mail address for forwarding the Nigerian money scams.

Signor V.

Boy, that describes exactly the e-mail I'm getting. I'll have to re-read because I still feel confused as to what to do. My Yahoo mail might block it.



TIS

When in doubt, just delete it.

Signor V.

I get MANY of these F'ing PayPal ones every day, and I just delete them. Problem is, one of them was REAL! They actually did put a hold on my account because someone tried to access it from an international location. I didn't realize this until I tried to use it myself. I had to jump thru hoops to get it back... BUT! At least they were protecting my account!

THE REAL PAYPAL EMAILS WILL INCLUDE YOUR REAL FULL NAME IN THE BEGINNING... they NEVER say "Dear Customer" or anything like that... and they will NOT link to http addresses that don't belong to paypal.com! Scammers will include "paypal.com", but as a directory of the web address, not the domain name... gotta pay attention!

...and I hope all the Nigerian and PayPal scammers BURN IN HELL!

This site says:

My senile uncle was a victim to those fucking assholes!

Haha! TIS, I may have talked to your daughter. I got at least 6 phone calls today regarding the very same e-mail you were talking about, gave the same exact response that we'll NEVER request personal information like that. I was actually going to have you forward it to our Abuse department until I read that that's what she did. I work too much. Ask her if she remembers talking to a girl named Katie about it.

Hi Bogey,

She got the e-mail a couple weeks ago. It wasn't today. If you regularly take these calls I'll ask her. How funny would that be?? I'll just ask her if she talked to someone named "Bogey."

TIS

i recieved one this morning

Hello,

Good day, My name is Douglas Obodo, i am a banker working with a bank here in Nigeria as a Manager. I am writing you in respect of a foreign customer whom made a US$25M depository for an investment program that has remained dormant for years, up till then i did not heard from him not until when i received a news that there was a tsunami disaster in Asia that kill thousands of Indonesia's, include one of our Bank customer Engr. Ridwan Tanto. Hence, I have decided to contact you due to the urgency of this transaction. On personal investigation, I discovered that the account holder died on December 26, 2004 in tsunami disaster. I made further investigation and discovered that the customer died without making a WILL on the depository.


Right now I am contacting you to help receive and safely secure the money over there as his relatives or next of kin, since all my effort to locate his family with the telephone number he gave me (62898700612) proved nothing, if you are willing to do this deal, you should not in any reason tell anybody about this transaction until you confirm the money in your account/home, because all we need is to get the document of (change of ownership account from the federal high court) on your behalf and the money will be release to you as beneficiary next of kin to the deceased.

Please kindly furnish me with your information

1.Your Full Name/Contact Address
2.Your Personal Telephone Number for effective communication.
3. Your Age/Occupation

Please treat this letter with utmost confidentiality and trust. We cannot afford to toy with this opportunity of a lifetime. It may interest you to know that this is no Scam or fairy tale email.

If this proposal is acceptable by you, I expect that you will not take undue advantage of the trust I will bestow in you.

Best Regards

Douglas Obodo

i replyd saying that i had contacted scotland yard

Ahh.. Well I deal with all states minus California, Washington, and Idaho (although sometimes California calls come through), so if she lives in Cali with you there's a chance I didn't speak with her. But that would indeed be very funny. Hahaha

Beware of dodgy Nigerians folks
My pal who works in a bank told me 15 years ago that they were a dodgy lot!

So... What do y'all think of my REPLY to this Nigerian fuck's "offer"???

I know I took a chance by even OPENING the E-mail, but I intend to switch-'n'-bait this dump-phuck so far right & left that he will not even know what HIT him or his criminal-crony backers!!!

I'm-a go all Chris Hansen on his Nigerian azz!!!

I will let you brothers & sisters know how this Perry Mason drama plays out--

Trust me, I got some shit up my sleeve, fo' sho'!!!

Actually one guy went to great lengths in pissing off one of the nigerian scamsters, like asking him about his family and then to send a photo of his wife and so on (claiming to verify his authenticity). It was very funny to read, unfortunately I can't locate the link

Sounds like what my friend does to telemarketers - tells them he's been so depressed and that he's so GLAD to hear another voice, how are they feeling, thank God they called at dinner time because he was going to have to eat alone until the phone rang, etc.

Hello All,
You may find the following site interesting
http://www.419eater.com
its a site where the owner, and a few subscribers, bait the scammers. A little look at the site will show that they get the scammers to take pics of themselves holding signs up saying 'I am shit' and 'Dont trust me'. Some people have got them to make models and paint pictures!!!! Its unbelievable what they get these scammers to do and its really funny. Enjoy...
DaveRave