Scam Hunter

What are Nigerian aka 411 Scams?

2007-01-23T11:40:00.000-08:00

Nigerian scams with their many variants, also known as 419 scams, are a worldwide mult-billion dollar industry originally built around offering a mark an opportunity to receive a percentage of a stolen or hidden account in return for using the mark's name and bank account to receive the funds. At some point in the process, the scammer asks the mark to pay for bribes, filing fees, advance fee or other semi reasonable sounding payment, small in relative terms of the purported monies available, and absconds with the amounts.

From the 419 Coalition's website:

"A Five Billion US$ (as of 1996, much more now) worldwide Scam which has run since the early 1980's under Successive Governments of Nigeria. It is also referred to as "Advance Fee Fraud", "419 Fraud" (Four-One-Nine) after a formerly relevant section of the Criminal Code of Nigeria, and "The Nigerian Connection" (mostly in Europe). However, it is usually called plain old "419" even by the Nigerians themselves. In brief, 419 is a sub-classification of Advance Fee Fraud crime in which the perpetrators are West Africans, primarily Nigerians, operating globally from Nigeria and elsewhere. "

"The Scam operates as follows: the target receives an unsolicited fax, email, or letter often concerning Nigeria or another African nation containing either a money laundering or other illegal proposal OR you may receive a Legal and Legitimate business proposal by normal means. Common variations on the Scam include "overinvoiced" or "double invoiced" oil or other supply and service contracts where your Bad Guys want to get the overage out of Nigeria (Classic 419); crude oil and other commodity deals (a form of Goods and Services 419); a "bequest" left you in a will (Will Scam 419); "money cleaning" where your Bad Guy has a lot of currency that needs to be "chemically cleaned" before it can be used and he needs the cost of the chemicals (Black Currency 419) ; "spoof banks" where there is supposedly money in your name already on deposit; "paying" for a purchase with a check larger than the amount required and asking for change to be advanced (cashier's check and money order 419); fake lottery 419; chat room and romance 419 (usually coupled with one of the other forms of 419); employment 419 (including secret shopper 419) ; and ordering items and commodities off "trading" and "auction" sites on the web and then cheating the seller. The variations of Advance Fee Fraud (419) are very creative and virtually endless, so do not consider the above as an all-inclusive list!

At some point, the victim is asked to pay up front an Advance Fee of some sort, be it an "Advance Fee", "Transfer Tax", "Performance Bond", or to extend credit, grant COD privileges, send back "change" on an overage cashier's check or money order, whatever. If the victim pays the Fee, there are often many "Complications" which require still more advance payments until the victim either quits, runs out of money, or both. If the victim extends credit on a given transaction etc. he may also pay such fees ("nerfund" etc.), and also stiffed for the Goods or Service with NO Effective Recourse.

The Nigerian Scam is, according to published reports, the Third to Fifth largest industry in Nigeria. It is the 419 Coalition view that, in effect, the elites from which successive Governments of Nigeria have been drawn ARE the Scammers - therefore, victims have little recourse in this matter. Monies stolen by 419 operations are almost Never Recovered from Nigeria. "

Other resources:

419 Coalition website
Flow Chart of a Classic 419 Fraud
Federal Trade Commission site
NigerianScams.org

Please feel free to post the text of Nigerian Scam emails in comments on this site.

RE: Delixi Consults(payment agent job offer)...

2006-08-07T19:34:00.000-07:00

-----Original Message-----
From: Mr.Danny Lui [mailto:admin@delixiconsults.com.cn]
Sent: Thursday, July 27, 2006 9:21 AM
To: X
Subject: Delixi Consults(payment agent job offer)...

Attn:Regional payment agent
Our ref:DCCL/14VE/tw/06

Dear Sir/Madam,
I am Danny Lui,an international consultant for Delixi Consults
Coy.Ltd,P.R.China and United Kingdom.
We are Chinese based investors, We are into Oil Blocking Booms and
Ropes;Water Supply & Purification - Water Sources: Water Shed/Aquifer
Protection Stabilisation Restoration,Oil Spill Barriers,Slick
Decomposition,Coral Reef Rehabilitation,Hydrologic Engineering,Well
Drilling,Reservoirs;Waste Management-Refuse Containing:Storage
Drums,Tanks,Containers,Sealants, Encapsulation.
We are also into export and import of the above mentioned
products/equipment.etc.Delixi Consults Coy Ltd is a newly established
firm that proposed to come up with alot of innovation in the nearest
future.
We are interested in employing your services,to work with us as our
payment agent, who can help us establish a medium of
recieving/disbursing payments on our behalf for Goods and raw materials
supplied
to our customers in Europe, South and North America, Australia etc.
Subject to your satisfaction you will be given the opportunity to
negotiate the mode with which we will pay for your services as our agent
in Europe, America, Australia etc.

Please respond to the email address below:

Regards,
Danny Lui
Director,
Delixi Consults Coy.Ltd
P.R.China.
email:delixiconsults@consultant.com
Activities: Oil Blocking Booms and Ropes etc

CONGRATULATIONS

2006-03-04T10:36:00.000-08:00

ride FOUNDATION

e-lottery Promotion

11, Esplanade Road

Paignton, Torbay. TQ4 6BE

United Kingdom.

http://www.blogger.com/

Dear Winner,

RE: e- lottery Notification

I have been directed to inform you about the ride FOUNDATION e-lottery Promotion draws held on the 21st of February, 2006. Your email address attached to ticket No: 8-5-1-5-2-0-0 has won you a total sum of £500,000:00 (Five Hundred Thousand Pounds Sterling) in group A.This is from total prize money of £1,950,000.00 shared amongst winners in group A-D. The email addresses used for the e-lottery promo where extracted from 26,000 company e-mail address and 700,000 individual e-mail addresses through a computer online draw database system.The said fund has been deposited with a reputable Bank in United Kingdom. Due to mix up and conflict of some numbers and names, we normally ask that you keep your winning information confidential until your claims has been processed and your money Remitted to you. This is part of our security protocol to avoid double claiming and unwarranted abuse of this program by some participants.

To process your PRIZE, please contact your Claims Director:

Sir. James Summers

Tel: +44-702-305-4642

E-mail: FOUNDATIONRide@netscape.net

Alternative Address: claimsagent_rf06@excite.com

ride FOUNDATION,

Endeavour to quote your Ticket Number and Group in all your correspondence with the claims director. Please be aware that your Paying Authority will Effect Payment Swiftly upon satisfactory Report, For due processing and remittance of your winning prize to designated account of your choice, please treat as urgent and all reply must be via email as to ensure the legibility.Furthermore, should there be any change of your address, do inform the Claims director as soon as possible. Note that all winning must be claimed notlater than two weeks after this notification. After two weeks, funds will be included in the next stake.Congratulations once more from our members of staff and thank you for beingpart of our e-lottery Promotion.

Note: Anybody under the age of 19 is automatically disqualified.Yours Sincerely,Mr. Mark Johnson.Director of Information

PS: Do not reply to the Director of Information, kindly reply to the Claims Director with the information’s above.

IMPORTANT NOTICE:(a) Note that there exists a periodic condition on all claims process, failing which would lead to disqualification and winnings Forfeiture. Winners are therefore advised to expedite their claims process.(b) Being one of the lucky winners, you constitute entrant's full and unconditional agreement to and acceptance of our terms and conditions of claims to avoid any discrepancy in the cause of payment of your prize awards winning.(c) As our staffs are bound by the oath of secrecy taken on employment. By this lottery prize awards winning, you acknowledge your acceptance to be added to our lottery master player database___________________________________

SERVIZIO VOICE: TELEFONA e INVIA SMS dal tuo computer a tariffe vantaggiose!Scopri come telefonare e videochiamare gratis da pc a pc.https://owa010.intermedia.net/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://voice.repubblica.it

From :Mr Daniel N.Chiwara SOUTH AFRICA

2006-03-02T17:05:00.000-08:00

From :Mr Daniel N.ChiwaraSOUTH AFRICA

Tel: +27-83-772-7480

email: danielchiwara1@yahoo.com

Hello Dear Friend,

I got your contact from the International web site directory. I prayed over it and selected your name among other names due to it's esteeming nature and the recommendations given to me as a reputable and trust worthy person I can do business with and by their recommendations I must not hesitate to confide in you for this simple and sincere business.

I am Mr Daniel N.Chiwara, the only Son of late Mr & Mrs Laben Chiwara. My father was a very wealthy cocoa merchant in Bindura and Harare,the economic city of Zimbabwe before he was killed to death by his political associates on one of their outing to make political dialog.
When my mother died on the 21st October 1984, my father took me and my younger brother Hassan special because we are motherless. Before the death of my father on 7th May 2000 in a private hospital here in Bindura. He secretly called me on his bedside and told me that he deposited a sum of $9.5,000.000 (Nine Million, five hundred thousand dollars) and it is Deposited in a vault company in South Africa, that he used my name as his first son for the next of kin in deposit of the fund.

He also explained to me that I should seek for a God fearing foreign partner in a country of my choice where I will transfer this money and use it for investment purpose, (such as real estate management). For quick reference to glance through how my father was brutally killed please visit the website http://www.zimvigil.co.uk/rollofhonour.htm

Presently we are now in south Africa as an asylum seeker and we are honourably seeking your assistance in the following ways. 1) To provide your personal phone and fax 2) To provide your personal details about your self

Moreover , we are willing to offer you 10% of the sum as compensation for effort input after the successful transfer of this fund to your designate account overseas. Please i will appriciate your kindness in helping us.

Anticipating to hear from you soon.

Thanks and God Bless.

Best regards.
Mr.Daniel N.Chiwara

From Mrs. Marian Galloway

2006-02-28T12:27:00.000-08:00

I have a new email address!

You can now email me at: hajia_4400@yahoo.co.uk

From Mrs. Marian Galloway

I am Mrs. Marian Galloway, a liberian Citizen but presently in Calabar with my Son and My only Daughter. I am a Widow.

My late Husband who was among those that was Killed in the recent WARRI CRISIS in his Car, as you can confirm through this website:

http://www.worldpress.org/Africa/1083.cfm
http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/africa/08/11/
liberia.1300/index.html

He deposited some money in Europe, which was just revealed to me by my late Husband Lawyer that this Money is to invest your Country. According to the information given to me by his Lawyer, i want you to help me stand and claim this amount of $32.5M (US$) he deposited in private volt in Europe. All i need now is a reliable Person who can help us Claim and invest this money. I will highly appreciate your kindness and be grateful if only my request is granted.

Please kindly send your contact information to me if you are interested so that i can givce you the contact of the Finance House where the Money is Kept by my late Husband, to enable you claim the money from them.

Thanks and God bless,
Mrs. Marian Galloway- Mrs Hajia Galloway

Congratulations! Katherine Williams

2006-02-27T19:16:00.000-08:00

FROM: Katherine Williams
BRITISH POWERBALL LOTTERY
EUROWAY HOUSE
ROYDSDALE WAY, BRADFORD,
W.YORKSHIRE BD4 6SJ, ENGLAND.
UNITED KINGDOM.
Sir/Madam,
RE: WINNING STATEMENT NOTIFICATION

Your electronic mail address has been selected as a 1st Category winner for our Sweepstake drawn on the 21st of January 2005.

Your winning numbers are 44 07 99 17 36 56 + 28, Batch number is BPL/UK/460 and Claim
File number is BPL/008045160/UK-06.

Hence, you are advised to Contact our payment center to claim a cash award of one million, pounds sterling (£1,000,000.00).

Please be advised to respond to this notification immediately for a guideline on how to contact the Payment Center and claim your award.

Accept our congratulations.

Yours truly,

Mrs. Katherine Williams
(For British Powerball Lottery)
bplproject5@k.ro

Urgent - DR Edwin Carry

2006-02-27T18:58:00.000-08:00

Dear Sir/ Madam,

My name is DR Edwin Carry. ,I am the operational manager in account
management section incharge of credit and foreign bills of one of the prime
banks here in South Africa. I am writing in respect of a foreign customer of
my bank who perished with his whole families on 25TH JULY,2000 CONCORDE
PLANE CRASH [ Flight AF4590 ] with the whole passengers aboard.

There is an account opened in this bank in 1998 by this great late
INDUSTRIALIST who died without a written or oral WILL attatched to the
account. Since his death , I personally has watched with keen
interest to see the next of kin but all has proved abortive as no one has
come to claim his funds and no other person knows about this account or
anything concerning it,the account has no other beneficiary and until his
death he was the manager of his company.

The total amount involved is 106,000,000.00 USD.[ One hundred and six
million United States Dollar ]. We wish to start the first transfer with
$6,000,000.00[Six million] and open successful
transaction without any disappointment from your side, we shall re-apply for
the transfer of the remaining balance to your account.

I have secretly discussed this matter with the general manager of the bank
who I must involve in order to have a smooth and a successful transfer of
the fund to any foreign bank account which you are going to nominate. On
this note, I decided to seek for a reliable foreigner who will act as the foreign beneficiary of the fund from the deceased by providing his/her bank account where the fund will be
transferred for immediate investment on any viable
project as no one has come up to be the next of kin.

The banking ethics here does not allow such money to stay more than six
years without claim hence the money will be recalled to the government
treasury as unclaimed after this long period of domancy.

In view of this I got your contact through my personal search to see if you
can assist by providing your safe bank account for the transfer or find a
reliable person who will be capable of receiving such amount in his or her
personal account.At the conclussion of the
transfer 65% of the fund will be for me, I will give you 20% of the total
transfer sum, 10% for charity both in Africa and in your country while the
remaining 5% will be set aside to settle expenses both parties might incure
during the transfer process.

Upon the receipt of your reply, I will send to you a detailed information
about the transaction.I will not fail to bring to your notice that this
business is 100% risk and trouble free and that you should not entertain any
fear as all modalities for fund transfer
can be finalized within 7 to 9 banking days, after you apply to the bank as
the beneficiary of the fund from the deceased.

When you receive this letter. Kindly send me an e-mail or you can call me .

You should also include your private fax and phone numbers for easy and safe
communication.

PHONE:+27-838-941-770.
Fax +27-115-075-193.
Address no: 41 Galway street
Johannesburg South Africa.
PRIVATE EMAIL:[edwincarry2@hotmail.com]

Respectfully yours,
DR Edwin Carry.
edwincarry4@hotmail.com

Notice of Class Action Settlement - Supreme Court of NY Index No. 100766/04

2006-02-27T18:52:00.000-08:00

Notice of Class Action Settlement and Hearing (Caleb McArthur v. Spring StreetNetworks, Inc.; Supreme Court of New York, County of New York, Index No.100766/04)

Pursuant to a court approved settlement in the above-referenced case, andbecause you were a paying member of a springstreetnetworks.com website betweenSeptember 7, 2001 and March 23, 2005, you are receiving this email.

To view the notice and settlement in the above-referenced case, please reviewthe following url: http://www.springstreetnetworks.com/settlement.html

claims_administrator@springstreetnetworks.com

RE: URGENT

2006-02-27T18:25:00.000-08:00

MY DEAREST,

I AM EMILE ALIN 24YRS OF AGE FEMALE FROM CUBA . A MOTHER OF A CHILD I AM CURRENTLY IN A HORRIBLY STITUATION .I AM WRITING YOU BASE ON YOUR HIGH LEVEL OF MATURITY AND BY VIRTUE OF YOUR POSITION TO SEEK FOR YOUR ASSISTANCES .IT IS ALL ABOUT MY LATE HUSBAND AND WHAT I HAVE GONE THROUGH AFTER THE DEATH OF MY LATE HUSBAND AND WHAT HIS RELATIVES DID TO ME. I AM MEANT WITH MY LAWYER AND HE ADVISE ME ON ISSUED THAT I WILL NEED YOUR ASSISTANCS. I WILL GIVE YOU FURTHER DETAILS ABOUT MY SELF AFTER I HAVE HEAR FROM YOU YOU CAN REACH ME WITH MY EMAIL ADDRESS ( emicuba22@hotmail.com) HOPE TO HEAR FROM YOU.

REGARDS,

EMILE

Emi Alin
emile_50009_alin@hotmail.com

NICE TO MEET YOU... Barr. Kenneth Ndu

2005-09-18T19:05:00.000-07:00

From:Barr: Kenneth Ndu.
(Kimaro Chambers and Solicitor)
56 Rue Boulevard Djankasse B.P.50214
Cotonou ,Benin-Republic.

As it may interest you to know, I got your contact through Cotonou Chamber of Commerce Mines and Agriculture. Your name was among some short listed company’s agents in the above mentioned organization. As I was searching for a good reliable contact which I will entrust this business opportunity into its control, I was elated when I saw your address, and I picked a keen interest with confidence to solicit for your help in executing this opportunity.

However, I was moved to contact you base on the present situation of this opportunity which I may say that it is God given time offer, their is a Foreigner who lived here in Cotonou Rep of Benin long ago called Duncan Gross by name and it happen that the man registered to me as his Private / personal attorney, unfortunately the man died with his wife and their two kids in plane crash which happened on 30th October, 2000.

Owing to the death of this man called Duncan Gross by name, his bank Called on me for his balance with the bank as his attorney since January 2002, to invite his relatives to come and claim the money, I tried all I could to trace his family, but all my efforts proved abortive, then from November last year 2004,till now, the bank has been pressurising me to look for his family to come for the claim the money as his next of kin, but it happen that after much verification, they will find out that those people were rogues, because they cannot provide a legal evidence to prove that they were his relative.

Moreover, I have decided to use you as his next of kin to claim the Money for my own personal use as it happen that his relatives were not available up till now, and I have all his documents in my file which will back you up before the bank as his next of kin, I will still obtain a genuine legal evidence which I will do with your name to satisfy that you are the rightful next of kin to the deceased.

Furthermore, the amount involved is ($12.750,000.00)Twelve Million, Seven Hundred and Fifty Thousand United State Dollars, therefore I will be happy if you can furnish me with your full name and address which I will use to secure the legal documents which will back you up as his heir next of kin.

As soon as I receive your address, I will form an application which you will submit to the concerned bank as his next of kin. Be rest assured that their is no risk involved as I have perfected and made the necessary arrangements to back you up in claiming the fund.

Finally, you have to maintain the high secrecy this business demands as the bank does not know that I am using you to claim the money on my own, besides, I will compensate you with 30% of the total money for your help and assistance, and I will invest my own part of the money in your country base on your advice. You can now forward the address and your full name as I demanded above for the transaction to commence in full.

Thanks as I wait for your reply.

Best Regards,

Barr. Kenneth Ndu
bkn0000@kaixo.com

Fund Deposit BS

2005-07-30T19:09:00.000-07:00

US$18.4M FUND DEPOSIT

I hope you receive this letter in good health and understanding.

I work with (a company) an Insurance and deposit Company. I am prompted to write you this letter to assist me secure a transfer into your bank account.

I am the insurance officer of one of our client who was confirmed death with his family in a disaster.

Before the death of our client, our company assisted him cover a deposit worth US$18.4M with a bank in the United States and the documents of the deposit was secured in a safe with our company under my care.

After his death, I have made several efforts to trace any surviving member of his family discovered that he does not have any surviving member.

As the head of the codes and immunity section of the company, and in my position as the Credit bureau, I quickly tampered with the documents/records and put them in my possession pending when I will get the assistance of someone to stand as the next of kin to our client and claim the deposit.

In my position, it is easy for me to record your name as the next of kin to the deposit and present you to the bank for payment.

I do not want to involve my relatives or friends in this project because of my past and ugly experience with them.

Again, I do not want them to know the source of my wealth to avoid scandal in the future.
I will handle the paper works to put the records in your name.

I present you with the details of the operation as soon as you declared your honest interest to assist me.

Kindly write me back immediately. Thanks, BS
info@mrgg.net