Official "419 Scam-Mail" Thread

[ewmayer]

Thread to allow us to share our favorite 419 scam-mails with each other. This is *not* designed as a clearinghouse thread for any random 419s people might get -- we all know there are millions of these things floating around, probably hundrede or even thousands of new ones get written every day -- rather it is intended to entertain and amuse. We're looking for those 419s where the scammer evidently put some real work into their spiel ... really unusual angles, especially creative prose, exciting new scenarios, outrageous manglings of language, etc.

Useful/Humorous links related to 419 scams:

www.419eater.com
www.scamorama.com
www.aa419.org

Some of the scam-baiting exploits on these sites are pretty outrageous - like the one guy who actually got a bunch of scam artists to go into a Lagos grocery store and act out the dead parrot sketch from Monty Python’s Flying Circus. (That one is apparently a hit on YouTube.)

[ewmayer]

Received this one today. Love the neat twists of Manglish -- the deliciously redundant "plane crash disaster", the "deceased file" which the "manager of audit & accountancy department" "came acroos", and the tiny discrepancy between

"...It is clearly stated in our banking foreign policy and signed lawfully that if such fund remains unclaimed by the next of kin till the period of six(6) years starting from the date when the beneficiary died, the money will be transferred into the bank treasury as an unclaimed fund"

(2nd para.) followed closely by

"sixty percent (60%) will be for me."

Nothing suspicious there, I'm sure. And of course, the completely explicable fact that of over 6 billion "foreigners" (that is, non-Ouagadougouians) out there, I'm the one they deemed trustworthy enough for this clearly above-board transaction -- like the man says, my INTEGERITY is beyond question.

From: "abl musa.29" abl_musa.29@hotmail.fr
Subject: ASSALAM-U-ALAIKUM REPLY URGENT
Date: Mon, 07 May 2007 21:11:36 +0000

MR ABDUL MUSA


THE MANAGER OF AUDIT & ACCOUNTANCY DEPT.
AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK/ADB.
OUAGADOUGOU, BURKINA-FASO.


( READ CAREFULLY AND KEEP SECRET)

GREETING, AND HOW ARE YOU DOING?I HOPE FINE.PLEASE LET THIS MY MESSAGE DO
NOT BE A SURPRISE TO YOU BECAUSE I GOT YOUR INFORMATION AND LAY TRUST IN YOU
BEFORE I CONTACTED YOU.I AM THE MANAGER OF AUDIT & ACCOUNTANCY DEPARTMENT OF
OUR BANK AND I DECIDED TO CONTACT YOU OVER THIS FINANCIAL TRANSACTION WORTH
THE SUM OF TWENTY TWO MILLION,THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND UNITED STATES DOLLARS
($22,300,000.00).THIS IS AN ABANDONED FUND THAT BELONGS TO THE ONE OF OUR
BANK FOREIGN CUSTOMERS WHO DIED ALONG WITH HIS COMPLETELY FAMILY ON 25TH
OCT,2003 IN A PLANE CRASH DISASTER.

I WAS VERY FORTUNE TO CAME ACROOS THE DECEASED FILE WHEN I WAS ARRANGING THE
OLD AND ABANDONED CUSTOMERS FILES OF 2003-2004 IN OTHER TO SUBMIT TO THE
BANK MANAGEMENTS ACCORDINGLY FOR DOCUMENTATION PURPOSES.IT IS CLEARLY STATED
IN OUR BANKING FOREIGN POLICY AND SIGNED LAWFULLY THAT IF SUCH FUND REMAINS
UNCLAIMED BY THE NEXT OF KIN TILL THE PERIOD OF SIX(6) YEARS STARTING FROM
THE DATE WHEN THE BENEFICIARY DIED, THE MONEY WILL BE TRANSFERRED INTO THE
BANK TREASURY AS AN UNCLAIMED FUND.BESIDES,IT IS NOT AUTHORIZED BY THE LAW
GUIDING OUR BANK FOR A CITIZEN OF BURKINA FASO TO MAKE THE CLAIM OF THE
FUND.

SO THE REQUEST OF YOU AS A FOREIGNER IS NECESSARY TO APPLY FOR THE CLAIM AND
TRANSFER OF THE FUND SMOOTHLY INTO YOUR RELIABLE BANK ACCOUNT AS THE NEXT OF
KIN TO THE DECEASED.WHEN THE FUND IS TRANSFERRED INTO YOUR ACCOUNT,FOURTY
PERCENT(40%) WILL BE FOR YOU IN AN ASSISTANCE AND IN PROVISION OF THE BANK
ACCOUNT,WHILE SIXTY PERCENT (60%) WILL BE FOR ME. IF YOU ARE REALLY SURE OF
YOUR INTEGERITY, TRUSTWORTHY AND CONFIDENTIALITY,REPLY WITH YOUR CONTACT
NECESSARY FOR THE TRANSFER AND CALL ME AS YOU SO THAT I WILL LET YOU KNOW
THE STEPS TO FOLLOW IN ORDER TO FINALIZE THIS TRANSACTION IMMEDIATELY.I WILL
BE WAITING FOR YOUR URGENT REPLY.

MY REGARDS TO YOU AND YOUR FAMILY,

MR ABDUL MUSA

[ValerieVonck]

ewmayer,

Is this really necessary that everyone is posting his/her "favorite" spam mail?
If everyone is going to reply, you will open up the doors for the real spammers.
Sorry for the flame but come on ... please realise what consequences this could have

My $0.02.

If a moderator deems this reply as inappropriate, please delete my reply.

Regards

[kuratkull]

There are many communities dealing with them, and almost all of the 419 mails
are "funny". But I don't see a reason, why we should post them.
But if you are interested in scam-baiting, you should see 419eater.com forum, it's really fun, and you are giving a hand in the fight against scamming :)

Sorry if this is breaking any rules.

[grandpascorpion]

I had fun with a couple of scammers here:

http://www.tandjent.com/meshforum/vi...=17222&start=0
http://www.tandjent.com/meshforum/viewtopic.php?t=17372

NSFW

[Uncwilly]

http://www.419eater.com/
It'll keep you busy and luaghing for hours.

[grandpascorpion]

I'd make a point of checking out the forum there, too. Often, it's much funnier than the trophy room.

[Patrick123]

I just won 550k pounds Sterling.

But I've got to keep it quiet ... shhh!

This is part of our precautionary measure to avoid double claiming and unwarranted abuse of this program. Please be warned to keep it confidential. To file for your claim, please contact our fiduciary agent;

Mr. JOHN WILLIAM
Email: claimwinnings1@sify.com
Phone: +447035900323

Regards
Patrick

[ewmayer]

Originally Posted by CedricVonck

Is this really necessary that everyone is posting his/her "favorite" spam mail?
If everyone is going to reply, you will open up the doors for the real spammers.

How do you figure? What "doors" are we opening by posting copies of scam-mail we already received anyway? Just make sure your real e-mail address isn't in your posting - e-mail harvesting is the only potential danger here. If we only post the scammers e-mails, then any spambots scouring the forum will harvest only e-mail addresses belonging to other scammers and spammers -- that seems pretty fair to me.

Sorry for the flame but come on ... please realise what consequences this could have

I'm trying, but failing to realize what dire consequences this can have, so please be so kind as to explain them to me.

[ValerieVonck]

Dear,

Let me be the first to say that I don't how spambots are working.
Over @ the http://www.distributedcomputing.info bullenting board, we deleted a user that spammed the boards and 5 minutes later there was a new one.

The consequences: if the contents of forum is cached by google, and webcrawlers (aka spambots) would recognize this kind of content and structure, I hope that XYZZY installed the latest security patches.

You don't have an idea how much spam I have to delete from some of my accounts @ yahoo.com & then somoeone is reposting it here.... sorry that I cannot follow anymore

Again this my very humble opinion and everyone is happy to do what he/she wants.

Regards

[Orgasmic Troll]

Originally Posted by CedricVonck

Dear,

Let me be the first to say that I don't how spambots are working.
Over @ the http://www.distributedcomputing.info bullenting board, we deleted a user that spammed the boards and 5 minutes later there was a new one.

The consequences: if the contents of forum is cached by google, and webcrawlers (aka spambots) would recognize this kind of content and structure, I hope that XYZZY installed the latest security patches.

You don't have an idea how much spam I have to delete from some of my accounts @ yahoo.com & then somoeone is reposting it here.... sorry that I cannot follow anymore

Again this my very humble opinion and everyone is happy to do what he/she wants.

Regards

.