Official "419 Scam-Mail" Thread

[retina]

Originally Posted by Mini-Geek

And no mention that I can get a portion of the money if only I pay a small fee to [insert some random way to get the trillions of dollars to me].

But she is giving you the whole amount, so you can keep 100%.

Also, I expect you would have to pay the security company for the documentation and probably also some ongoing fees to cover various expenses until "Sandra" finally dies. Although why do I get the feeling that "Sandra" would manage to live for a long time (or at least live long enough until you run out of money to support her while waiting to collect the USD4M)?

[ewmayer]

Not exactly a 419, but hey, we`re among friends...

It helps to have seen “Borat” or “Da Ali G show” to fully appreciate the preciousness of the phrasing in this:

From: Baby [mailto:kktsdays@rzf.ru]
Sent: Wednesday, April 22, 2009 7:06 AM
To: [You, the lucky victim man-of-her-dreams]
Subject: Hi my name is Anna

Hi Man!:) My name is Anna. Possible you are don't search the soulmate for a
life, but I want to test destiny:)
I couldn't find the man on sites of acquaintances, all of them resemble the
boys playing on feelings of girls,
in particular my feelings. For them all this flirt, game in love but for me
is serious searches, searches of the partner forever.
To put it briefly, if you are serious, if you want to create family, if you
like my appearance (my private world much more beautifully),
Please reply only to my personal e mail: seksy.anutochka@gmail.com
I can assure you:), you can answer on my e mail with your photos and some description about what you want from life.
Or you can find me on myspace, my nickname "miracle"

[Uncwilly]

Originally Posted by ewmayer

Not exactly a 419, but hey, we`re among friends...

Again, not a 419, but I got a call that purported to be from the "Federal Grant Department", they offered a large sum. They stated that the new government, because of the recess, globally effect, and President Barrac Obama, was giving once in a life time grants to owners of certain randomly selected phone numbers. I was able to get from them that they were from the department of Homeland Security. They wanted to make my home financial situation more secure through this grant. They needed to verify all sorts of information to process this and put the money in my account electronically. They said that I could use the grant money for what ever I wanted. I have never heard one branch of the government with so many Southeast Asian Indians working for them. The 296.15 processing fee is tiny next to the 9500. that they promised.

It was a shame that after nearly 50 minutes on the phone, they were unable to verify and match my bank number to my account number and name and last digits of my ID number. Strange, but I thought that the government was more effcient than that.

[schickel]

Originally Posted by David Porter

I am David Porter, a chancery litigation and probate solicitor from The United
Kingdom. Please get back to me as soon as possible. I have very important
information to share with you regarding my Late Client, Benzion Dunner.

Yours in service,

Barr. David Porter
Barrister-at-law / Partner
St. James's Chambers

Any one in the UK who knows knew Benzion Dunner?

[Uncwilly]

A co-worker got this in their e-mail.

[Spherical Cow]

Back in the 1980s, the Nigerian scam was done by FAX and snail-mail; we use to get quite a few of them, I think because we did a lot of international work, and were therefore on numerous international mailing lists. Now, with e-mail, the 419 Scam provides entertainment to so many more people than before.

The snail-mail version had it’s benefits, though- one day, we received a check (below) in the mail as a “good faith deposit”. We were supposed to act as the legitimate foreign firm, and wire back some of the money to the Nigerian partner so that they could free up the rest of the funds.

We checked- the bank account number was real, but was just a little short of having enough in it to cash the check. Made for an exciting day, though, when a $5,000,000 check falls out of the morning mail. (Redactions on the check to protect the allegedly innocent.)

Norm

[Uncwilly]

Any grocery clerk worth their salt would not like that check. Number 166? "Five million --------", ideally printed by some device. A check that large often would have 2 sigs, or a multicolor sig stamp.
Run away Timmy! Run away!
Danger! Will Robinson. Danger!

[ewmayer]

They may be the (F.B.I.), but they could use a dose of the (grammar) police:

THIS IS THE (F.B.I)

http://www.fbi.gov
fbi_cyberwatch_usa@hotmail.com
Robert S. Mueller
Executive Director FBI

FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION SEEKING TO WIRETAP THE INTERNET

Dear Esteem Beneficiary,

Have you receive your fund from the FedEx Courier Service Nigeria? Or from any
organization claiming that they have your fund with them? We have been watching
every transactions that you made from last year 2008 up till date and you have
to know that we are also working to make sure that your fund which is supposed
to be delivered to you some days ago can be immediately be delivered to you
without any further delay or any kind of excuses.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation does not want any of our citizens to lose
their fund and that is why we have been working every hour on our cyber watch
department so you won’t get burnt by this scammers.

We are aware of every payment you have made on the transaction you are into to
make the transaction succeed, yet the fund is still held down by the drug law
agency and the immigration officer at the airport.

We want you to take note that our special investigation service diplomatic men
are the one to deliver your fund of $5.8million to you without any further
roadblock agencies.

The diplomatic delivery men are in Nigeria where your fund is originated at the
international airport now, as soon as you get back to this email by applying to
the instruction that is sent to you, the delivery will take effect immediately.


The payment you are to send now so that your fund can finally get to you is the
sum of $400USD for the airport clearance of your fund due to the huge amount of
money, and as soon as this has been sent down via money gram or western union
international money transfer, the delivery will take immediate effect by the
delivery diplomatic men.

You have to stop every transaction you are into and communication with other
organization to avoid delay on processing of your fund and wrong contact that is
why we at the FBI have email you to warn you that your fund is in Nigeria at the
immigration office where the diplomatic men will deliver it to you personally as
soon as the payment of $400USD is sent to them.

Get back to us at the FBI as soon as you receive this email.

Thanks for your co-operation.

Robert S. Mueller,
Federal Bureau of Investigation
J. Edgar Hoover Building
935 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, D.C. 20535-0001, USA

This is the CENTRAL SCRUTINIZER...it is my responsibility to enforce all the laws that haven't been passed yet. It is also my responsibility to alert each and every one of you to the potential consequences of various ordinary everyday activities you might be performing which could eventually lead to *The Death Penalty* (or affect your parents' credit rating). Our criminal institutions are full of little creeps like you who do wrong things...and many of them were driven to these crimes by a horrible force called MUSIC!

Our studies have shown that this horrible force is so dangerous to society at large that laws are being drawn up at this very moment to stop it forever! Cruel and inhuman punishments are being carefully described in tiny paragraphs so they won't conflict with the Constitution (which, itself, is being modified in order to accommodate THE FUTURE).

[henryzz]

FROM FRANK MARTIN
Email:fmartin434@rocketmail.com

Good Day,
I am Mr. Frank Martin, I am contacting you concerning a deceased customer and an investment he placed
under our banks management Seven years ago. I would respectfully request that you keep the contents of
this mail confidential and respect the integrity of the information you come by as a result of this mail.I am
contacting you independently of our investigation and no one is informed of this communication. I would like
to intimate you with certain facts that I believe would be of interest to you. In the year 2002, the
subject matter; came to our bank to engage in business discussions with our private banking division.
He informed us that he had a financial portfolio of Fifteen Million Dollars, which he wished to have us
turn over (invest) on his behalf.

I was the officer assigned to his case; I made numerous suggestions in line with my duties as the de-facto
chief operations officer of the private banking sector then, especially given the volume of funds he wished
to put into our bank. We met on numerous occasions prior to any investments being placed. I encouraged
him to consider various growth funds with prime ratings. In mid 2004, he asked that the money be liquidated
because he needed to make an urgent investment requiring cash payments in Helsinki- Finland. He
directed that I liquidate the funds and deposit it with a security firm. I informed him that my Bank would have
to make special arrangements to have this done and in order not to circumvent due process. Cash movement
across boarders has become especially strict since the incidents of 9/11. I contacted my affiliate and made
the funds available to the security firm.

I undertook all the processes and made sure I followed his precise instructions to the letter and had the
funds deposited with the security firm. The Security Firm is a specialist private firm that accepts deposits
from high net worth individuals and blue chip corporations that handle valuable products or undertake
transactions that need immediate access to cash. This small and highly private organization is familiar
especially to the highly placed and well-connected organizations. In line with instructions, the money was
deposited with the security firm. The deceased told me he wanted the money there in anticipation of his
arrival from Norway later that week. This was the last communication we had, this transpired around 25th of
November 2004.In August last year we got a call from the security firm informing us about the inactivity of
that particular portfolio. I made futile efforts to locate the deceased. I immediately passed the task of
locating him to the internal investigations department of the Bank. Four days later, information started to
trickle in, apparently our client was dead. A person who suited his description was declared dead of a
heart attack in cannel, in Southern part of France. We were soon enough to identify the body and cause of
death was confirmed.In his bio-data form, he listed no next of kin. In the field of private banking, opening
an account with us means no one will know of its existence, accounts are rarely held under a name;
depositors use numbers and codes to make the accounts anonymous.

This investigation has for the past months been unfruitful; we’ve used our private investigation affiliate
companies to get to the root of the problem. It is this investigation that resulted in my being furnished with
your details as a possible relative of the deceased. According to practice, The Security Firm will by the end
of this financial year broadcast a request for statements of claim to Bank, failing to receive viable claims
they will most probably revert the deposit back to Bank. This will result in the money entering the Bank
accounting system and the portfolio will be out of my hands and out of the private banking division. This
will not happen if I have my way. What I wish to relate to you will smack of unethical practice but I want
you to understand something. It is only an outsider to the banking world who finds the internal politics of
the banking world aberrational. The world of private banking especially is fraught with huge rewards for
those that occupy certain offices and oversee certain portfolios. You should have begun by now to put
together the general direction of what I propose. There is Fifteen Million Dollars deposited in a security
firm, I alone have the deposit details and they will release the deposit to no one unless I instruct them to do
so. I alone know of the existence of this deposit for as far as my Bank is concerned.

My proposal: I now seek your permission to present you as a next of kin to the deceased, as all
documentations will be carefully worked to make you the beneficiary to the funds US$15,000 000 00
(Fifteen Million Dollars); I am prepared to place you in a position to instruct The security Firm to release the
deposit to you as the closest surviving relation. Upon receipt of the deposit, I am prepared to share the
money with you. That is: I will simply nominate you as the next of kin and have them release the deposit
to you. We share the proceeds 60/40.I would have gone ahead to ask that the funds be released to me,
but that would have drawn a straight line to me and my involvement in claiming the deposit. We can
fine-tune this based on our interactions am aware of the consequences of this proposal. I ask that if you
find no interest in this project that you should discard this mail. I ask that you do not be vindictive and
destructive. If my offer is of no appeal to you, delete this message and forget I ever contacted you.

Do not destroy my career because you do not approve of my proposal. I am not a criminal and what I do, I
do not find against good conscience, this may be hard for you to understand, but the dynamics of my
industry dictates that I make this move. Such opportunities only come ones' way once in a lifetime. I cannot
let this chance pass me by, for once I find myself in total control of my destiny.

These chances won’t pass me by. I ask that you do not destroy my chance, if you will not work with me let
me know and let me move on with my life but do not destroy me. I am a family man and this is an opportunity
to provide them with new opportunities. There is a reward for this project and it is a task well worth
undertaking.

I have evaluated the risks and the only risk I have here is from you refusing to work with me and alerting
my bank. If you give me positive signals, I will initiate this process towards a conclusion. I wish to inform
you that should you contact me via official channels; I will deny knowing you and about this project. I
repeat, I do not want you contacting me through my official phone lines nor do I want you contacting me
through my official email account. Contact me only through the numbers I will provide for you and also
through this email address. I do not want any direct link between you and myself. My official lines are not
secured lines as they are periodically monitored to assess our level of customer care in line with our Total
Quality Management policy. Please observe this instruction religiously.Please, again, note that I am a family
man, I have a wife and children. I send you this mail not without a measure of fear as to what the
consequences, but I know within me that nothing ventured is nothing gained and that success and riches
never come easy or on a platter of gold. This is the one truth I have learned from my private banking clients.
Do not betray my confidence.

Please contact me on my private E-mail address: fmartin434@rocketmail.com
I await your response.

Mr.Frank Martin
fmartin434@rocketmail.com

This email just amazes me by the fear the sender has of being contacted. It sort of makes it obvious that it is a scam.

[cheesehead]

BTW, has there ever been a better spam fake-sender-name than one I started receiving recently:

Ubiquitous Pervasive

?

Soooo appropriate!

[Brian-E]

Michael Shermer has just posted a hilarious account on James Randi's site of his correspondence with a scammer which arose when he initially in his haste failed to spot the telltale signs that the following Email was not one of the many genuine ones he receives requesting his lecturing services:

Dear Michael Shermer,
My Name is Prof. Peter Kopelman from the London Youth Community Here in London UK. We want you to be our guest speaker at this Year ST' GEORGE UNIVERSITY , which will take place here in UK. We are writing to invite and confirm your booking to be our Guest Speaker at these year ST' GEORGE UNIVERSITY Event.
The Venue as follows:VENUE: St George's University of London, Cranmer Terrace, London, SW17 0RE.
Email:stgeorgeuniversityoflondon@gmail.com
Expected audience: 500 people
Duration of speech per speaker: 7PM-8PM
Name of Organization: ST'GEORGE UNIVERSITY
Topic:MEDICAL
Date: Wednesday 30 March 2011.
We came across your profile on http://www.amazingmeeting.com/speakers and we say it’s up to standard and we will be very glad to have such an outstanding personality in our mist for these overwhelming gathering. With your multi talented speech more lives will come close , Sorry about our late invitation it is due to the fact that our Speaker had back out because of her sudden illness.
Arrangements to welcome you here will be discussed as soon as you honor our invitation. If you have any more publicity material, please do not hesitate to contact me. A formal Letter of invitation would be sent to you as soon as you honor our invitation. We are taking care of your traveling and Hotel Accommodation expenses including your Speaking fees.
Remain Blessed
Prof. Peter Kopelman
stgeorgeuniversityoflondon@gmail.com
ST'GEORGE UNIVERSITY.
Ofice(+44) 702-401-8034

Having inadvertently engaged with "Prof Peter" and quickly realising his error, he decides to continue the correspondence and makes some demands of his own, playing the scammer at his own game. An entertaining read.