Off topic: More about Nigerian spam: Be carefull Thread poster: Tharaa Hafez
|
|---|
Tharaa Hafez
Egypt
Local time: 22:31
Arabic to English
+ ...
Dear Collegues .
I have experienced a new adventure , which may others have already experienced . But I wanted to share it with you , in case you receive such emails .
You surely have heard about Nigerian Spams . Three weeks ago , I received one of them . A women called Iyesa Ismaiana , send me an email to an address which I rarely use and which is not listed in email's directories .
Well , she sent an email titled " Urgent Help ". She introduced herself as a Ku... See more Dear Collegues .
I have experienced a new adventure , which may others have already experienced . But I wanted to share it with you , in case you receive such emails .
You surely have heard about Nigerian Spams . Three weeks ago , I received one of them . A women called Iyesa Ismaiana , send me an email to an address which I rarely use and which is not listed in email's directories .
Well , she sent an email titled " Urgent Help ". She introduced herself as a Kuwait widow who will die within two months and want to spend her USD 10 millions in benevolent deeds . And she needs someone who will withdraw the money from a security company , where her late husband deposited it before his death . She didn't ask a lot; just tel & fax nos. and copy of my Passport even it is expired to issue a Power Attorney letter .
I won't bother you with small details but , I had doubts and became suspicious about her . Thus, I surffed the Internet and found that Iyesa Ismiana .
A woman who sent me a message using words of Koran , who will dies within two months and who has USD 10 Millions ; has posted and sent other letters on May 15th,2003 with same text except that she has USD 8.5 Millions . Also, in the email I received she stated that she is a loyal muslim and wants the money to be withdrawn by a reputable and loyal Muslim charity organization or prefer to be withdrawn by a devoted and loyal muslim individual .
In the letter posted and sent to other directions , she stated that she is a devoted christian and wants the money to be withdrawn by a reputable and loyal christian charity organization or prefer to be withdrawn by a devoted and loyal christian individual .
I searched about that person , to be sure if it was the same person and , in deed , it is .
Thus, be carefull , do not reply and send anything to such a person ; and don't be impressed by her writting style . She knows very well how to use words of both the Koran and the Bible . It is person who has nothing to do with Christianity nor the Muslim religion .
Someone from USA has posted the letter he received from her in the internet and received a warning to not getting involved . ( Dangerous Adventure )
So, I posted this subject to share it with a community I consider as my second family.
Regards
Saraa
[Edited at 2003-10-14 11:11] ▲ Collapse
| | | |
| |
| If only Iyesa Ismiana is a Kudoz question! | Oct 14, 2003 |
We the answerers would have had a field day. There are 335 hits for her. Bravo. No doubt she will be cursing the busybodies of Google. The naive person never dies. If one dies 10 replace him and the Iyesa Ismianas are having a good time.
By the way this Nigerian scam seems to be very old. Somebody had mentioned his father having received such a letter in the days of the snail mail. I am reminded of a cartoon in the punch. Some archaelogists are inspecting a cave painting belonging to some ... See more We the answerers would have had a field day. There are 335 hits for her. Bravo. No doubt she will be cursing the busybodies of Google. The naive person never dies. If one dies 10 replace him and the Iyesa Ismianas are having a good time.
By the way this Nigerian scam seems to be very old. Somebody had mentioned his father having received such a letter in the days of the snail mail. I am reminded of a cartoon in the punch. Some archaelogists are inspecting a cave painting belonging to some ancient period. One fellow is excitedly telling the other fellow: "See mate, this was the joke our professor had been telling us in the class last week."
If you search more, perhaps you can see a similar scam depicted in the cave paintings too.
Regards,
Narasimhan Raghavan ▲ Collapse
| | | |
| A pity they don't spend all that money in Africa (-; | Oct 14, 2003 |
Really it's a pity they don't spend all that money helping people who need it in Africa...
Except of course, that it doesn't exist.
Another story is that the bank notes are painted red for security reasons, and must be 'washed' with an expensive magic fluid... People who answer these mails are invited to buy bottles of the stuff along with a briefcase full of red dollars, which they can 'launder'. Not many of the red pieces of paper prove to be dollars, and what is in ... See more Really it's a pity they don't spend all that money helping people who need it in Africa...
Except of course, that it doesn't exist.
Another story is that the bank notes are painted red for security reasons, and must be 'washed' with an expensive magic fluid... People who answer these mails are invited to buy bottles of the stuff along with a briefcase full of red dollars, which they can 'launder'. Not many of the red pieces of paper prove to be dollars, and what is in the bottle is anybody's guess.
A couple of Danes admitted on TV that they travelled to Amsterdam to collect on this scheme - before realising it was simply a way of getting them on neutral ground. The Dutch police apparently do not place high priority on stupid foreigners exposing themselves to other foreigners' fraud.
Hence the Danish idiom about being more stupid than the police allow, I suppose.
'dummere end politiet tillader'
Concentrate on the things you can't buy - an Indian proverb says that those who are really rich in this world are those who are content with what they have.
It's true, whichever way you look at it. ▲ Collapse
| | |
|
|
|
Hans G. Liepert 
Switzerland
Local time: 22:31
English to German
+ ...
In memoriam | Nigerian scam | Oct 14, 2003 |
It's going on for 20 years and more, it's not worth talking about.
| | | |
| This one came in via the ProZ.com | Oct 15, 2003 |
This one arrived on Monday, 13th October.
And, as you can see, it came via ProZ.com
-----------
You have been sent a message via your ProZ.com page.
Author: Dr.Charles
[NOTE: The author is not a ProZ.com member or was not logged in when sending this message.]
Author's IP address: 213.255.192.114
Message type: Collaboration
-----------
INTRODUCTION & BIO-DATA
I am Dr. Charles Chaka , Chairman Mi... See more This one arrived on Monday, 13th October.
And, as you can see, it came via ProZ.com
-----------
You have been sent a message via your ProZ.com page.
Author: Dr.Charles
[NOTE: The author is not a ProZ.com member or was not logged in when sending this message.]
Author's IP address: 213.255.192.114
Message type: Collaboration
-----------
INTRODUCTION & BIO-DATA
I am Dr. Charles Chaka , Chairman Ministerial Contracts
Evaluation and Implementation Committee in the Federal
Ministry of Aviation. My position is very sensitive. I am
married with children and hold degrees in Public
Administration and Business Studies. I am due for
retirement any moment from now, after many years in
service.
REASONS FOR CONTACTING YOU
I require urgently, your unreserved assistance in providing
me with a safe and reliable bank account with full details
viz.: Name and Telephone,Telex and Fax numbers anywhere in
the world where I can transfer the sum of $27.5Million
United States Dollars only. The purpose of transfer is to
take care of my retirement by investing in viable business
you might deem fit to advise.
NATURE OF BUSINESS AND SOURCE OF FUNDS FOR TRANSFER
Since the inception of the present government, series of
contracts have been awarded by the Federal Ministry of
Aviation based on supplies (AIRPORT
NAVIGATIONAL ELECTRONICS), INSTRUMENT LANDING EQUIPMENT
(ILE),AND RADAR EQUIPMENT, VOR SYSTEMSMONITORS/ DISTANCE
MEASURING EQUIPMENT (DME),SECONDARY
SURVEILLANCE RADAR (SSR), INSTALLATION OF ONE UNIT OF
INSTRUMENT,LANDING SYSTEMS AND RADAR EQUIPMENT at Abuja
International Airport) amounting to several millions of US
Dollars. The above sum (US$27.5M) has shown in record as
surplus sum of the over-invoiced contracts carried in the
last developmental quarter.Presently,I have arranged for
the money to be kept in a coded bank account with the
Central Bank of Nigeria, until I am able to source for a
reliable Expatriate Partner whom I can present as the
beneficiary of the funds.You will take the status of the
contractor who executed the contract, and I will arrange
the supportive documents for the transfer.
MODE OF SHARING
25% will go to you for making available to us a company or
personal account
number, giving me your unreserved assistance and keeping
strictly the rules
of this transaction until transfer of the funds is
effected. 5% is for any contingencies and all miscellaneous
expenses incurred during the course of the transaction,
procurement of vital documents, tips and all expenses
including phones/ fax bills, hotels bills, taxes and bank
charges must be reconciled upon confirmation of the payment
by the DEBT MANAGEMENT OFFICE (DMO) OF THE PRESIDENCY 70%
will be shared between me and a few colleagues of mine
whose help will be highly needed throughout this period in
question.
OTHER PERTINENT DETAILS
Please note that after putting in so many years in
service, it is only normal for me to take good measures
to secure my period in retirement. I have put in resources
and time to bring
this transaction to this level, which means that it
represents a lot to me, and hopefully with help from you,
in just a matter of weeks, it shall come to mean a lot to
you too as we meet in your country to celebrate the closing
of the deal.
Kindly acknowledge your willingness through my private
Email:
[email protected] to enable us commences effective
process to finalize this matter.
Thanking you for anticipated co-operation.
Yours sincerely,
DR. Charles Chaka
Chairman ▲ Collapse
| | | |
António Ribeiro wrote:
And, as you can see, it came via ProZ.com
-----------
You have been sent a message via your ProZ.com page.
Author: Dr.Charles
[NOTE: The author is not a ProZ.com member or was not logged in when sending this message.]
Author's IP address: 213.255.192.114
Message type: Collaboration
Hi Antonio
As I'm going to explain how it works here, I'm going to hide the post where you ask why this can happen.
ProZ offers a service that is allowing us to receive e-mails without showing our address.
Our profiles can be found in the net by any search engine, with the key words. So, we can be contacted by anyone in the world.
In your profile, edit mode, edit email preferences, you can read:
*Allow anyone to send me mail via my profile page
*Allow only ProZ.com members who are logged in to send me mail via my profile
*Allow no one to send me mail via my profile page
You can also block a list of IP addresses.
I consider it as a door. If you have a door, anyone can knock at it, it can be for good or for bad news. If you only have walls nobody will knock at the door.
ProZ can only do something if the spammer is a member. Now that you (and we) know his IP, he can be blocked. I don't think that anything else can be done.
[Edited at 2003-10-15 03:44]
| | | |
Ralf Lemster
Germany
Local time: 22:31
English to German
+ ...
| Claudia is right | Oct 15, 2003 |
Hi António,
And, as you can see, it came via ProZ.com
Not quite - it was sent through your profile page, which represent just another e-mail point of contact. The difference to showing a contact address, say, on your website, is that your address is not disclosed to senders.
-----------
You have been sent a message via your ProZ.com page.
Author: Dr.Charles
[NOTE: The author is not a ProZ.com member or was not logged in when sending this message.]
That's the point: moderators can block other members using profile messaging inappropriately, but closing this door (to use Claudia's words) is your decision.
Who would you complain to if you get such messages via your normal e-mail address?
There's two things you may want to consider:
- Edit your post so it doesn't give the fraudulent poster additional advertising space (specifically, take out contact details).
- Contact a moderator immediately should this occur again (assuming you have left your profile open). When forwarding messages, please include the Internet message headers.
Best regards, Ralf
| | |
|
|
|
Thierry LOTTE
Local time: 22:31
Member (2001)
English to French
+ ...
| Hey ! Dont' miss that one !... | Oct 15, 2003 |
Even better if you click on the following link :
http://j-walk.com/other/conf/index.htm
Hope it will crack you up !...
[Edited at 2003-10-15 04:10]
| | | |
Thierry LOTTE
Local time: 22:31
Member (2001)
English to French
+ ...
| And now, what about this one... | Oct 15, 2003 |
Pray the Lord Sep 2
... and what about this one ! Now they try a new marketing concept which involves the religion :
My Brethren ,
Calvary greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, I am former Mrs
Fatima Aisha Alamin, now Mrs Elizabeth Alamin, a widow to Late Sheik
Mohammed Alamin, I am 72years old, I am now a new Christian convert,
suffering from long time cancer of the breast.
From a... See more Pray the Lord Sep 2
... and what about this one ! Now they try a new marketing concept which involves the religion :
My Brethren ,
Calvary greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, I am former Mrs
Fatima Aisha Alamin, now Mrs Elizabeth Alamin, a widow to Late Sheik
Mohammed Alamin, I am 72years old, I am now a new Christian convert,
suffering from long time cancer of the breast.
From all indications, my condition is really deteriorating and is quite
obvious that I may not live more than six months, because the cancer
stage has gotten to a very severe stage.
My late husband was killed during the Gulf war, and during the period
of our marriage we had a son who was also killed in a cold blood during
the Gulf war. My late husband was very wealthy and after his death, I
inherited all his business and wealth. My personal physician told me
that I may not live for more than six months and I am so scared about
this. So, I now decided to divide part of this wealth,by
contributing to the development of evangelism in Africa,America, Europe
and Asian Countries. This mission which will no doubt be tasking had
made me to recently relocated to Nigeria, Africa where I live presently.
I selected your church after
visiting the website for this purpose and prayed over it, I am willing
to donate the sum of $12.5Million US Dollars to your
Church/Ministry for the development of evangelism and also as aids for the
less
privileged around you.
Please note that, this fund was deposited with the (ROYAL TRUST BANK) in
Nigeria, therefore my lawyer will file an
immediate application and give you all the deposit codes of the funds and
send you the deposit certificat of the funds and the bank contact for the
transfer of the funds in the name of your
ministry. Please, do not reply me if you have the intention of using this
fund for personal use other than enhancement of evangelism.
Lastly, I want you/your ministry to be praying for me as regards
myentire life and my health because I have come to find out since my
spiritual birth lately that wealth acquisition without Jesus Christ in one's
life is vanity upon vanity. If you have to die says the Lord, keep fit
and I will give you the crown of life.
May the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the sweet
fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you. I await your urgent reply or
you can go ahead to contact my attorney who i have duely briefed on
this, he is to get all the paper works in favour of your Ministry,
Barr.Jude Olu Eqs.
email:[email protected].
Yours in Christ,
Mrs Elizabeth Alamin
4A George Close
Zaria, Nigeria
Is nt' that cute ???
( and, please, have a look on thevocabulary she uses.....) ▲ Collapse
| | | |
| Thanks Claudia | Oct 15, 2003 |
Thanks very much for your informative answer.
António
| | | |
| Need some quick money from the oil business? | Oct 15, 2003 |
I think I'll go for a hard translator's life...
Regards,
Veronica
I got this one on both business email addresses:
Dr. John Edewor
Department of Petroleum Resources
Central Business District,
Herbert Macaulay Way
Abuja, Nigeria.
Dear Sir,
REQUEST FOR ASSISTANCE-STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL;
I am Dr.John Edewor, a top management staff in the
Department of Petroleum Resources and I
head a seven-man tenders ... See more I think I'll go for a hard translator's life...
Regards,
Veronica
I got this one on both business email addresses:
Dr. John Edewor
Department of Petroleum Resources
Central Business District,
Herbert Macaulay Way
Abuja, Nigeria.
Dear Sir,
REQUEST FOR ASSISTANCE-STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL;
I am Dr.John Edewor, a top management staff in the
Department of Petroleum Resources and I
head a seven-man tenders board in charge of Contract
Awards and Payments Approvals. I came to know of you
in my search for a reliable and reputable person to
handle a very confidential transaction that involves
the transfer of a huge sum of money to a foreign
account. There were series of contracts executed by a
consortium Multinationals in the oil industry in
favour of DPR among which were:
The Supply of Y2K Compliant Personal Computers and
Accessories to the Warri, Port Harcourt and Kaduna
Refineries.
Supply of Drugs and Relief materials to the victims of
the Niger/ Delta crises.
The construction of Schools, Hospitals and Housing
Units in the Niger/Delta Region.
The original value of these contracts were
deliberately over invoiced in the sum of USD TEN
MILLION, FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS (10.5M) which has now
been approved and is now ready to be transferred being
that the Companies that actually executed these
contracts have been paid and the projects officially
commissioned.
Consequently, my colleagues and I are willing to
transfer the total amount to your account for
subsequent disbursement, since we as civil servants
are prohibited by the Code of Conduct Bureau (Civil
Service Laws) from opening and/ or operating foreign
accounts in our names.
Needless to say, the trust reposed on you at this
juncture is enormous. In return, we have agreed to
offer you 20% of the transferred sum, while 10% shall
be set aside for incidental expenses (internal and
external) between the parties in the course of the
transaction. You will be mandated to remit the balance
70% to other accounts in due course.
You must however NOTE that this transaction is subject
to the following terms and conditions:
Our conviction of your transparent honesty and
diligence.
That you would treat this transaction with utmost
secrecy and confidentiality.
That as a foreign partner, you will follow our
instructions to the letter. Provide the account
required, and competent to assist us on profitable
investment areas in your Country in an advisory
capacity.
Furthermore, Modalities have been worked out at the
highest levels of the Ministry of Finance and the
Central Bank of Nigeria for the immediate transfer of
the funds within 10 working days subject to your
satisfaction of the above stated terms. Our assurance
is that your role is risk free.
To accord this transaction the legality it deserves
and for mutual security of the fund, the whole
approval procedures will be officially and legally
processed with your name of any Company you may
nominate as the Bonafide beneficiary.
Once more, I want you to understand that having put in
over 26 years in the service of my country, I am
averse to having my image and career dented. This
matter should therefore be treated with utmost secrecy
and urgency.
Kindly expedite action as we are behind schedule to
enable us include this transfer in the third batch of
this last financial quarter payment.
Please acknowledge the receipt of this message via my
email
Yours Sincerely,
Dr. John Edewor ▲ Collapse
| | |
|
|
|
JoGunn
Local time: 20:31
English to Icelandic
+ ...
| Amazing that anyone falls for it | Oct 15, 2003 |
I have been seeing these letters for nearly 15 years. The first ones arrived by snail mail to my father, and I get one by e-mail every 2-3 months.
Here's a link to a the website of a guy who decided to answer some of these e-mails - some of the correspondence is very funny: http://www.warmfusion.com/nigerian/
| | | |
| Please, please help me with my criminal activities! | Oct 15, 2003 |
Here is today's crop from my inbox:
an honest crook
Dear Sir/Madam
STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL BUSINESS PROPOSAL RE: TRANSFER OF US$21.5 MILLION (TWENTY ONE MILLION,
FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND US DOLLARS ONLY).
I know this email will reach you as a surprise, but need not to worry as we are using the only secured and confidential medium available to seek for
foreign assistance/partnership in a business transaction which is of mutual benefit.... See more Here is today's crop from my inbox:
an honest crook
Dear Sir/Madam
STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL BUSINESS PROPOSAL RE: TRANSFER OF US$21.5 MILLION (TWENTY ONE MILLION,
FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND US DOLLARS ONLY).
I know this email will reach you as a surprise, but need not to worry as we are using the only secured and confidential medium available to seek for
foreign assistance/partnership in a business transaction which is of mutual benefit.
I am a member of the Federal Government of Nigeria Contract Award and Monitoring Committee in the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC)
Sometime ago, a contract was awarded to a foreign firm in NNPC by my Committee. This contract was over invoiced to the tune of US$21.5M. U. S. Dollars. This was done deliberately. The over-invoicing was a deal by my committee to benefit from the project.
We now want to transfer this money
which is in a suspense Account with NNPC into any Overseas Account which we expect you to provide for us.
SHARE: -
For providing the account where we shall remit the money into, you will be entitled to 20% of the money,70% will be for me and my partners while 10% has
been mapped out from the total sum to cover any expenses that may be incurred by us during the course of this transfer,both locally and international expenses.
It does not matter whether or not your company does contract projects of this nature described here. The assumption is that your company won the major contract and subcontracted it out to other companies. More often than not, big trading companies or firms of unrelated fields win major contracts and subcontracts to more specialized firms for execution of such contracts.
We have strong reliable connections and contacts at the Central Bank of Nigeria, as well as the Federal Ministry of Finance and we have no doubt that all the money will be released and transferred if we get the necessary foreign partner to assist us in this deal. Therefore, when the business is
successfully concluded we shall through our same connections withdraw all documents used from all the concerned Government Ministries for 100% security.
note added: Please, trust us, we are honorable crooks.
We are ordinary civil servants (added: they might be right) and we will not want to miss this once in alifetime opportunity to get rich. We want this money to be transferred to the overseas Accounts for us, before the present Democratic Government starts Auditing all Federal Government ownedParastatals.
Please contact me immediately through my email address whether or not you are interested in this deal. If you are not, it will enable me scout for another foreign partner to carry out this deal. But where you are interested, contact me through my confidential email address below, as time is of the essence in this business. I wait in anticipation of your fullest co-operation.
Yours Faithfully,
James Alele.
---------------------------------
This one is really honest. He openly admitted to a criminal act. Muslim or Christian - Thou shalt not steal!
Some of those letters are really funny. I particularly like the "suspense account" (that's where the money is). However, I wonder when certain violent groups will start to recruit "criminally inclined"/desperate/less educated individuals. ▲ Collapse
| | | |
NGK
United States
Local time: 15:31
|
Login to reply/comment 
