Just got this "special" email.

Hahahahahaahahaha!

"Dear Friend.

This Message Might Meet You In Utmost Surprise . However, It's Just My Urgent Need For Foreign Partner That Made Me To Contact You For This Transaction. I Am A Banker By Profession From Ivory Coast In West Africa And Currently Holding The Post Of Foreign Remittance Director In Our Bank.

I Have The Opportunity Of Transferring The Left Over Funds ($15.Million) Of One Of My Bank Clients Who Died Along With His Entire Family In Kenya Plane Crash 2003.You Can Confirm The Geniuses Of The Deceased Death .

You can view this site to know more.
http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/africa/07 ... index.html

Hence, I Am Inviting You For A Business Deal Where This Money Can Be Shared Between Us In The Ratio Of 50/40 / 10% For Any income expenses that will come During the transfer, If You Agree To My Business Proposal.

Further Details Of The Transfer Will Be Forwarded To You As Soon As I Receive Your Return Mail. Have A Great Day.

Yours,
Jude Imafidon

_________________
"In the beginning was the Word..."

http://groovybell.blogspot.com/

and

http://groovytrekkers.blogspot.com/

Now I Squidoo!!!
http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/groovyoldlady

So, have you confirmed the geniuses of their deceased?
Of course, the money would be nice but what would you do with their entire Kenyan family and a plane crash? That's a lot to take on.

What's really freaky is that there are actually people who believe this stuff. AMAZING.

Wait, wait, wait... he offered you the money, an entire family, AND a plane crash?

Dang, all he offered me was the money.

But I think you'll have your work cut out for you in confirming the geniuses of the deceased death. That can get tricky, you know. "Deceased death." Does that mean they're actually alive?

_________________
Karen
_____________________

http://anovelplace.wordpress.com/

http://lifeinthedykelane.blogspot.com

These guys intentionally write these email messages with grammatical and other errors to appear uneducated/dumb, so that their targets will underestimate them. Believe it or not, people actually fall for these scams (google "Nigerian black money scam" or "Nigerian 419 scam" to read all about it).

_________________
"No man but a blockhead ever wrote, except for money."

-- Samuel Johnson

All those initial caps are giving me a headache...

_________________
Elle
Word 4 Writers has been relaunched!

Most of the messages read like a fortune cookie, "Dear Treasured One ..."

_________________
ShelleyBueche.com

What burns me up is how these guys are fouling the nest for honest Nigerians (or what have you). I got introduced to a guy who is trying to do PR for the place, but as soon as he mentions the name 'Nigeria', the shutters come down and the scam-alert alarms go off.

_________________
Keith Kellett
http://travelrat.wordpress.com
Amesbury, England

That's a huge shame, Keith. There are dishonest people in every country.
I have friends who lived in Nigeria for a number of years and they fell in love with the place.
I received a similar scam message from someone in Hong Kong.
But I can't see anyone in Oz, deciding to never go shopping there again.
Honestly, that sort of generalized bigotry gives me heartburn!!!

You're right, Harry. I hadn't thought of that aspect of the con. One of the worst parts of these scams is that very often the victims are the elderly. They are also often the targets of at-home scams of this sort, i.e. approached in a parking lot by someone who claims to have a wad of money (only showing half of some bills in their hand) if only they will take them to their banks, etc. etc.

Colleen

_________________
"All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know." (Hemingway, "A Moveable Feast.")

"Write the Truth." (Author's advice written in signed copy of Robert McKee's "Story.")

Last week's episode of This American Life had a segment dealing with this very topic, about three people who decided to turn the tables on an internet scammer. The following webpage has a description of the broadcast and a link to listen for free.

http://www.thislife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?episode=363

Dave

_________________
www.davidlevinchess.com