They keep trying !

I seem to be receiving an upsurge in "West African" or "Nigerian" scam letters by email. I use those terms not out of disrespect to that part of the world but due to the fact the Police often refer to these letters as such due to the fact that vast majority come from that area.

They have a common theme of someone who has come into a huge sum of money (often due to the unfortunate sudden death of a relative). Due to the vagaries of the banking system of that particular nation (hence West Africa) a British (or probably American or European person would be equally suitable) intermediary is required to use their bank account as a transit account for which they will be richly rewarded with a large percentage of the "loot". Obviously full bank details must be provided for this to go ahead.

Obviously the bit they don't tell you is they will empty your bank account and you will never see a penny again.

This has been well publicised so I fail to see how such a scam could work any more. However it must do sometimes as they keep trying.......

Definitely not emails you want to respond to but amusing in their sheer cheek and creativity. I can only assume they work on a few people sufficiently greedy and naive.

Here are a few I have received recently:

My Dear
I am Mrs Salam Ahmed, the manager of bill and exchange at the foreign remittance department Bank Of Africa.

In my department we discovered an abandoned sum of US$14.5M (fourteenmillion five hundred thousand US dollars) in an account that belongs to one of our foreign customer who died along with his family in the 2002 in a plane crash.Since we got information about his death, we have been expecting his next of kin to come over and claim his money because we cannot release it unless some body applies for it as next of kin or relation to the deceased as indicated in our banking guide lines and laws but unfortunately we learnt that all his supposed next of kin or relation died alongside with him at the plane crash leaving nobody behind for the claim.

It is therefore upon this discovery that I now decided to make thisbusiness proposal to you and release the money to you as the next of kin or relation to the deceased for safety and subsequent disbursement since nobody is coming for it and we don't want this money to go into the bank treasury as unclaimed bill.The banking law and guidelines here stipulates that if such money remained unclaimed after four years, the money will be transferred into the bank treasury as unclaimed fund.

The request of foreigner as next of kin in this business is occasioned by the fact that the customer was a foreigner and a Burkina cannot stand as next of kin to a foreigner.I agree that 45% of this money will be for you as respect to the provision of a foreign account , 5% will be set aside for expenses incurred during the business and 50% be for me.Thereafter, I will visit your country for disbursement according to thepercentage indicated. Therefore, to enable the immediate transfer of this fund to you as arranged, you must apply first to the bank as relation or next of kin of the deceased indicating your bank name, your bank account number, your private telephone and fax number for easy and effective communication and location where the money will be transfer.Upon receipt of your reply, I will send to you by fax or email the text of the application. I will not fail to bring to your notice that thistransaction is hitch-free and that you should not entertain any atom of fear as all required arrangements have been made for the transfer.You should contact me immediately as soon as you receive this mail,Trusting to hear from you immediately.

Yours faithfully,
Mrs Salam Ahmed


OR

Dear Friend,

Compliments,

I am the manager of bill and exchange at the foreign remittance department of BANK OF AFRICA. I am writting to seek your coperation over this business deal.
In my department, I discovered an abandoned sum of$15million USD(Fifteen million US dollars)only , in an account that belongs to one of our foreign customers who died along with his entire family in a plane crash that took place in Kenya,East Africa,the Late DR. GEORGE BRUMLEY,a citizen of Atlanta,United States of America but naturalised in Burkinafaso,WestAfrica and contractor with ECOWAS,(ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES) .

Since we got information about his death, we have been expecting his next of kin to come over and claim his money because it cannot be released unless somebody applies for it as next of kin or relation to the deceased as indicated in our banking guidelines but unfortunately , all his supposed next of kin or relation died alongside with him at the plane crash leaving nobody behind for the claim. It is therefore upon this discovery that I now decided to makethis businness proposal to you and release the money to you via your foreign bank account as the next of kin or relation to the deceased for safety and subsequent disbursement since nobody is coming for it and this money Could go into the Bank treasury as unclaimed Bill.

The Banking law and guideline here stipulates that if such money remainedunclamed after four years, the money will betransfered into the Bank treasury as unclaimed fund.The request for your assistance and maximum co-operation as a foreign citizen to stand as the next of kin in this business is occasioned by the fact that the deceased customer was a foreigner and a Burkinabe cannot stand as next of kin to a foreigner. 30 % of this money will be for you as my foreign partner, inrespect to the provision of a foreign account. 10 %will be set aside for expences incured during the business and 60 % would be for me.There after I will come over to your country for disbursement accoding to the percentages indicated.

Therefore to enable the immediate trnansfer of this fund to you as arranged,you must apply first to the bank as the relation or next of kin to the deceased,indicating your claims and wherein the money will be remitted .
Upon receipt of your reply, I will send to you by fax or email the text of application which you will fill and submit to the office of the foreign remittance director of the bank of africa. I will not fail to bring to your notice that this transaction is stricly confidential and i will use my position in this Bank to effect a hitch free transfer of the fund.
You should contact me immediately as soon as you receive this letter.
Trusting to hear from you immediately.
Please , visit the website below for more informations about the Plane Crash and the tragic death of the deceased and his entire family, Late DR.GEORGE BRUMLEY.

(link deleted)

Your’s faithfully,
MR.Atik BASSIM.


These crooks hide behind email on another continent and are incredibly difficult to catch.