The Newest Nigerian Scams

They're the butt of many jokes, everyone has seen one in some form or the other - so why do those "Nigerian" scams still clog our mailboxes?

I'm asking because I've recently gotten a few new riffs on the same old scam - and I have to say, they've gotten both better, and worse. I got a couple recently that were purportedly from the UK lottery commission. Fortunately (for us) they were so badly written it was easy to spot that they certainly had not been written by any self-respecting Brit!

But today I opened my email to find this one:

"Subject: With Due respect
With Due respect I humbly write to solicit for your partnership and assistance in the transfer and investment of my inheritance fund USD$17.5M from my late father who died mysteriously last Dec."

Wow! This one starts out like a good short story... let's continue!

"It was very evident that he was poisoned to death. In my culture, when a man dies, if he does not have a male child, the brothers shares his property leaving both the wife and the daughters empty handed including the house they live in. This is the exact case with me as I am the only daughter of my father. I lost my mother when I was barely a year old and my father refused to re-marry another wife because he felt solely responsible for my mother's death."

So we have a murder, an inheritance, the mysterious death of a mother... I have to keep reading...

"This is so because he concentrated much on his businesses that he rarely pays attention to domestic affairs. He was always travelling taking care of his businesses that he did not notice when my mother took ill. He thought it was a minor illness and was ignorant of this. My mother on her own resorted to self-medication. It was not until the illness degenerated that my father took my mother to hospital where she was diagnosed to find out that hypatitis had eaten deep into her blood stream. She didn't last long before she died. This happened when I was barely a year old. Based on this, my father could not forgive himself easily because of it and said he was responsible for her death as he could have saved her if only he had paid attention to the things at home rather than concentrating much on his businesses."

So, the mother was shooting up with something that gave her hepatitis, and it was all dad's fault because he neglected his home life making all that money! This is beginning to sound like Knott's Landing or Dallas! You just have to keep reading, right?

"Despite all entreaties by friends and relatives, he refused to remarry but ensured that I had everything that I wanted. It was as a result of this that he made me the next of kin to his fund deposit with the bank and stated that in the event of any eventuality, I should have a direct access to the fund only when I am 24 years of age otherwise, I should have a guardian/partner intercede on my behalf for the release of the funds to me. Unfortunately, he died late last year and I am 21 years of age currently. This is why I have contacted you to serve as a guardian
to me and as my foreign partner for the transfer and investment of the fund overseas."

This, of course, is the hook. But there is also a bad guy! Read on...

"My uncles does not know about the fund because they had already taken my father's houses and other properties because I am a girl and they said I do not have rights for any property. They have requested to have my father's bank papers but I simply told them that I do not know where he kept them. The younger brother took the house in the village while the houses in the town were sold out they shared the proceed they got from the sale. Right now, I am with a friend of mine and do sincerely want to travel out of my country. This can only happen when I have secured the release and transfer of the funds in the bank.

This why it is important that we have a plan on the type of lucrative business that we can invest the funds on."

So saving this young girl, and her millions, is all up to ME! What do I have to do?

"I had at various times had discussions with the director of international remittance unit of the bank where my father deposited the funds and I was assured that once, I have someone who would be willing to receive the funds on my behalf, they shall commence all proceedings to effect the release and transfer of the funds into the person's designated account. Now, that you have signified your interest to partner with me, it would only be very necessary if you contact the bank and request for the release and transfer of my inheritance fund into your nominated account for the purpose of investment and to further have me come over to your country to continue with my studies.

I shall be giving you the bank's contact details as soon as I hear back from you so that you will go ahead and contact the bank.

Your urgent response will be appreciated, please email me directly, (mariam@tsamail.co.za)."

Not a bad little story, is it? We have been warned over and over about these, particularly not to give our personal information out to anyone - no one, we are told, who is reputable will ever ask for information such as bank accounts, social security numbers, or other financial information via email. And of course, Mariam does not... she merely asks us to email her! Start a correspondence.

We can only assume that because these email frauds continue to proliferate someone must be responding to them. Read these emails for the entertainment value... but don't be foolish enough to respond. As with any unsolicited email requesting a response, check with Scopes.com, or Urbanlegends.com to determine whether they are (as they most likely are) frauds before taking any action - even so much as clicking on a link.

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