Alert! Need Help, possible Scam Artist

e-mail | 10.`18.02

[meandog]

I received the following over e-mail. I wonder if I could get some help from FReepers in the suspicion that perhaps this is being bantied about....


From the desk of:-
MRS GRACE ITA
C/O Barrister Chike Egobia
Lagos Nigeria

Sir,

URGENT AND CONFIDENTIAL BUSINESS PROPOSAL

I am Grace Ita (mrs) widow of the late Col. Kulu Ita the former governor of Kano State of Nigerian. My late husband was one of the victims of the November ADC Aircraft Boeing 722 that crashed in Lagos.

I have just been informed by family attorney Barrister Chike Egobia that my late husband operated a secret account with fictitious name in a Nigeria bank into which total sum of Nineteen Million, Five Hundred Thousand US Dollars ($19.5) was transferred and credited in his favour. The attorney now advised me to seek in confidence a foreign account into which this fund could be transferred for disbursement as directed by my late husband in his will.

It has been resolved that 25% will be your share for nominating an account for this purpose and any other assistance you will give in that regard. 10% has been mapped out to payback all local and international expenses, which may be, incurred in the transfer process and 5% has been conceded to the local bank manager here assisting facilitating the transfer.

Finally, 60% will come to myself and my children and good part of this shall be directed towards executing his will which is to buy shares and stocks in foreign country to securities his children’s future to facilitate the conclusion of this transaction if accepted do send to me promptly by fax through family attorney, the following.

1. The account number to be used for remittance

2. Name and address of your bank

3. Fax and telephone numbers, through which you will be contacted

4. Promptly whenever you attorney/ assistance may be required

Please note that i have been assured that the transaction will be concluded in ten (10) banking working days upon my receiving from you the above listed information will commence the process of retrieving the will immediately i hear from you.

May at this point emphasize the high level of confidentiality, which this business demands hope you will not betray the trust and confidence, which is reposed in you. However, you may need to give me sufficient assurance that you will not sit on this fund when it is finally remitted into your account.

Please direct your reply by email to my box in which the family attorney will communicate with him towards effective completion of this transaction.

Regards.

Grace Ita (Mrs)

[Chemnitz]

Bad news. I would not respond to such a message. That will only egg them on. Instead block their email from being downloaded from your server. Then your account will seem to be dead.

[theDentist]

Darlin', I get one of these each day.

When they first arrived, I sent replies (which I cannot post here, lest they revoke my privileges). Let's just say they were foul, inventive, and would make a sailor blush. All that did was confirm I had a valid address.

Live and learn.

[sharktrager]

You've been here 4 years and don't know about this?

[DentsRun]

I've recieved a number of these myself, although I've never fully understood what they are trying to accomplish. Are they trying to tap bank accounts? I would hope most people are smart enough to never give personal banking information out.

I often wondered what someone would do with someone else's back account number. It seems to me evertime you write a check you are already giving out your account number. If an account number were all that were needed to empty one's account, all of us would have gone broke decades ago.

In regard to the Nigerian scam, I once knew the wife of a man who fell for it. As it turned out, they didn't so much want his bank number as $10,000 in cash for some unexpected last minute expense. The bank number was just a way to make it all seem legitimate. Well, semi-legitimate. No honest person would fall for something like this. It appeals to people with larceny in their hearts already.

[DoughtyOne]

True enough. I will state that I saw a guy on the evening news once whou could strip you of all your important numbers in moments. From the slightest bit of information, he'd develop the rest in hours. Then he could tap your accounts. I watched the presentation, and the guy seemed legit. He'd been busted for it and now helped the police bust people doing much the same thing. He could get money out of your bank account. I believe there are people out there that can do this, although you may be right in this instance. And yes, I agree larceny is the key that opens most people up to be taken.

[Maceman]

Here is the way to deal with these scams.

[agrace]

Ok, that explains a lot. As far as I can recall, it was just the "from" address that was Yahoo. Thanks very much for the info!

[ErnBatavia]

http://www.quatloos.com/scams/nigerian.htm

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Hellooooo, McFly! It's a scam!

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

But then again, I suspect you're just asking facetiously...