SPAM FREEPMAIL?

[Jaxter]

Check this out...

[Catspaw]

Pretty bad, indeed. But I loved this line:

On smooth conclusion of this transaction,you will be entitled to 25% of the total sum as gratification

Does this have anything to do with one's naughty parts?

[Lazamataz]

Really? What do I have to do?

It's too TOP SECRET to speak to the whole forum. As you can imagine, my position in the bank prevents me from making too wide a presence. I will send you mail.

[MindBender26]

It's like Chicken Man: It's Everywhere, it's Everywhere!!!

---

Nigeria Hoax Spawns Copycats

By Joanna Glasner | Also by this reporter Page 1 of 1

02:00 AM Jun. 18, 2002 PT

For most recipients of e-mail, the Nigerian spam scam is a familiar sight.

It comes, often quite regularly, from an alleged former dignitary of the Nigerian government. The typical storyline is that the sender has stashed away a huge wad of cash, but needs a foreign bank account through which to funnel it.

If the recipient of the letter would kindly provide their own account number, they can be assured a huge reward.

The scam -- which usually results in some sucker getting their bank account cleaned out -- has been around since before the dawn of the Internet.

But if recent tallies of spam complaints are any indication, perpetrators of the well-known fraud are changing their tactics. Fraud experts say the scam is too famous to work in its original form.

"As we've pushed awareness, they come up with new ways to attract victims," said John Kane, research manager at the National White Collar Crime Center.

In the past few months, Kane has seen versions of the Nigerian scam that feature authors ranging from deposed African leaders to Afghan refugees to an alleged U.S. commando.

Perhaps the most common variant on the Nigerian scam is a look-a-like letter purporting to be from a deposed leader of another African nation.

One widely circulated letter allegedly comes from a son of former Congo dictator Mobutu Sese-Seko, who seeks help transferring money that's secretly locked in a chest. Another comes from the daughter of a deceased Angolan rebel leader who seeks to prevent the government from seizing the $8.5 million her father left behind.

The Sept. 11 attacks and U.S. military action in Afghanistan have also inspired a new breed of scams, Kane said.

One such letter claims to come from a U.S. Special Forces commando who purports to have found $36 million in drug money while conducting a covert search-and-destroy mission against the Taliban. The "commando" says he has stashed the cash in luggage, but wants to keep it in someone else's bank account "for safekeeping."

Another offer comes from a man who claims he was delivering a large sum of cash to the World Trade Center on the day it collapsed. Although he escaped from the building, his colleagues believe that he is dead. He kept the cash, kept a low profile and is in great need of a bank account to quietly deposit the money.

Given the surge in copycat scams, anti-fraud groups are advising people to do more than scan e-mail for suspect keywords like "Nigeria."

"There are certain characteristics that these all have in common," said Kane. Con artists nearly always convey a sense of urgency, emphasize that millions of dollars are at stake and urge strict confidentiality.

The obvious way to avoid falling victim, of course, is simply to never give a bank account number to total strangers met over the Internet.

Suspicious as it sounds, the Nigerian hoax has worked remarkably well for more than a decade. Originated as a postal scam, the fraud took on new life with the popularization of e-mail. The U.S. Secret Service estimates that the fraud costs victims hundreds of millions of dollars worldwide each year.

Although senders pretend to be from a variety of African nations, investigations have revealed that most of the scams originate in Nigeria, said a representative of the 419 Coalition, an anti-fraud group.
According to the U.S. State Department, the letters first surfaced in the mid-1980s around the time of the collapse of world oil prices, which is Nigeria's main foreign exchange earner. Some Nigerians turned to crime in order to survive.

In recent years, law enforcement agencies from several countries, including the United States, Britain, Nigeria and South Africa, have stepped up efforts to crack down on the bank scam, otherwise known as advanced-fee fraud or 4-1-9 fraud, for the section of the Nigerian penal code that covers the crime.

The latest arrest, announced in May, resulted from a joint investigation by the South African Police Service and Scotland Yard. Police collared two Nigerian men in Roodepoort, South Africa, who are believed to be behind one of the larger 4-1-9 operations.

Meanwhile, anti-fraud agencies such as the Internet Fraud Complaint Center continue to see a brisk volume of advanced-fee fraud complaints.

Fraudsters are responding by getting more creative.

One of the odder examples, provided by Holly Anderson of the National Fraud Information Center (NFIC), involved a scam artist who lurked on dating websites, including sites for lesbian singles. The poster pretended to be the daughter of a slain Sierra Leone gold mine executive seeking a long-term relationship with a special someone.

It would be so easy, she wrote, if some helpful person would just provide a bank account number.

[Quilla]

That money is MINE, MINE I tell you! I'm meeting up next week when I fly to Africa..... I'm going to be rich!!!

Idiot! Save your money, I've already emailed him with my back account number, social security number, and address. Sorry, when you snooze you lose.

[Jaxter]

Let me try that again...

Click here!

[Chancellor Palpatine]

Ewwwwww!!

[Tamzee]

Kay.... you're gonna be rich...

Drinks are on our NEW BEST FRIEND, Chancellor Palpatine :-)

[Cultural Jihad]

This was in the news recently:
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/6562555.htm

Sacramento man guilty in $2 million Nigerian bank scam
Associated Press

SACRAMENTO - A Sacramento man of Nigerian descent pleaded guilty Monday to running an international investment scam that defrauded investors of more than $2.1 million through a Nigerian advance fee scheme.

Roland Adams, 37, admitted that he conspired with others in Nigeria, South Africa and Canada to run the scheme. Potential investors were mailed letters supposedly from African government officials who wanted help in diverting millions of dollars held in bogus trusts or accounts.

In exchange for a future share of the fictitious money, the victims were persuaded to send in fees of several thousand to several hundred thousand dollars to individuals or accounts around the world.

Adams, who owns Adams Business Services, gave the scheme an illusion of legitimacy by setting up Web sites such as Afribankcorp.com, Bancofafrica.com and Bancofeasterncarribean.com where victims could track the false transactions.

He faces up to five years in federal prison for mail fraud conspiracy and 20 years for conspiracy to launder money at his Oct. 27 sentencing.

Prosecutors also are seeking to seize Adams' home and $87,000 in various bank accounts. A judge is set to decide on those forfeitures next month.

He was separately indicted on charges of making false statements during his naturalization interview. If convicted, that charge could bring another 10 years in federal prison, the loss of his citizenship, and his deportation back to Nigeria.

[BSunday]

socosa
Since Aug 28, 2003

[xsmommy]

Nigerian scam artists using FREEPMAIL now? LMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!! hey if they are true conservatives maybe you SHOULD give them the cash? ; )

[Vigilantcitizen]

"During our investigation and auditing in this bank, my department came across a very huge sum of money belonging to a deceased person who died on 31 october 1999 in a plane crash and the fund has been dormant in his account with this Bank without any claim of the fund in our custody either from his family or relation before our discovery to this development."

Dear Dr. Socosa,

I must be very blessed to have received this message from you. You see, I have an Aunt who has been missing since around the time you mentioned who had a substantial estate that could not be distributed to her heirs until her cause of death had been proven.

We have been searching the world over for news of what happened to her, and I believe you have located the reason behind her death.

Her estate lawyers are very interested in talking to you, and I have taken the liberty of giving them your e-mail address so they can contact you.

Rest assured, that if this is her account, you will receive a reward for your assistance.

Yours truly,

Jag Off

[Gorzaloon]

A few months ago, someone in Europe went to the Nigerian embassy and blew away the first person he got to.

It was a good start, though nobody could feel very sorry for anyone stupid enough to fall for these scams.

Dear Reverend Doctor Field Marshall Mogumbi:

Thank you for the opportunity to share your wealth, but my principles tell me not to take advantage of you, because this evening, as you have probably heard, we are attacking your country with nuclear weapons- Hundreds of them.

[unsycophant]

You seem smart enough to realize that someone created this account to poke at you and (according to you) a few others.

Any idea why?

[PBRSTREETGANG]

Well, on the plus side, it's nice to know that we have Nigerian Freepers.

[mountaineer]

The last time I got one of the Nigerian scam spams, I responded to the scammer, saying that I was forwarding the email to the FBI for its advice on the matter.

[Quilla]

This could be one reason:

"Freepwatch suggests activists register an account at www.FreeRepublic.com and actively disrupt the website. Disruption of the FreeRepublic network will help to stop their GOP fundraising and Republican organizing for the 2004 election. Show no mercy."

Source: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/974104/posts

[CobaltBlue]

People actually fell for it? Amazing . . . .

[Chancellor Palpatine]

They love me soooo much? LOL.

I give it about a 70% chance. It is also possible that it is a genuine spam, hence the query as to whether anybody else got it.

[Chancellor Palpatine]

Bite yer tongue.....