Wohoo - I'm rich.

[Xandax]

Recived this in the mail (not my first one, don't worry)


A very good day to you.

I am Mr. Jonathan Mwari Zuma, an accountant and principal overseer with the South African Mining Corporation. I got your contact through a friend in my local chamber of commerce in collaboration with the American Consulate here in South Africa. This is in line with my quest for a reliable and reputable person/company to handle a very confidential transaction, which involves transfer of fund to a foreign account.

This said fund (US$20.5m) Twenty million, five hundred thousand United Statesdollars, is reportedly made to be a variation and accumulation of equity investment made in the South African Mining corporation in the period of 1983-1987. This redeemable investment interest, has now matured and has long been cleared for disbursement but with no apparent knowledge of who the investors are, as most of the investors then, were corrupt government officials and their cronies under the obnoxious apartheid regime who used pseudo names and aliases in the transactions, and could not come up for claims under the present political setting in South Africa.

After due consultative sessions with my colleagues in the account department at the mining corporation, I discovered that none of them knows about the funds. So I decided to confiscate the funds and placed it in a private trust company for safe keeping, awaiting further transfer to
a foreign account for further business ventures. I cannot handle this transaction on my name because we were not allowed to operate an offshore account while still in service. What I need now is a foreign national who can assist me in the transfer of this fund, and also to help invest the fund in a risk free venture. if you are wi! lling to assist me in this transfer, I have agreed to compensate y ou with a certain percentage(20%) of the total sum (US$20.5m) through mutual negotiations. Your specialty is not a barrier to this transaction as I have mapped out strategies to effectively actualize this transaction.

Thank you for your anticipated co-operation, and I hope to hear from you soon, to enable me give you full details of the transactions. And also remember to maintain absolute confidentiality as any leakage of information may jeopardize our chance of receiving this money.

Best regards,
Jonathan Mwari Zuma
SAMC P.ACC


Damned - I find it fun. Even more fun is that (some) people are actually stupid enough to fall for it
Oh the lure of easy money.
So how it would go:
First - I take contact and express my interest.
They will no doubt try to meet me and show me all the "proper" documents and perhaps even some of the cash (fake naturally), however....
they just need some compensation and money for bribes etc to get the money released properly.
I pay,because hey - we are talking about 20% of 20 mil. dollars (bah - danged that low currency exchange rate).
Then they want more money, because - hey, unforseen expenditures, and they need to cover them.
Then after some ping-pong of bribemoney and whatnot - they invite me "down there" because it is close to be in order. And when meeting them "there" - they need my passport for documentation while I wait in some hotelroom/resturant/bar.
Then I'll be held hostages for a huge amount of money, while they make dublicates of my passport, because I can be allowed to go again....

Hehe - you'd almost think I've tried it.
Oh, and if you SYMmers are interest in this - I also have a nice little brigde you could buy. Would look good in any backyward and be the envy of all the neighbourghs

Oh well - what a nice way to start ones morning

[dragon wench]

ROFL!

Yeah.. it's sad how people actually do fall for that sort of thing. As the cliche goes.. "There's a sucker born every minute."

[Darth Zenemij]

Heh, I got an email similar to that once, I didn;t knw what to do at first, then I thought, hey they didn't get my name right! wich made me mad, so I didn't reply. I had a little feeling that it was fake, I later learned that it was.

[blake]

You just ruined your chance at a large sum of money, all they asked was to keep it confidential, was that so hard?

[Yeltsu]

Hehe, I knew something was wrong when Xandax posted a thread with that title

[Xandax]

Originally Posted by Yeltsu

Hehe, I knew something was wrong when Xandax posted a thread with that title

Oh you hurt my feelings. You are right of course, but still... it hurts

hehe

[Yeltsu]

Hee hee Just messing with you mate

[fable]

I've received something very much like that more than a dozen times over the last year on AOL. Most of them involve mining operations in Nigeria, though some also speak of former members of the army who need a secure place to put their funds, and a few claim to be banks. To judge by these posts, I should move there. I'm apparently more popular and better known in Nigeria than I am in the US.

Of course, if I get such a letter from the desk of George Bush, I will probably move to Budapest.

[ik911]

Aye, arno_v got such a message once. We tried to figure out what the hell they were trying to achieve, but this makes sense.

[Lestat]

This kind of thing started indeed in Nigeria. There is even a special term for them: "Four-one-nine people" after presidential decree 419, directed against the abuse of confidence. Don't ask a date, but the expression was already in use when I was there (i.e. 1993) for all kinds of crooks and swindlers.

[Fiona]

There have been programmes on the BBC about this. It seems to be a long-standing/recurrent fraud. So far as I remember they don't even go so far as to get you there etc. They need your bank details to transfer the money, of course.

One of the people who had been caught was interviewed and was very aggrieved. As he said "it is not as if I am greedy...."

[fable]

The mind boggles. If it isn't being done by him out of personal greed, what is his motivation? Joie de vivre?

[arno_v]

Originally Posted by ik911

Aye, arno_v got such a message once. We tried to figure out what the hell they were trying to achieve, but this makes sense.

Indeed, I didn't knew how they wanted to get my money. Only thing I could guess was they wanted it and I wasen't getting that 2,wathever million dollar.

[boo's daddy]

Originally Posted by Fiona

There have been programmes on the BBC about this. It seems to be a long-standing/recurrent fraud. So far as I remember they don't even go so far as to get you there etc. They need your bank details to transfer the money, of course.

One of the people who had been caught was interviewed and was very aggrieved. As he said "it is not as if I am greedy...."

I think I saw that programme: one guy had handed over £250k to a Nigerian scammer.

The way it worked was that there is a bit of emailing back and forth and all seems to be going smoothly, then they ask you for a small (say £100) payment for some fee or charge or other. If you pay up, all goes fine for a bit then they ask you for more. Then more, and more, and basically they keep asking for more until you stop paying.

To me, it's just another Stupidity Tax.

[Lestat]

Originally Posted by fable

The mind boggles. If it isn't being done by him out of personal greed, what is his motivation? Joie de vivre?

They might be Yen Buddhists, who believe that the accumulation of wealth tarnishes the soul. And in the interest of your spiritual well-being they try to take away as much of your wealth as possible.
(In view of her sig, at leas Dragon Wench should know what I'm talking about)