Monday, June 20, 2005

Nigerian email scam

I'm not sure how this will turn out. A while ago I got a nigerian email scam spam email. I thought I'd reply. Read the comments to see what's happened so far...

7 comments:

David Hulbert said...

This was the first email. Look at all the letters after his name!

BARRISTER Koffi Kojo, LLM,LLD,Dipl.Admin
THE PRINCIPAL PARTNER Kojo,CHAMBERS
No.10 RUE AVENIDA LOME TOGO

ATTN/PLS

I am Koffi Kojo, a solicitor at law. I am the personal attorney to late (Engr.A.C.) a foreigner who used to work with TEXACO an Oil Servicing Company here in Togo,and he was the principal owner and Director of DALLARS CONSTRUCTION AND MAINTAINANCE INC. here in Lome-Togo with its branches at Accra in Ghana and Cotonou in Benin Republic. Herein aftershall be referred to as my client.

On the 18th of December 2003, my client, his wife and their only daughter travelled to their country IRAN on holiday and unfotunantely, they were involved in an Earthquake which occoured in Bam on the 26th of December 2003 in IRAN which claim about 25 thausand lives in the Earthquake .

Since the earthquake I have made several enquiries to locate any of my clients extended relatives, this has proved unsuccessful.I am contacting you based on the fact that my client deposited one trunk BOX as a family treasure with a security company here in LOME-TOGO valued at US$9.5 million of which he handed over the CERTIFICATE OF DEPOSIT with me as his lawyer.And i also ask him then why he choose to deposit the fund/BOX in a security company rather than bank,

He told me that it was due to political instablity inTOGO and that he was assured by the Manager of the security company that he can claim his BOX from any of their Branch Offices in EUROPE and ASIA countries For the fact that I have been unsuccesfull in locating the relatives since the earthquake occoured, I hereby seek your consent to present you as the relative or the business partner to my late client, All i want from you is maximum co-operation to enable us make the claim of these Box to our benefit.

I have all the necessary information that will guide you to the successful claim of these BOX and legal POWER OF ATTORNEY that will make you the beneficary of the BOX will be prepared by me as his attorney. I guarantee that this will be executed under legitimate arrangement that will protect you and I to this effect.

NOTE THAT I INTEND TO SHARE THE FUND AS FOLLOWS:40%FOR YOUR PARTICIPATION,50% FOR ME AND 10% will be set aside to take care of expenses that may arise during the time of transaction and also telephone bills
Best regards,
Barrister Koffi Kojo, .LLM,LLD,Dipl.Admin

David Hulbert said...

I emailed back with this reply. I was mostly just being silly, not expecting any reply.

Hello Barrister Koffi Kojo, .LLM,LLD,Dipl.Admin!

Great to hear from you! This sounds very good. Almost too GOOD. I hope
you are not joking! Haa haa! I'd be INTERESTED, but I like CHEESE but
not PHONES. I want lots of money.

I hope we can have a peaceful INTERACTION with each other. (Look, I
did the capitals thing like you!)

Bestest regards,
Dave

PS
I'm sorry to hear about your CLIENT. My condolences. I hope they
didn't die in pain

David Hulbert said...

After my last email, I was very suprised to get a reply. Note that all the letters afgter his name ahve now cahnged to jsut Esq. Here's what he said:

Dear David ,

I got your mail and I appreciate first of all your kind and prompt response to my mail believing that you would be serious and willing to stand as the next of kin and rightful beneficiary to my late client who died in a tragic incidence along side with his family and ever since thier untimely death no one had come up to lay claims to thier belonging hence I decided to contact you upon series of notification letters and calls from the holding finance firm.

As a way forward, I will send you a Draft Text of Application which I will want you to carefully fill and have it faxed to the office of the Director of Foreign Operations and Remittance of the finance firm for thier study and approval upon which once approved the money will be immediately remitted to your nominated bank account without delay.This will only take us a maximum of 10 bank working days to complete and the money will be in your account.

Please this should be kept strictly confidential and top most secret as I will only be able to provide you with further informations upon hearing from you to enable me be sure you are serious and willing to assist and stand as the next of kin. I will NOT want ot geopardise this transaction and as such I will want us to work out this claim with all manner of seriousness and sincere approach which will enable us ensure a successful end against all odds and also make sure we work together as one family.

You can always call me on my private and direct phone number on:011-228-910-8590 or try it as:00228-910-8590.

Have a nice day and God bless you as I wait for your earliest response to my mail.

Best Regards,

Koffi Kojo.(Esq).

David Hulbert said...

I couldn't resist replying again. This is starting to get quite funny now.

Hello!

Thankyou for your reply! I'm sorry if I sound a little funny today - I
have jsut come back from an upper-crust office party, (celebrating our
new aquisition of Toads Inc. in the United States of America) and have
had a little too much to drink! I hope my spelling makes sense to you,
my friend. Do you ahve fun partys like this? Sorry if it is a personal
question, but I feel it is importand to get freindly with people you
do business with.

Anyway, abck to business. I'd love to stand as next of kin. Will I
have to do anything like change my name? I really like my name at the
moment and would probably not be willing to change it. Although I'd
have to think about it for a while if it was for ltos of money. Could
I change my name back again after?

When will you send the "Draft Text of Application"? Is it difficult to
fill in? I am very good at filling out forms, so we should have
nothing to worry about there. I am also very good at keeping things
confidential and top secret (is there a difference between
confidential and top secret?).

I also do not want to geopardise this transaction. I am very
seriousness in this email, although I have had a few drinks! When you
say "we work together as one family", do you mean actually one family
or is that just a metaphore? Will the forms I fill in make me married
to someone I don't know? I don't currently have a wife but I would
want to see her first before we got married if that is OK.

I noticed fom your phone nubmer that you're from Togolese Republic. I
heard on the news that you are having problems with your prime
minister. I hope that all gets sorted out.

You please have a nice day too. Also, I noticed the Esq after your
names. Congratulations on your title. My friend is a Dr, but Esq is
much more impressive.

Please reply soon with answers to my questions and how I should
proceed. I'd like the transaction to take place as soon as possible.

Tommeh said...

This is my favourite scam related post today

David Hulbert said...

No reply yet. :-( I guess he's realised I was being silly.

David Hulbert said...

A reply! This is getting really good! I'm not sure how I'm going to reply to this yet. I've added the bold for emphasis - the rest is copy + pasted. Interestingly, instead of just money, there now seems to be a "box". He also attached a form to fill in.

Dear Mr.David Hulbert,

Nice reading from you and I am happy with you over your success and celebrate also for that as I wish both of us success in this transaction and future business endeavours we might jointly enter upon a successful release of the box deposited with the Security Firm .

Going back and straight to business,please you do not need a Change of name or anything of that sort hence you go by same last name with my late client who you will be standing in this transaction as his next of kin and beneficiary.Like I stated in one of my mails , I will be providing you with all the useful informations vital for you to successfully stand and back up your legality as the next of kin.All we have to here is a Change of Ownership Agreement which will now have you as the rightful beneficiary inherent to the box containing the said amount deposited with the Security and Finance Firm.

As regards to the Draft Text of Application I promised to send to you , I will be doing that now and please find a spacimen of the said application below and carefully fill it out.Upon filling the said application , I will want you to first of all send me a copy for my study and once certified ok you will have to send it to the Security and Finance Firm for thier study and approval upon which once approved the box will be immediately released to you.Please bear in mind that this said form is easy to fill and there is nothing hard about it but where you find thier forms too difficult to fill , please send to me to enable me provide you with answers to that.

I hinted on Confidentiality hence you are only coming in as the next of kin and rightful beneficiary inherent to the said box deposited with the Security and Finance Firm for safe keeping by my late client. Please I would advise we both keep this matter to ourselves as to avoid geopardising our good chances of success. Also note that your marital status does not count on this matter and as such you are able and fit to stand in as the beneficiary.Yes I did stated we work together as one family in the sense that trust and sincerity is much needed to ensure a successful end to this matter.No wife is to be provided to you my brother so there is just no need for that.

Yes I am a Togolese and the problem at stake will NOT have any negative effect on this transaction hence I want you to understand that our present Government are working hard and doing thier best possible to ensure peace and political stability in the country and as such we could work ahead. Be sure that Togo is a peaceful country.Although not all that strong economically I would say it is a safe p^lace to invest and do big business. I hope upon a successful release of the Box you would be able to come down here to have a good view and study of my country.

As a Legal practitioner I prefer using the term "ESQ" to better address myself instead of "MR" which is not ok with me. I also have many Doctor friends and I want you to understand that I am the friendly type irrespective of my proffession as a lawyer.

I strongly believe that all questions have been well cleared and as such we could be able to move ahead with this transaction and be sure that every thing is going to work out as pre-planned with the box containing the money released to you upon due clearance with the Security and Finance Firm. You can call me on my direct and private phone number for further discussion:011-228-xxx-xxxx.

Have a nice and blessed day and thanks for the response as I wait to hear from you.

Best Regards,

Koffi Kojo.(Esq).