If it Sounds Too Good to Be True - it Usually is : 419 Scams

This article was inspired in part by one written by Linda Louise Johnson entitled My $32 Million Dollar Day Including a Message from Madame Nyagu and partly by a scam email that got through my spam filters and that I received shortly after reading and commenting on Linda's article.

The email that I received this morning was this:

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OFFICIAL E-MAIL FROM: Bill Gates.

Chairman/CEO Microsoft Corporation.

RE: 2010 AWARD

Congratulations!!

This is to officially inform you that your EMAIL ID has been selected from Microsoft virtual machine as the winner of this Year 2010 Microsoft award and awarded you the sum of Five Million British Pounds ($USD5M).To get paid i advised that you get back to me with the Following: Full Name, Telephone number,age,Sex and home or office Address. Once again, Congratulations

Sincerely,

William Henry Bill Gates.
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Wow! An email from Bill Gates himself!

I am so honored, and he must know that I write for Associated Content (which is owned by Yahoo), since he didn't use one of his many Microsoft email addresses to send this message, it came from themaninthegardens4@yahoo.com.

I know that Bill Gates is loaded with money, and that he is a very busy man, so I guess I can excuse him for writing Five Million British Pounds ($USD5M). I suppose since this is a very large sum indeed I shouldn't complain, but still, it would be nice to know if I have won 5 Million Dollars or Pounds, since 5 Million Pounds is more like 7.5 Million Dollars. But what's 2.5 Million Dollars between friends...

Seriously though, these emails, as annoying as they are, and as funny as they can sometimes be, are really naive, and it makes you wonder how people can actually fall for them, and yet they do.

These stories, most of which are very similar, it's only the origin of the money, the amount, the names of the people, and the countries that change, are all part of what is known as the "419 Scam".

The number "419" refers to the article of the Nigerian Criminal Code (part of Chapter 38: "Obtaining Property by false pretenses; Cheating") dealing with fraud.

These scams began in the early 1980's when several unemployed university students used this idea to manipulate business visitors who were interested in shady deals in the Nigerian oil sector. They then began targeting businessmen in the west, and then the western population in general.

The process spread in the 1990's with the bulk sending of letters, plus the use of technology to send communications via fax and telex.

With the explosive growth of the Internet and in particular email, over the last 10 years the scammers have turned to this cheap and often automated means of spreading their disease, sending out millions of emails daily, and with the stories featuring other African countries as well as Central and South America, and the Middle East.

Occasionally I get emails telling stories of gold that was found during the invasion of Iraq, which forces need to get out of the country. The story mimics that of Kelly's Heroes and Three Kings in so many ways.

For those of you who don't know, the way in which these scams work, is that having got in touch with the sender of the email, you are required to prove your desire to obtain the money, by sending them an advance fee, which is to help them get paperwork, or something like that.

Once you are hooked, they keep on finding problems, which require more money to be sent, and so the story goes on and on, but the money never gets released.

Some people are actively fighting the scammers, who are incredibly hard to trace, and making people more aware of the fact that these emails are indeed scams. One such site is 419Eater.com http://www.419eater.com/ which has some Baiting Tips http://www.419eater.com/html/baiting.htm on how to try and weed out these criminals, and doing this has actually become a popular cyber sport.

They do issue a stern warning however, for those who think that this might be a good game to play...

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Please remember that these people are CRIMINALS and should be treated as such.

Under no circumstances must you enter into any communications with these people unless you feel you are adequately prepared to deal with them.

Under NO CIRCUMSTANCES give them ANY real private information about yourself. These guys may appear dumb and clueless, but I suspect it wouldn't be so funny if you were to come face-to-face with one of them, although I'll be the first to admit the chances against this happening are astronomical - unless of course you are dumb enough to fly over to meet them in person, in which case you need to be sectioned ASAP!

The tips below are for INFORMATION ONLY. 419eater.com cannot be held responsible for what you decide to do with the information.

If you are unsure of what you are doing please LEAVE WELL ALONE!
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The Metropolitan Police in the UK have an awareness page on their site on this scam, and what to do and more importantly, what to NOT do.

Some people amazingly enough fall for these scams, and have lost their life savings as a result.

The New Yorker has a story of one victim, who fortunately was wise enough to check things out, and it was found that a check sent to him by the scammers was a altered duplicate of another that had been issued by a company.

The BBC News has a similar story of a man who lost $200,000 in cash as well as his business.

It's a sad world that we live in, where tricksters and con-men prey on the innocent all the time.

Fortunately the spam filter at the hosting company I use does catch most of these emails. These are just a few examples of the ones that arrived TODAY in the junk box - they didn't even get downloaded to my computer:

Hello, my name is Peter Cheng Wong from Hong Kong

I have a business that I want to offer you. This projects worth 22.5Million Dollars and you will have a 50% share from the total amount.

I will give you the full details in my next e-mail and what I need from you.

So if you are interested please contact me back at my personal address infoatmsft@yahoo.com.hk

Mr. Peter Cheng Wong
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This next one will really give Michele a chuckle... Don't you love the way that God/Jesus is so important to these people.

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Dear Beloved in Christ,

It is by the grace of God that I received Christ, having known the truth,I had no choice than to do what is lawful and right in the sight of God for eternal life and in the sight of man for witness of God & his mercies and glory upon my life.

I am Mrs.Sheila Johnson the wife of Mr Harold Johnson, my husband worked with the Chevron/Texaco in Kenya for twenty years before he died in the year 2007.

We were married for ten years without a child. My Husband died after a brief illness that lasted for only four days. Before his death we were both born again Christians.

Since his death I decided not to re-marry or get a child outside my matrimonial home which the Bible is against.When my late husband was alive he deposited the sum of US$3.5M. (Three Million Five Hundred Thousand U.S.Dollars), with a Bank in Europe. Presently,this money is still with the Bank and the management just wrote me as the beneficiary to come forward to sign for the release of this money or rather issue a letter of authorization to somebody to receive it on my behalf if I can not come over.

Presently, I'm in a hospital in Kenya where I have been undergoing treatment for esophageal cancer.I have since lost my ability to talk and my doctors have told me that I have only a few weeks to live. It is my last wish to see this money distributed to charity organizations anywhere in the World.

Because relatives and friends have plundered so much of my wealth since my illness, I cannot live with the agony of entrusting this huge responsibility to any of them.

Please, I beg you in the name of God to help me Stand and collect the Funds from the Bank.

I want a person that is God fearing that will use this money to fund churches,orphanages and widows propagating the word of God and to ensure that the house of God is maintained.

The Bible made us to understand that blessed is the hand that giveth.I took this decision because I don't have any child that will inherit this money and my husband's relatives are not Christians and I don't want my husband's hard earned money to be misused by unbelievers. I don't want a situation where this money will be used in an ungodly manner.

Hence the reason for taking this bold decision, I am not afraid of death hence I know where I am going and I know that I am going to be in the bosom of the Lord.

Exodus{14 VS14}says that the lord will fight my case and I shall hold my peace. I don't need any telephone communication in this regard because of my soundless voice and presence of my husband's relatives around me always. I don't want them to know about this development. With God all things are possible.

As soon as I receive your reply I shall give you the contact of my attorney who is in Europe as he will be the one to assist you in laying claims for this funds.

Kindly send your reply to my private email address which is as follows: sheilajohn64@aol.com

Your Sister in Christ,
Mrs.Sheila Johnson.
JOHNSON ENGINEERING COMPANY,
26, V-Island Road,
Ikeja Avenue,
Lagos-Nigeria.
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Oh dear, sudden death, esophageal cancer, thieving relatives... it makes you want to cry doesn't it. Well not really...

Here is another typical example... Remember that these are just a few that I received TODAY...

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Dear Friend,

I am Rev.David Johnson from Canada, I have been an international contractor that collects contract from Big Companies and countries, I got involved in one contract in Nigeria which my payment was refused, I was down and almost lose hope.

After 2 years of this contract, I later talked to God to assist me in getting this money. I made a vow to benefit someone with the sum of Nine hundred thousand United State Dollars (USD $900,000) draft payment if my payment could be approved and to my surprise I was called upon by the Nigeria Government sometimes last month that my contract file have been looked into and it is ready for payment.I never believed it until I was advised by my Pastor and later moved down to Nigeria and to my unbelievable surprise I was paid this money.

Due to my pledge to God I have agreed to show the person that i will be sending the Nine hundred thousand United State Dollars (USD $900,000) through ballot system on the internet which happened to be your email so you are lucky. What you have to do now is to get in touch with my secretary Mr Dennis Williams and instruct him on how to send your USD $900,000 Bank draft to you.

BELOW IS THE CONTACT OF MY SECRETARY
Mr Dennis Williams
E-mail address: williamsdennis37@gmail.com
Phone: +2348123802010

Send to my secretary your contact address and telephone number,let him make arrangement for the shipment of your draft to your doorstep and also you can give him a call to confirm your address.What I want you to believe now is that this is the opportunity which God have promised you this year so it is better you have it in time before it goes again from you so contact my secretary in time.And for your information presently i am in the United Kingdom for another contract so i want you to go into prayer with me for the success of this contract.

With Best Regards,
Rev.David Johnson.
The Shell Petroleum Development Company Limited.
P O Box 1010, Liverpool,
L70 1NL, UNITED KINGDOM

Ticket Number-------------------------644 79543465 B448056490902 Serial
Number------------------------ -4708-325
Lucky Number------------------------ -4-13-33-37-17 File
ref.-------------------------- ----------ILP/HW 7509/02
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I didn't know that Shell Petroleum employed clergymen... I used to work for them though, and their head office is not in Liverpool.

Here is another...

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Dear Winner,

You have been declared the winner of GBP 350,000.00 (Three Hundred and Fifty Thousand British Pound Sterlings) .This is the concluded selection that was conducted over the internet with our automated email selecting machine.This Lottery was promoted and sponsored by Shell International Petroleum Company Limited (United Kingdom) as part of their social responsibility to alleviate poverty.We hereby congratulate you on this huge prize monies.You are required to contact Mr. Jonathan Grant for immediate verification and disbursement of your Prize winnings with the following contact details below:

Fiduciary Agent's Name: Mr. Jonathan Grant-Hill
EMAIL: jonathan.grant-hill@msn.com
Telephone: +44. 7404 208 309
Fax: +44. 207 681 3498 207 681 3498
You are to send the following information to Mr. Jonathan Grant-Hill when contacting him for prize disbursement.

(i). Your Full names........
(ii) Contact telephone/ fax numbers...........
(iii) Contact Address............
(iv) Your winning numbers..............
(v) Amount won.............
(vi) Age............
(vii) Occupation................
( viii) Ticket Number................
(ix) Serial Number..................

For your security, we have been advised not to expose your winning numbers to avoid double claiming or voiding of your winning and do not reply via this email.

Yours Faithfully,
Gordon Gibbs
Regional Coordinator
Liverpool, UNITED KINGDOM.
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It's amazing how much Shell Petroleum and Microsoft feature in these emails, also occasionally Coca Cola Corporation. Note that the email says that my email address was automatically selected, but they want to know my ticket numbers. What ticket? And what serial number?

Since I have a lot of forwarding email addressed that arrive in a single mailbox, it's amazing how many of these emails are sent to a combination of these. Sometimes I can receive as many as 10 of the same email at the same time. You have to love spam filters :)

Stay safe everyone...

And if you do have a few million spare Pounds, Dollars, Euros (I'm not fussy), just send it to my Paypal account... No questions asked...

　

Sources:

My Frequently Full Inbox

My Bursting At The Seams Spam Box

Wikipedia - Advance Fee Fraud

419 Eater

Metropolitan Police