[ 
Mood: Scared ]
[ 
Currently: Listening to the neighbourhood kids playing street hockey ]
We have all heard of the Nigerian Scam. You know, the one where a Nigerian Prince or a deposed government member of some nation you have barely heard of or someone related to one of them, is trying to get money out of the country. Or maybe they are trying to rightfully reclaim their fortune. The why doesn’t really matter. What matters is that they want you to help them. Your reward would be a cut of the millions this person was trying to shuttle out of Africa. All you needed to do was give him your bank account information.
And clearly it works, because they keep coming up with new variations every few months. And I have gotten all of them. But even I have to admit that the one below is a unique and clever.
| Quote: |
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FROM:Blake Lapthorn Solicitors London, (PRINCIPAL PARTNER TO:) Blake Lapthorn & Co. Solicitors, 323 Green Lane,N4 2ES London, England. Attention: We are London based solicitors working as representative solicitors to the United Nations.In the course of a recently concluded 2010 investigations and subsequent arrests of suspected fraudsters and scamers in Africa region, in colaboration of the present governments of Nigeria, Ghana, Cote D’Ivoire, Burkinafaso and South Africa, india, UEA, the UN security operatives have so far arrested and prosecuted over 300 government and So far, the UN security operatives has also recovered about $5.1 Billion from both cash in accounts and properties and assets confiscicated. It is from the address books of the arrested officials that your email address was recovered. Right now, the United Nations (UN) and their Africa Union (AU) counterpart is paying a $1,000,000.00 compensation to those whose emails addresses and Which Category do you fall? Have you been getting emails for payments from these countries? OR are you a legitimate contractor and fund beneficiary Please, indicate clearly as you get back to me for proper guidlines and details on how to receive this compensation OR your full payment. Waiting. Blake Lapthorn Solicitors London, |
Now you got to admit this is clever. They are clearly thinking about a new spin on the old scam, and perhaps a way to hit old victims again.
But again, it has all the earmarks of a scam.
1. It is not specifically addressed to me.
2. It uses the names of International organizations or business to gain credibility. (In this case the UN)
3. It uses ridiculous amounts of money as bait.
Caveat emailer. But these things wouldn’t work if their weren’t people out there who thought they could make a quick buck at the expense of "the man". As Mickey always said, "You can’t cheat an honest man."