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Out of Africa -- and into Iraq, or was that Mauritius? |
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by Tony Austin
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Monday, 17 September 2007 |
For sheer inventiveness, you have to hand it to some of the "darker
elements" who use the Internet.
Reportedly, the designers of X-rated sex and porn sites
are amongst the earliest adopters of new web design techniques, putting some
more conventional sites to shame.
This also to an extent applies to the scammers behind "419 fraud" -- named after
the relevant section in Nigeria's criminal code , this country being the
original centre of such activity.
I've kept copies of typical 419 messages going back to 2003, when such
frauds really started getting popular. These messages came thick and fast
until about 2005, at which point they seemed to die down and be overtaken by
other more intrusive forms of malware (spambots, key loggers, and the like).
Well, it's a case of "down, but not out" it would seem. Although the
volume of such 419 scams is way down, unfortunately there must still be enough
gullible prospects. It was one such message that arrived
last night that tickled my fancy enough to want to post a copy of it, if only
in a form of admiration of the scammer's black art.
My apologies to one "Mr John England" who sent this missive.
It came from an anonymous Hotmail
address, and its client IP address of 41.210.24.19
almost certainly means that our generous Mr English is based in Mauritius
and not Iraq. Here it is verbatim:
Subject: A massage From John. To You.
Date: Sun, 16 Sep 2007 15:06:21 -0200
Dear Friend,
With due apologies for interference in your privacy ,my name is John
England, an Army contractor attached to the US Army corps of engineers
in Iraq. The reason why I am explaining my findings to you are to seek
for your assistance to enable you contributes immensely to the
actualization of my dream.
on the 30th day of August 2007, I and my group of men under my
supervision were alerted on the need of some urgent reconstruction works
in Haifa Street, a long thoroughfare of high-rise buildings built and
occupied by Saddam Hussein when he was alive here in Baghdad.
Immediately we proceeded to the site and as we commence work to our
utmost surprise we discovered a huge underground bunker in one of the
buildings. Upon investigation of the bunker to our surprise we
discovered one very lager box safely hidden and sealed together with
numerous other boxes filled with different item, However I was attracted
to the large box which was the only sealed box of them all, I told my
men to open the box in order to find out the contents and when they were
opened to our amazement the boxes contained US Dollars which amounted to
$46M after time was taken to count them in bundles and rolls.
I however instructed them to keep this in high secrecy so that we can
have the money to our selves, they all agreed to the plan, I wisely took
the decision for us to share the money between our selves right there in
the room to avoid suspicion in moving the very large box and that led me
to having US$10.2 Million (US$10,200,000) as my own share of the money
after which I concealed it in one box and decided to get the money out
of the country but first I hid the money in a safe and untraceable
location.
I am now in desperate need of a Reliable and Trustworthy person like you
who would receive, secure and protect these boxes containing the US
Dollars for me up on till my assignment elapses here. I cannot leave the
boxes here in Iraq like most of my men have foolishly done due to many
reasons one of which is because Iraq is getting unsafe and dangerous
everyday and a full blown civil war among Shittes and Sunni Iraqis may
start any moment. I assure and promise to give you 14% of this fund,
however feel free to negotiate what you wish to have as your percentage
in this deal.
Please assure me of your keeping this topmost secret within you so that
my job would not be jeopardized.
My Sincere regards,
John England.
I'm a little puzzled by your reference to the "very lager box"
(presumably it once contained some beer), and I don't think that the "Shittes"
would be very impressed with your message. You really should brush up on
your English, Mr English!
Despite the fact that we've never met, I'm ever so glad that you decided to
contact me personally and am flattered that you consider me to be Reliable
and Trustworthy. So you've got my undivided attention.
That 14% offer
seems a trifle low, how high are you prepared to go? What's your telephone number and street address, so that
I can call you and mail you some letters? And while you're at it, may I have your
online bank account details too, just your credit card number and online
password will do for the moment.
{moscomment}
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