You gotta love this story. I found it on AOL HuffPost; I only wish she had been truly scamming them and not cheating them:
How does it feel when the tables are turned?
The Courier Mail in Australia reports that Sarah Jane Cochrane-Ramsey pleaded guilty last Thursday to one count of aggravated fraud for scamming Nigerian con artists out of $33,000.
Cochrane-Ramsey opened an Australian bank account that the Nigerians could use to funnel payments they got through their “dodgy account on a popular car sales website,” according to the Courier Mail.
The terms of her arrangement with the con artists said that Cochrane-Ramsey was supposed to keep eight percent of all monies sent to the account, with the rest going back to the Nigerians. Instead, she kept the money for herself.
Slate points out that Cochrane-Ramsey denied knowing she was working for fraudsters, thereby “denying herself the defense that she was somehow attempting to give her fellow scammers a taste of their own medicine.”
Nigeria’s The Nation notes that Cochrane-Ramsey is not the first person to con Nigerian scofflaws.
In fact, “This American Life” produced a story in 2008 on a group of people who made a Nigerian scammer travel 1,400 miles in search of a promised cash reward.
It just must be that time of the year . . . here is today’s scam e-mail. Please feel free to contact the sender and screw with him:
We are delighted to inform you that your e-mail address has won you the sum of
Ђ350,000.00 Euros from the Patricia Wood Award Foundation. For your payment, You
are requested to contact Dr.Eduardo Pablo with the details:1. Name: 2. Age: 3.
Address: 4. Phone Number: Through her Email: segurosagenciad19@hotmail.com and
For More Info Call Tel:+34-622-646-594
The World Bank, United Nations and African Union Organization has Approved to pay you your
outstanding payment in conjunction with Nigerian Government and Access Bank Plc Nigeria.
This decision was made last week. With this development, a woman by name (Mrs. Bigger Howell) came to our office with an application stating that you gave her the power of attorney as the beneficiary of your outstanding fund USD8.5 Million Dollars .She made us believe that you are dead and that she is your next of kin. We decided to contact you via your email address for confirmation hoping to find out if you are dead or alive and also to find out if you at any time gave this woman the power of attorney to represent you.
Please let us know also if you are aware that we are almost ready to transfer part payment of your outstanding funds to her nominated bank account stated below:
Bank Name: Washington Mutual Bank
Address: 1723 Palmdale Bulv.
Palmdale Ca. 93550
Acct #: 3573813158
Rout #: 322271627
Swift code #: WMSBUS66
Beneficiary: Bigger Howell.
If you are not aware of the above instruction, do respond to this email immediately by contacting the Chairman of the International Remittance Department (Mr.Johnbosco Martins) contact information are written below:
Also be informed that you will be required to pay the sum of USD650.00 only and this USD650.00 is to enable our Bank Attorney to sign off your Funds Release Order Bond which will allow us to make a direct wire transfer of your funds to your Nominated Bank Account,and it is the only fee you are to pay as long as this your Claim is concerned,Unless you will be able to visit our office yourself and perfect the necessary signing yourself.For immediate transfer of your fund be informed that you are not allowed to correspond or contact any person or office with respect to this transfer other than this office and also note that Mrs. Bigger Howell is ready to pay the USD650.00 but that is not our main issue as we do not wish to make transfer to a wrong account and that is why we are making this inquiry from you and if we do not hear from you within Seven days of this message to you,We will have no option than to forge ahead with Mrs. Bigger Howel.
Looking forward to hear from you as soon as possible.
You know how I hate lying and deception, sneaking and peeping, all manner of pretending rather than keeping it real. I have a real thing about scams, and I want to pour the light of day on each and every one of them, so that the vulnerable will be forewarned.
This is a letter I got this week. Many times, I won’t even open junk mail, just throw it away, but this one looked like it MIGHT be official, even though my gut told me it wasn’t:
Looks a little like a W-2 form, doesn’t it, or something governmental?
Inside:
Still looks official, doesn’t it, but it isn’t a government form, it’s a form telling me (using my name) that this is my FINAL notification that I have to claim the two round-trip tickets on any American airline that I have won.
In a separate attachment is this “flight coupon”:
I passed it along to AdventureMan, in case he wanted to call the number and mess with them a little, but neither of us really wanted to waste the time – or to give them any idea what our phone number is: we hate scam phone calls, too. Yes, it is a scam, even if it may not be an illegal scam, it is a deception and not what it appears to be. SCAM!
I received this in my e-mail today. It has a zip attachment that I did not open. I worry that there are people who would believe it.
FedEx notification,
Your package has been returned to the FedEx office. The reason of the return is – Error in the delivery address. Please print out the invoice copy attached and collect the package at our office.
This scammer hasn’t gone to any trouble to make the letter believable – or grammatical! She hasn’t gone to any trouble to put my name in – or even to call me ‘dear friend!’
Dear
How are you hope you are fine and your family,This mail is for you the MTN card is ready now.
i will advice you to contact the lawyer immediately for the MTN CARD.
The value of the MTN CARD is three million five hundred dollars and you can withdraw it from any part of the world 50% will mine while 50% will be your’s too.
Don’t waste more to contact the lawyer for the MTN CARD regarding the receiving of the MTN CARD from the lawyer.
This is how come this fund,The owner of the fund suffered and died by cancer,She died on 8th Dec 2011.Her name are Mrs.Rowena Green from Ameica and works in United Union office here in Burkina Faso.
Her age was 48 years before her death she had no child and willed her property out and submit to the Bank Of Africa,I am one staff in the bank of africa too i am in account department therefore don’t be afraid of receiving this fund because i have done all the banking produres that will be needed.
This just makes me ill. A new scam. Pulling on the heartstrings at Christmas time. And I don’t even know anyone by that name. I hope no one falls for this one.
Hello,
This had to come in a hurry and it has left me and my family in a devastating state.. I’m contacting you as I need your urgent financial assistance, my family and I made a trip to London,United Kingdom just for a short vacation tour but, it all ended ugly. our belongings such as credit card, cell phone, jewelery and cash all stolen from us, as we got mugged by some unknown gun men. My credit card, can’t be charged by the hotel as I already reported it as a stolen card,and the card company had canceled it, so i can only get a new one when we make it back home safely.
We’ve reported the incident to the embassy and the Police but to my dismay they seem not bothered…their response was just too casual.Our flight leaves in few hours but We’ve got to settle our bills before We’re allowed to leave..I was wondering if you could loan me Money I’ll refund it to you as soon as we arrive home just need to clear our Hotel bills and get the next plane home, As soon as we get home I’ll refund it immediately.
Let me know what you can do so I can tell you how to get the money to me.
One of the things that makes me wonder is that very good people get taken in by messages like this. I wonder what part of – to paraphrase – you never knew him, but let’s pretend like you were his business partner and collect this fortune – seems like a good idea? Let’s lie to the bank administration and walk off with these funds? Let’s collect money that does not belong to us?
I urge you to call “Dr. David Morris” and tell him what you think. He gives his number at the end of the letter.
Please read I Do Not Come to You By Chance by Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani to better understand how the ‘419’ scams work. It is also a hilarious book.
Hello My Dear friend,
How are you doing together with your entire family, I hope all is well? Please carefully read and understand my reason of contacting you through this email. I am DR DAVID MORRIS, working in the department of adducting & accounting section ISLAMIC BANK OF AFRICA (ISBOA) Burkina Faso West Africa.
I am contacting you because of an abandoned sum of $15 Million US Dollars that was deposited by a late customer of this bank called MR SALIFF KATTAN. A very prominent man who was doing business transaction with our bank.
He was a citizen of JORDANES. He died in the year 2006 on a motor accident on his way travelling to a nearby city called Bobo Dioulasso together with the wife and their two children . The bank has no knowledge about his death, Upon this discovery that I decided to make this business proposal to you since the banking laws and guidelines here stipulate that if such funds remain unclaimed here after 5 years, the money will be transferred into the Central Bank Treasury as unclaimed fund.
My stand to contact you now is that, a foreigner has the legal right to put claim to such deposit followed by your will, proof your claim with the bank. Therefore, I want you to apply as his business partner to assist me so that I will be directing you on every steps we are going to be taken to make sure that the bank management believe really that you are his business partner.
This transaction is going to be a successful transaction because, a foreigner Is compulsorily needed to present himself or herself as the business partner to this deceased bank customer since the fund depositor was a foreigner, I therefore, desperately need your assistance to claim and receive this huge sum of money into your account after applying to our bank with my directive and the application I will send to you as his business partner for the smooth processing of the fund to you.
For the assistance in this transaction as my partner, you will be entitled to 40% of the total fund in respect of the provision of your bank account and the assistance you are to render on the process. 55% would be for me as the originator and initiator of the transaction, and the rest 5% will be used to off-set any minor expenses which may arise during the process of transferring the fund into your account by our bank I and my entire family will leave here immediately to your country in order to share the profits and we also invest part of my own share over there, as soon as the fund is transferred into your account.
Please Endeavour to keep this transaction very secret and highly confidential because I will lose my work here as bank staff, where the bank authority here finds out that you and I are collaborating in this “Special Deal”.. Please also be rest-assured that this business is 100% risk-free, and all the information and data’s you will need to make successful claim of this fund in the bank here are fully ready with me here.
Note Well: Please urgently confirm your willingness and interest to assist me by calling my private number immedaitely you have receive this mail for little discussion on how we are going to move ahead.
Thanks
DR DAVID MORRIS
Call me for more clarifications +226 78 05 73 10
