Vendetta for The Saint
(NB! The image
and character of The Saint are copyright of Leslie Charteris and whoever has
control over his work today, and are used in this counter-scam for humorous
purposes only. No infringement is intended and copyrights remain at source.
This page is part of the course in ICT and Law at Social Informatics II and
illustrates the 419 problem and the ongoing operations of counter-scamming.NB!)
I am the Saint - you may have heard of me. Just a twentieth-century privateer. In my small way I try to put right a few of the things that are wrong with this cock-eyed world, and clean up some of the excrescences I come across.(1)
One particular excrescence is the so called 419 scammers. They really are a bunch of despicable characters, and for some reason they can`t resist the temptation to fill my electronic mailbox with their ridiculous scam mails.
Two of these "Boys from Lagos" popped up this weekend, when I was quietly nipping to a glass of Bowmore Darkest and enjoying the rich flavor of a Romeo Y Julieta.
CAST OF CHARACTERS:
Barrister Bello
Izaza - Absolutely NOT a barrister living in Lagos Nigeria, but a notoriously
419 scammer.
Mrs. Esther Seizer - Most certainly NOT a widow, but another notoriously 419
scammer.
Simon Templar - Me
Eiye Efe - Mysteriously scammer (The Yoruba People believe that witches turned
into Eiye Efe (witchcraft bird) to go to meetings and wreak havoc on people)
And so the story begins
From: Barrister
Bello Izaza
Bello Izaza & Co.
Solicitors & Advocates
Lagos – Nigeria
Dear friend,
Compliments of
the season. Grace and peace and love from this part of
the Atlantic to you. I hope my letter does not cause you too much
embarrassment as I write to you in good faith. Please excuse my
intrusion into your private life.
I am Barrister
Bello Izaza, I represent Mohammed Abacha, son of the late
Gen. Sani Abacha, who was the former military head of state in Nigeria.
He died in 1998. Since his death, the family has been losing a lot of
money due to vindictive government officials who are bent on dealing
with the family. Based on this therefore, the family has asked me to
seek for a foreign partner who can work with us as to move out the total
sum of US$25,000,000.00 ( Twenty Five Million United States Dollars ),
presently in their possession. This money was of course, acquired by the
late president and is now kept secretly by the family. The Swiss
government has already frozen all the accounts of the family in
Switzerland, and some other countries would soon follow to do the same.
This bid by some government officials to deal with this family has made
it necessary that we seek your assistance in receiving this money and in
investing it on behalf of the family.
This must be a
joint venture transaction and we must all work together.
Since this money is still cash, extra security measures have been taken
to protect it from theft or seizure, pending when agreement is reached
on when and how to move it to you. I have personally worked out all
modalities for the peaceful conclusion of this transaction.
My clients are
willing to give you a reasonable percentage of this money
as soon as the transaction is concluded. It will however be based on
the grounds that you are willing to work with us and also all
contentious issues discussed before the commencement of this transaction.
You may also discuss your percentage before we start to work. As soon
as I hear from you, I will give you all necessary details as to how we
intend to carry out the whole transaction. Please, do not entertain any
fears, as all necessary modalities are in place, and I assure you of all
success and safety in this transaction.
Please, this transaction
requires absolute confidentiality and you would
be expected to treat it as such until the funds are moved out of this
country. Kindly furnish me your contact information, which is your
personal telephone and fax numbers for confidential purpose and
acknowledge receipt of this mail using the email address
belloizaza2000@netscape.net
Please, you will
also ignore this letter and respect our trust in you by
not exposing this transaction, even if you are not interested.
I look forward to working with you.
Thank you.
Truly yours,
Bello Izaza esq.
I promptly answered:
Dear Sir,
Thank you for your e-mail of August the 8th.
I was moved by
your story, and will help any way I can.
Please send me further instructions and your personal phone number, so
we can discuss this in detail.
Sincerely Yours
Simon Templar
And then another letter dropped into my mail box:
Dear Sir,
I am Mrs. ESTHER SEIZER, my husband Mr. SEIZER ANDADA was a Rice Farmer
and I helped him occasionally in his work at the farm, unfortunately he
died two months ago after a protracted illness at the age of 68,during
our marriage we had two daughters and no male child, In this part of
African country where we live, there is this obnoxious culture that
makes it impossible for you to inherit your spouse wealth if you have no
male child, My husbands relations accused me of killing my own husband
all in a bid to scare and drive me and my daughters away, I was
subjected to all kinds of cultural torture and forced to drink the water
used in bathing my late husbands corpse ,as it is believed that this
practice will cause my death if I eventually had a hand in my husbands
death ,now my husband has just been buried and already I and my children
are facing a serious hard time ,my husbands relations ,have now seized
all his valuable properties including cars ,houses, tractors and his
entire farm ,including our residence at 306 bp :C/145/ 167 Quatier Jak,PORTO-NOVO
, Now at My husbands Village where we mourn ,we have been locked out of
the main house and relegated to a small room at the back of our house
which was used as a store ,here we all lie down on ordinary mat on bare
floor and as their culture demands ,we are not allowed to bath ,see
visitors or even remove the mourning cloth day in day out till after a
year . I had to snick out to come on net to look for help from any God
fearing person, from whom God can rescue us so that I can escape abroad
with my children, when my husband was alive, he loved me and his
daughters so dearly and we were the best of friends and as a result, he
never hid anything from me, I am aware of monies he left in the bank
here and all his properties but all the documents are now with my
husbands wicked relations, I am now powerless, because I have no money
to hire a lawyer to pursue my course and to worsen it ,There is no will
before he died ,neither do I have anybody to help me ,but my only hope
of survival now is the last money transaction which my husband made
before he died which no body in his family knows except me ,My Late
husband paid about $4.2 Million US Dollars into a different account
here in a bank in PORTO-NOVO few weeks before his ill health and this
money was to be remitted to a company abroad for purchase of Fertilizers
, New farm tools ,tractors and other preservative equipments for his
farm and supply to other farmers ,now this is my last hope ,all I want
from you is to assist me to find a way to come over with this money
abroad with my children ,or find a way of remitting this money to you
for safekeeping ,so that you can help me invest it in your country to
enable me have the means to train my children and live my life overseas
,I know that this money is stuck in an account ,but with the service of
a lawyer ,I can be made the owner/Inheriter of the money since I know
the bank and have all the details and since the bank is aware of my
husbands demise ,while you become the beneficiary of the money ,as the
bank is aware that the money was meant for the payment to a foreign firm
for purchase of equipments ,if I should boldly ask the bank for the
money ,they may become suspicious and make things difficult for me since
my late husband did not leave any instruction for the money to be
given to me or will ,so the best way to get the money is to see it
remitted abroad for the bank to be convinced that my late husbands
instructions is carried out to the latter .As I write you this letter
here at a cyber café in town , I tremble in fear ,because if I am seen
outside I will be in more trouble and we might be casted out to the
street ,So after writing you ,I will be rushing back to the village and
will come back to check if you have replied me ,Please if you can give
me a helping hand ,please hurry so that I can be able to conclude and
move out abroad with my children as soon as possible ,I will make sure I
pay and compensate you financially ,you are also free to name your
price what amount you wish to take for your assistance but I know that I
will not disappoint you .please write me urgently now through my
alternate Email address seizer_esth@fastermail.com as this is my only
means of communication now.
Yours
Mrs. ESTHER SEIZER
Ah! A damsel in distress!
Dear Madam,
I am horrified at your peril
and will do anything to help.
A lady in distress is my specialty. Just give me further instructions.
Sincerely Yours
Simon Templar
I chuckled silently and made myself comfortable in the chair. Should I quietly await their responses? Or should I stir things up a bit? Then I suddenly remembered my trip to Italy and my involvement in a deadly case of mistaken identity, and a run in with the Sicilian mafia. Perhaps a bit of vendetta could liven things up down there in Scammer Land? I searched my archive for some other 419 scammers and added their addresses to the two already introduced.
From: "Eiye
Efe" <eiyeefe@fastermail.com>
To: seizer_esth@fastermail.com
CC: belloizaza2000@netscape.net, maliq@nnpc-nig.net, ali-mohammed@indiatimes.com
Subject: Dem no born you reach
Date: Sun, 15 Aug 2004 22:22:35
YOU ARE WORKING MY PASTURES YOU BLIND GOATS
GO AWAY BEFORE
EVIL CAST ITS DARK EYES UPON YOU YOU DOGS OF CHILDLESS
WOMEN
YOU ARE CHILDIS DOGS PLAYING WITH DOLLS UPON MY FIELD
I AM THE REAPER WHO HARVEST DEAD SOULS
GO!
GO!
BE WARNED!
I AM
EIYE EFE
And a reply soon arrived
To: Eiye Efe <eiyeefe@fastermail.com>
CC:
Subject: Re: o boy watin be your own problem.
Date: Mon, 23 Aug 2004 03:19:47 -0700 (PDT)
may God punish you are full family.
you be big fool and you go die motor accident, never you write me again, big
fool like you.
To die in a motor
accident seems to be a fate reserved for most of the enormously rich persons
that dies all over Africa, and leaves no heirs and various bank managers/ barrister,
etc. no other choice than to send YOU an e-mail and tell you how to get your
hands on all that money.
I yawned and turned of my computer. It was time for another Bowmore Darkest and then perhaps a slow stroll in the park. I picked up one of the american newspapers my trusted friend Danny Wilde sends me and almost spilled the exquisite drops of the Single Malt.
Dear me! I thought, It seems that someone is out to get me. Perhaps it`s time to hide for a while? Lord Brett Sinclair would be just the man for this kind of mishap and I grabbed the phone.
In the meantime you can take a look at these links:
Nigeriaworld
Nigeria.com
NigeriaMasterweb
Nigerian
News
A
new twist (Dagbladet, Norwegian only)
The Lads as job recruiters
(Digi.no, Norwegian only)
Advocate
Recruitment Company wants YOU
and that`s
final folks! No more lessons on this topic. Now it`s your turn!
What are your views on scammers, counter-scammers and the use of false identities
on the Net?