Scam # 1
Due to several failed attempts to access your Bank Of Montreal account, We temporary deactivated your account for your protection. You have to reactivate your Bank Of Montreal account within the next 24 Hours in order to continue using it .
Please Click here to Reactive your account .
Sincerely,
Bank Of Montreal Customer Service
Code #B905242
©2011 Bank Of Montreal.
My commentary
This scammer is hoping that I have an account in the Bank of Montreal which is a Canadian bank but unfortunately for this particular scammer, I don’t have an account with that bank.
First of all, why would any bank have a problem trying to activate a bank account in its own bank? Second, how would the bank know the email address of its customer since that information isn’t sought after by any bank when a customer opens up a bank account? Third, the email message wasn’t addressed to me personally. It was addressed to ‘none’. These are three hints to any bank customer that not everything is kosher, so to speak.
Never, ever accept an invitation to ‘Click here to activate your account when you receive an unsolicited email message from anyone who professes to be working in your best interest. I didn’t click into their next message because I don’t know what information I consider private would inadvertently show up on the scammer’s screen the moment I clicked in. But if I did click in, I strongly suspect that they would ask me for my full name and my branch address and my bank account number. If I was stupid enough to give them that information, I would deserve to lose whatever money was still in my bank account because what they would do then is transfer my money to their temporary bank account. I say temporary because after they got my money, they would withdraw it from their temporary bank account and then close it and walk out of the bank with my money.
If I had an account with that bank, and got this scammer’s email message, the first thing I would do is phone my bank and ask them what is going on. Then I would learn that a scammer had sent me the message.
Scam # 2
From Mr Jocrri Ndielemh.
Telephone; +226 79 161 281.
Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso .
I crave your indulgence for the unsolicited nature of this letter, but it was borne out of desperation and current development. Please bear with me.
My name is Mr Jocrri Ndielemh,the Director in charge of Auditing section of Bank of Africa (BOA) in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso I discovered existing dormant account .
I seek your consent to present yourself as the next of kin of the deceased. As an auditor in the bank I will use my position in the bank to help you stand as the next of kin to the deceased, so that the proceeds of this account valued at ($9 Million) dollars can be transferred to you, this is the story in a nutshell.
If yes, send your profiles to me as below for easy communication. I will send you full details on how the business will be executed and also note that you will receive 40% of the above mentioned amount if you agree to help me execute this business.:
Your Name :......................
Your Telephone Number :..........
I expect your urgent response with much anticipation.
Thanks and remain bless.
Mr Jocrri .
My commentary
First of all, if you fell for this scam, you would be dealing with a crook. Even if this crook really did have the means to transfer 40% of the money from the bank he is supposedly working for, how long do you think it would be before the bank authorities in that bank contact the police in Burkina Faso who in turn contact Interpol who in turn contact the federal police in your country who then find you and charge you with theft.
Second, I went to Google and searched for that particular bank. Guess what showed up? Here is what I saw on my screen. Watch for the words that are in italic. They are words that the sender misspelled.
From: salif ali
Sent: February 4, 2005
Subject: reply
FROM THE DESK OF MR SALIF
BILL AND EXCHANGE MANAGER
FOREIGN REMITTANCE DEPT.
BANK OF AFRICA (BOA)
OUAGADOUGOU,BURKINA FASO.
MY PRIVATE E-MAIL salif_ali8@yahoo.com
Dear Friend,
First, I must solicit your confidence in this transaction. This is by virtue of its nature as being utterly CONFIDENTIAL AND TOP SECRET. However after series of petition was recieved by this present regime from foreign contractors and inability of the BANK OF AFRICA (BOA)to fulfill their obligation for the payment to its foreign creditors, in conjunction with the council of ministers, they mandated us to carry out a careful and comprehensive review of all overdue payments to foreign contractors and to effect payments immediately.
During the above mentioned process, we discovered an abandoned sum of US$10.M (Ten million US dollars) in an account that belongs to one of our foreign customer who died along with his entire famil in a plane crash that happened in Kenya, East Africa.
Since we got information about his death, we have been expecting his next of kin to come over and claim his money because we cannot release it unless some body applies for it as next of kin or relation to the deceased as indicated in our banking guidelines and laws but unfortunately we learnt that all his supposed next of kin or relation died alongside with him at the plane crash leaving nobody behind for the claim.
Please I want you to visit the website below for more information about the Plane Crash:
www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/africa/07/20/kenya.crash/index.html
It is therefore upon this discovery that I and other officials in my department now decided to make this business proposal to you and release the money to you as the next of kin or relation to the deceased for safety and subsequent disbursement since nobody is coming for it and we don't want this money to go into the bank treasury as unclaimed bill.
I agree that 40% of this money will be for you as a foreign partner, in respect to the provision of a foreign account, and 50% would be for me, while 10% will be for expenses incure during the transaction. There after I will visit your country for disbursement according to the percentage indicated.
Therefore, to enable the immediate transfer of this fund to you as arranged, you must apply first to the bank as relation or next of kin of the deceased indicating your bank name, your bank account number, your private telephone and fax number for easy and effective communication and location wherein the money will be remitted.
Upon the receipt of your reply, I will send to you by email the text of the application to fill and send to the bank. I will not fail to bring to your notice that this transaction is hitch-free risk and this transaction will only take us 14 banking days because as a banker, I know what to do and move the fund into your account without any delay and that you should not entertain any atom of fear as all required arrangement have been made for the transfer.
You should contact me as soon as you receive this letter so that I will send you the text of the application to apply to the bank and the data information of the deceased customer and you should contact me through this my private e-mail address:
salif_ali8@yahoo.com
Yours faithfully.
MR SALIF ALI
Bill & Exchange Manager,
BANK OF AFRICA (BOA)
Continuation of my commentary
Both messages have something in common. They want you to pretend that you are the next of kin to the deceased. Also, the words that are in italic are the words that are misspelled.
Where this second message differs from the first one is that right from the get-go, the scammer is asking the victim for his or her bank name, bank account number, private telephone and fax number. Do I need to remind you as to what would happen to your money that is in your bank account once you give the scammer that information?
By the way, there really was a plane crash in which three family members from Atlanta died in the crash which occurred in Kenya. But any scammer can get that information from the Internet.
This next scam from the same source is most interesting.
AUDITS & ACCOUNTS DEPT. BANK OF AFRICA (B.O.A) OUAGADOUGOU BURKINA FASO.
Posted :Thursday, July 1, 2010by Thomson Send Maill Tell a Friend
Can i respond to this email (or) not
FROM THE OFFICE OF MR.GABRIEL JOHNSON
AUDITS & ACCOUNTS DEPT.
BANK OF AFRICA (B.O.A)
OUAGADOUGOU BURKINA FASO.
Attention: Please!!!
I am Mr. Gabriel Johnson, The manager Audit & Accounts department. With the groups Bank of Africa Burkina Faso (BO.A) I am writing to request your assistance to transfer the sum of $15milion United States dollars into your accounts.
The above sum belongs to our deceased customer late (MR CHRISTIAN EICH 57 AN ENGINEER WHO RAN CAR MAKER BMW'S FROM LENBANESE, he died along with his entire family in a plane crash some years ago and since then, his account has been dormant.
After my further investigation, I discovered that Mr. Christian Eich died with his next of kin and according to the laws and constitution guiding this banking institution stated that after the expiration of (8) Eight years, if no body or person comes for the claim as the next of kin, the fund will be channel into national treasury as unclaimed fund. Because of the static of this transaction I want you to stand as the next of kin so that our bank will accord you the recognition and have the fund transfer to your account.
The total sum will be shared as follows: 50% for me, 50% for you and expenses incidental occur during the transfer will be taking care of by both of us.
The transfer is risk free on both sides hence you are going to follow my instruction till the fund transfer to your account.
More details information with the text of application form will be forwarded to you to breakdown explaining comprehensively what require of you.
Your Full Name.......................... ...
Your ***..................................
Your Age..................
Your Country...........
Your Passport/photograph/driving license.......
Your Marital Status...........
Your Occupation.......
Your Personal Mobile Number................
Your Personal Fax Number.....................
Thanks
MR.GABRIEL JOHNSON.
My commentary
WOW! This scammer even wants his victim’s passport number and driver’s licence number. Once he has these two pieces of information along with his age and the country he lives in (and probably was born in) he or someone else will being traveling around the world in a passport that is in the victim’s name. And if this scammer or someone he sells that victim’s information to ends up on the No Fly List, guess who else is also going to be on that same list.
By the way, there really is a Bank of Africa. Here is their message to potential victims of these email messages.
“As many other banks, our corporate name "BANK OF AFRICA" is used from time to time by ill-intentioned people in the search of partner who can help them transfer so-called important funds, precious values or in the payment of commercial transactions.
“We would like to inform you that such practices of cyber-criminality also known as "SCAM 419" or "Advance Fraud 419" aims at obtaining from eventual victims advances on commissions, supposedly intended for clearance of formalities enabling the achievement of fictitious transactions. For more information on those practices, we would recommend you to make a research on (Google, Yahoo or others) the names above mentioned or take a look at the sites recommended below. We also noted sometimes the creation of fictitious internet sites intended to direct wrongfully eventual victims.” unquote
The law office of Thomas Gross also warned potential victims of this scam when it wrote in the Internet;
“Bank of Africa (BOA) was referenced in several unsolicited emails that appear to be fraudulent or bogus. Bank of Africa is almost certainly not involved nor likely to approve the use of its name in the e-mails. Scammers often use the names of legitimate banks, companies, governmental agencies and other organizations to make their claims seem legitimate. This site contains a large collection of fraud and bogus emails that attempt to scam the recipient into sending money for non-existent fortunes, inheritances, cases of money, business partnerships, lottery winnings, etc. Don't be fooled by official looking documents (e.g. phony governmental certificates, checks and passports) as scammers make a living forging these things. If you get an e-mail that is similar to one in our collection, you should delete it. Do not give out personal information such as bank account information or your social security number. NEVER pay any fees of any kind.”
Now let me return you to the message sent to Ms. Young from the desk of Mr. Salif. She wrote him back out of curiosity to see what kind of response she would get from this scammer. He replied as follows:
From: salif ali8
Sent: February 4, 2005
Subject: Explanations on how to carry out this project. call me.
Dear Miss Young,
Because of the confidentiality and secrecy required in this business, corresspond with me only with this present email and contact me on phone only on this very private phone number; 00226 76 62 19 57. i arranged this line for this deal.
I have found it necessary even before your demand to give you indept explanation on this deal and to give you details and breakdown of the modality which we have to follow to achieve this highly beneficial success. i am a banker and an insider. i know the process to be taken officially in the bank to investigate and verify your claim to grant you approval.
I know and i am optimistic that this business deal will uplift our financial status, its just for you to follow my instruction and guidelines until the fund will enter your account .i need your absolute coperation in this great project.
The legal aspect of this transaction will be handled by a lawyer who will represent you at the bank as your resident attorney. the need for a lawyer to represent you will be explained to you later in this brief.
This business is a great deal and will need determination and great arrangement to succeed. The arrangement which has already been made is my underground responsibility in the bank in seeing that the whole process to be taken to achieve your approval and for the smooth transfer of your inherittance to your desired account is made without any conceivable hitch.
I assure you therefore that all loopholes are covered and all obstacles removed. this business deal will never endanger any on both sides. it is 100% free from any risk what so ever.
To remind you, this transaction is not a child's play nor a little amount involved. We are talking of a deal of TEN MILLION DOLLARS, and so i will not like anybody to spoil it for me because it had taken me years to arrive at the stage of looking for a foreigner to assist me.
TRUST AND CONFIDENCE.
I need to emphasise on the need for trust and confidence on both side as the pillar for the success of this business. you need to reassure me that you will not betray me and sit on this fund when it finally comes into your custody. Forward to me the followings:
1.Home and office address.
2.personal/private mobile phone number.
Before i finally decided to seize this opportunity to transfer the fund in his account using a foreigner as his next of kin, i have searched for one year far and near to find any of his relations to no avail. i made several enquiries to his country's embassy to locate any of his extended relative. this also proved unsuccessful. Hence, after these several unsuccessful attempts to locate any member of his family I decided to contact some one abroad or overseas to trust and transfer this fund to his account for our sharing and benefit. hence i contacted you.
LEGAL IMPLICATIONS.
This deal will be covered with legal approvals from the bank and the ministry of justice. you will be approved officially by bank as the authentic relation(cousin) of the late customer through official bank process. your approval will futher be athenticated by legal back up documents to be procured by your attorney from the ministry of justice and related organs of the ministry like the probate registry where the probate certificate will be obtained.
Bank will give you clearance certificate which you will tender to your receiving bank. this certificate will prevent any further inquiry as to the origin of your inherittance as it will be properly and clearly spelt out and stated there. it will not be therefore be suspected to be drug money or fund to sponsor terrorism.
YOUR ATTORNEY'S DUTY AND RESPONSSIBILITY.
here i give you clear explanation on what the lawyer who will represent you will stand to do for you
1.BECAUSE YOU ARE NOT HERE TO FOLLOW UP THE PROCESS OF YOUR APPROVAL AS THE NEXT OF KIN TO THE LATE CUSTOMER, YOU WILL ENGAGE THE SERVICES OF A RESIDENT LAWYER TO REPRESENT YOU AT THE BANK AS YOUR ATTORNEY.
HE WILL FOLLOW UP YOUR APPLICATION AND PURSUE THE PROCESS OF APPROVAL UNTIL YOU ARE COMFIRMED AS THE NEXT OF KIN TO THE DECEASED CUSTOMER AND APPROVAL GRANTED TO YOU TO INHERIT THE FUND IN HIS ACCOUNT.
2. HE WILL BE RESPONSIBLE TO OBTAIN THE NECESSARY LEGAL DOCUMENTS FROM THE MINISTRY OF JUSTICE AND OTHER RELATED MINISTERIAL ORGANS LIKE THE PROBATE REGISTRY WHICH WILL BE NECESSARILY REQUIRED TO BACK UP YOUR CLAIM AS THE AUTHENTIC NEXT OF KIN TO THE LATE CUSTOMER. THE WHOLE PROCESS OF THIS TRANSACTION WILL BE COMPLETELY LEGAL.
3. THE LAWYER (YOUR ATTORNEY) WILL BE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE SIGNING OF THE FINAL PAYMENT RELEASE ORDER CERTIFICATE IN YOUR BEHALF FOR THE FUND TO BE TRANSFERED TO YOUR ACCOUNT AFTER APPROVAL HAS BEEN GRANTED.
THE SERVICE OF THE LAWYER TO YOU IS VERY IMPORTANT BECAUSE NATURALLY YOU ARE SURPOSED TO BE PRESENT AT THE BANK FROM TIME TO TIME. SO THE LAWYER WILL ALWAYS STAND IN FOR YOU.BUT KNOW THAT EVEN IF YOU ARE PREVILAGED TO BE HERE FOR THE WHOLE PROCESS,IT WILL NOT BE WHOTWHILE SINCE YOU CANNOT DEFEND THE PROBINGS OF THE BANK FACE TO FACE AS YOU ARE ACTUALLY NOT THE REAL NEXT OF KIN AND DO NOT KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THE LATE CUSTOMER. HOWEVER, ALL INFORMATIONS THAT THE BANK WILL BE REQUIRED FROM YOU ON THE LATE CUSTOMER WILL BE PROVIDED TO YOU BY ME.
YOU WILL OF COURSE NOT BE IN A HURRY TO GIVE BANK ANY INFORMATION WHEN YOU ARE CONTACTED WITHOUT RECEIVING ADVICE FROM ME.THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT.
BE REST ASSURED THAT THE SUCCESS OF THIS TRANSACTION IS ALREADY A FOREGONE CONCLUSIONS AS ALL ARRANGEMENT FOR THE SMOOTH TRANSFER TO YOUR ACCOUNT HAVE BEEN CONCLUDED.
THE TRANSFER.
The transfer of the fund(your inherittance) will begin with the signing of the 'FINAL PAYMENT RELEASE ORDER' by your attorney. the transfer charges which the foreign remittance department will determine commensurate to the amount to be transfered will be paid before transfer as is normal practice with banks all over the world.
TRIP TO YOUR COUNTRY AND SHARING.
Immediately the transfer is made, i will submit my letter of resignation from bank prior to my trip to your country to meet you. you will be responssible for my visa agrrangement. i will expect to stay at least six months in first instance to be able to arrange myself and my share. there will be banking in your country banks and investments in business ventures before thinking of returning to my country. if i find your country very conducive i will go for citizenship after reasonable period. Most of my investments will be understandably under your supervision.
TAKING OFF.
The understanding of this details and accepting to work with me in this deal is the starting point. i require you therefore to declare your decision immediately. i have a time frame to conclude the transfer of this fund to your account. i have 14 bank days to effect this, immediately your application is received by bank.
Let me hear from you before i will send to you the application format which you will fill and send to the bank and also the lawyer's contact.
with great wishes,
MR.Salif Ali.
That was his reply to Ms. Young.
My commentary
First of all, this man is uneducated. He doesn’t seem to understand how to capitalize letters in words that must be capitalized. And look at all the italicized words that are clearly not spelled right.
If in fact the man claiming to be from the bank really was an employee of the bank and he really was going to give Ms. Young all that money, as soon as the police grabbed her computer and saw what this scammer had written in it, she would be eventually be convicted of conspiracy to commit a theft, mainly because of the following sentence in his message to her. The message said in part;
AS YOU ARE ACTUALLY NOT THE REAL NEXT OF KIN AND DO NOT KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THE LATE CUSTOMER.
I capitalized it in the message so it could be easily seen by my readers. Even if she ended up paying this scammer money and then complained to the police that she was a victim of the scammer, she would get the kind of sympathy from them that a small fish gets from a shark. She would actually be charged with conspiracy to commit a theft. Yes, you can be convicted of conspiracy to commit theft even if the money you are charged with attempting to steal doesn’t exist just as you can be charged with conspiracy to commit murder even if the victim doesn’t exist or conspiracy to commit an act of terrorism even if no one will be killed, nor property damaged.
Ms. Young then sent the following message to Mr. Ali:
Dear Mr. Ali,
Thank you for your long email explaining it all. I think I understand most of it, and I trust you to continue this business. I attach my picture, so that you know who you are dealing with. Will you send me your picture?
I hope to hear from you soon.
Mr. Ali then replied to her message:
Dear Miss Young,
Once again, thank you for your reply and your decision finally to cooperate with me and work as a partner to get this fund transfered to your account by accepting to be approved as the next of kin to late mr. Andreas Schranner. I saw your picture. i will send you my bank ID card.
I do not just choose you in this business, i had a very serious fasting payer and as a Muslim,i am dedicated and always believe in what my Allah tells me.so i prayed to Allah to show me the more trusted person and as luck would have it, its you.
VERY IMPORTANT,THE CONFIDENTIALITY OF THIS BUSINESS AND THE NEED FOR ABSOLUTE PRECAUTION MUST BE TAKEN AND TO BE KNOWN ONLY BY YOU AND ME FOR OUR DIRECT COMMUNICATIONS.
Once the bank receives your application, the approval processes will begin . i will provide you with all informations the bank needs from you. what you have to do immediately now is to fill and send the application to the bank.
THE APPLICATION.
FROM:
(YOUR NAME)...................
ADDRESS.......................
TEL:..........................
FAX...........................
EMAIL.........................
TO: DR. JONAS YOGO,
THE DIRECTOR, FOREIGN REMITTANCE DEPARTMENT,
BANK OF AFRICA.
AVENUE DE RESISTANCE,
OUAGADOUGOU BURKINA FASO
TEL. 00226 76 51 05 64
FAX: 00226 50 32 25 50
EMAIL: www_bankofafrica_bf@gawab.com
SIR,
APPLICATION AS THE NEXT OF KIN.
I HEREBY APPLY AS THE NEXT OF KIN TO YOUR DEACEASED CUSTOMER MR. GEORGE BRUMLEY, AN AMERICAN WHO DIED IN A PLANE CRASH ON 21ST OF JULY,2003. HE IS MY COUSIN. I AM PUTING CLAIM TO THE FUND IN HIS ACCOUNT IN YOUR BANK AMOUNTING TO TEN MILLION US DOLLARS (US$10M).
I WOULD BE GRATEFULL IF THIS FUND IS REMITTED INTO MY BANK ACCOUNT AS HEREIN STATED BELOW.
ACCT NO.................................................................
BANK NAME..............................................................
SWIFT CODE (IF ANY)....................................................
ADDRESS OF BANK........................................................ .......................................................................
I APOLOGISE FOR THIS LATE APPLICAION.IT WAS DUE TO FAMILY LOGISTIC PROBLEMS WHICH HAVE NOW BEEN RESOLVED.
I WILL BE VERY GRATEFULL IF MY APPLICATION RECEIVES YOUR EARLIEST CONSIDERATION.
YOURS FAITHFULLY,
YOUR NAME............
SIGNATURE............
please fill this application format and send it to the bank by EMAIL only to enable my man in the computer room to file it himself and to be able to forward other arrangements personally as soon as possible.
Best wishes,
Mr.SALIF.
My Commentary
As you can see from Mr. Ali’s message, he wants Ms. Young to give him all her bank information including the Swift number. That number is what each bank has that connects the bank with the international banking transactions Generally when money is to be transferred from a bank in one country to another bank in another country, the SWIFT numbers of both banks must be included to make the transfers possible. What this means is that once the scammer has her bank account and her bank’s SWIFT number, he can transfer her money right out of her bank account and directly into his bank account. Even if she didn’t give him her bank’s SWIFT number, he could call up her bank pretending to be her and after giving Ms. Young’s account number, he could then ask for the SWIFT number and the bank would give it to him.
What I found most interesting was his second message to her in which he spoke of a VISA to get him into the her country. Let me quote how what he said in his message about the VISA.
“you will be responssible for my visa agrrangement. i will expect to stay at least six months in first instance to be able to arrange myself and my share. there will be banking in your country banks and investments in business ventures before thinking of returning to my country. if i find your country very conducive i will go for citizenship after reasonable period.”
This scammer isn’t really familiar with the laws of the United States. If Ms. Young actually obtained a VISA for this scammer and he was permitted to remain in the United States, she would be held personally liable for any support he required with respect to his living there. Once she learned that information from the Immigration authorities, she wouldn’t be that stupid to obtain a VISA for him using her own name as his sponsor. In any case, it’s unlikely that he would enter the United States because if he really was a bank official in Burkina Faso, and left that country after transferring money out of the bank he worked for, he would be arrested on a warrant issued by Interpol as soon as he arrived at the airport in the United States.
In any case, he sent Ms. Young another message:
Dear Miss Young,
THE LAWYER'S CONTACT;
The barrister who will be your resident attorney at the bank will be a particular lawyer to represent you. he is not to be my own lawyer nor the bank's lawyer. you will be the one to contact him yourselve. he is not to know me and the bank is not to know that i am pioneering this business deal at all. i will remain in the shadows and operate discreetly in the background to effect all necessary processes to approve you as the next of kin.
Below is the contact address of the lawyer you will contact and what to tell him. this lawyer is one of the most efficient legal luminarries in this country and he is bound to effectively give you superlative representation at the bank. there is nothing to worry about as all processes are to be legal and official.
You should not be afraid to call me on phone as i know it is safe receiving your phone call from my side. This business is hitch free and cannot endanger any one on both side i assure you.
Here, then i give you the contact of the lawyer i know is most capable in handling inherittance issues in banks and related institutions. this very lawyer is a luminary in legal profession and is respected even in west africa. he will definitely achieve what we want of his legal service.
THE LAWYERS CONTACT ADDRESS.
DR.BARRISTER LUCKY OSARO
ST.OSARO CHAMBERS
1414 AVENUE COULIBALY
OUAGADOUGOU BURKINA FASO
TEL: 00226 76 69 77 90
email: luck_osar_chambers@justice.com
BELOW IS THE LETTER YOU HAVE TO SEND TO HIM IMMEDIATELY.
FROM;
FILL YOUR NAME HERE
ADDRESS...............................
TEL......................................
EMAIL...................................
TO;
DR.BARRISTER LUCKY OSARO
ST.OSARO CHAMBERS
1414 AVENUE COULIBALY
OUAGADOUGOU BURKINA FASO
TEL: 00226 76 69 77 90
email: luck_osar_chambers@justice.com
Dear Sir,
I HAVE AN INHERITANCE IN AN ACCOUNT WITH BANK OF AFRICA IN OUAGADOUGOU BURKINA FASO FOR WHICH I AM SENDING AN APPLICATION OF CLAIM.
I WANT YOU TO BE MY RESIDENT ATTORNEY IN OUAGADOUGOU BURKINA FASO AND REPRESENT ME AT THE BANK.
I ALSO WANT YOU TO FOLLOW UP MY APPLICATION AND GET MY APPROVAL AS THE NEXT OF KIN TO MY DECEASED COUSIN.
SIR, YOU WILL BE RESPONSIBLE IN OBTAINING WHATEVER LEGAL DOCUMENTS THAT THE BANK WILL REQUIRE FROM ME CONCERNING MY CLAIM AND MY INHERITTANCE.
YOU IN THIS RESPECT WILL BE RESPONSIBLE IN SIGNING THE PAYMENT RELEASE ORDER OF THE FUND; MY INHERITTANCE; ON MY BEHALF AS I WILL NOT BE ABLE TO COME TO BURKINA FASO NOW BECAUSE OF PREVAILING CERCUMSTANCES.
AND THAT IN CONCLUSION, I WANT YOU TO TELL ME THE COST OF YOUR SERVICES IN THIS REGARD IF AND ONLY IF YOU ACCEPT TO REPRESENT ME AT THE BANK.
NEVER MIND SIR ON HOW I CAME TO KNOW YOU, BUT I DID GET THIS CONTACT FROM A FRIEND OF MINE FROM WEST AFRICA. HOPING TO HEAR FROM YOU SOON
YOURS FAITHFULLY,
FILL YOUR NAME HERE.
i advise that you contact this lawyer as soon as you are sending in your application to the bank so that all structures needed for the processing of your application and for the obtaining of your approval as the next of kin will be errected without delay.
i have a time frame to conclude this deal. about fourteen working days from the date your applicatin arrives at the bank.
CALL THE LAWYER ON PHONE AND DISCUSS WITH HIM AS WELL AS SENDING HIM MAIL. LET ME KNOW WHAT THE LAWYER REPLIES YOU FOR US TO KNOW WHAT TO DO WITHOUT DELAY.
you can call me with my personal direct line number 00226 76 62 19 57.whenever you desire.
note; once your application reaches the bank, i will see that the approval process begins immediately.
i look forward to your timely cooperation.
Mr.SALIF.
Salif was progressing ultra fast. To slow down a little, so she sent him this message:
Mr.Salif, Thank you for explaining thing in such detail. I think very much that I can trust you. But I am a little confused about your dead client. Is it Andreas Schranner or George Brumley or both? Regards
As instructed, she sent this to the bank, but didn’t send the requested information:
DR. JONAS YOGO,
THE DIRECTOR, FOREIGN REMITTANCE DEPARTMENT,
BANK OF AFRICA.
AVENUE DE RESISTANCE,
OUAGADOUGOU BURKINA FASO
TEL. 00226 76 51 05 64
FAX: 00226 50 32 25 50
EMAIL: www_bankofafrica_bf@gawab.com
SIR,
APPLICATION AS THE NEXT OF KIN.
I HEREBY APPLY AS THE NEXT OF KIN TO YOUR DECEASED CUSTOMER MR. GEORGE BRUMLEY,AN AMERICAN WHO DIED IN A PLANE CRASH ON 21ST OF JULY,2003. HE IS MY COUSIN. I AM PUTTING CLAIM TO THE FUND IN HIS ACCOUNT IN YOUR BANK AMOUNTING TO TEN MILLION US DOLLARS(US$10M). I WOULD BE GRATEFUL IF THIS FUND IS REMITTED INTO MY BANK ACCOUNT I APOLOGIZE FOR THIS LATE APPLICATION.IT WAS DUE TO FAMILY LOGISTIC PROBLEMS WHICH HAVE NOW BEEN RESOLVED. I WILL BE VERY GRATEFUL IF MY APPLICATION RECEIVES YOUR EARLIEST CONSIDERATION. YOURS FAITHFULLY, ...
And, as instructed, she cut-and-paste this next message from the scammer to the lawyer, but without the requested information:
DR.BARRISTER LUCKY OSARO
ST.OSARO CHAMBERS
1414 AVENUE COULIBALY
OUAGADOUGOU BURKINA FASO
TEL: 00226 76 69 77 90
email: luck_osar_chambers@justice.com
Dear Sir,
I HAVE AN INHERITANCE IN AN ACCOUNT WITH BANK OF AFRICA IN OUAGADOUGOU BURKINA FASO FOR WHICH I AM SENDING AN APPLICATION OF CLAIM. I WANT YOU TO BE MY RESIDENT ATTORNEY IN OUAGADOUGOU BURKINA FASO AND REPRESENT ME AT THE BANK. I ALSO WANT YOU TO FOLLOW UP MY APPLICATION AND GET MY APPROVAL AS THE NEXT OF KIN TO MY DECEASED COUSIN. SIR, YOU WILL BE RESPONSIBLE IN OBTAINING WHATEVER LEGAL DOCUMENTS THAT THE BANK WILL REQUIRE FROM ME CONCERNING MY CLAIM AND MY INHERITTANCE. YOU IN THIS RESPECT WILL BE RESPONSIBLE IN SIGNING THE PAYMENT RELEASE ORDER OF THE FUND; MY INHERITTANCE; ON MY BEHALF AS I WILL NOT BE ABLE TO COME TO BURKINA FASO NOW BECAUSE OF PREVAILING CERCUMSTANCES. AND THAT IN CONCLUSION, I WANT YOU TO TELL ME THE COST OF YOUR SERVICES IN THIS REGARD. HOPING TO HEAR FROM YOU SOON
YOURS FAITHFULLY,
Then she signed her name.
From: salif ali8
Sent: February 6, 2005
Subject: I HAVE CONFIDENCE IN YOU.
Dear Miss Young,
i thank you very much for your being very careful. actually, I did not make a mistake in the names. George Brumley is the person that his name was used to create the account in our bank but he and Andreas schranner are into partnership account. i was in a haste while giving you the application because it was time for muslim prayers,so i made that error. You can correct it and send to the bank,
I will advise you to use George Brumley. Let me ask you, when can i always get you on phone. i will like to speak with you. waiting to hear from you.
salif.
She wrote him back saying that she was having some temporary trouble accessing her email account, so sent to a new message:
Dear Salif,
Thanks for explaining about George and Andreas. It makes sense now.
I have contacted the bank and the lawyer, but not heard from them yet.
I have switched to my "secret" email account, missyoung@mysecretaccount.com. Please use that in the future for our business. What happened to the ID card you promised to send? Regards,
Salif left a voice mail. Apparently he had not read her mail yet. Then he sent her another email message:
This is Mr Salif Ali from Burkina Faso. I have been sending you rigth from the ### day ### reference from you. Please i've been trying to get you on mail, but the mail is coming back to me. Could you just send me an email with your new email address. Thank you very much. Once again, Mr Salif Ali from Burkina Faso. Bye bye.
Then he sent her another email message:
From: salif ali8
Sent: February 8, 2005
Subject: Re: I HAVE CONFIDENCE IN YOU.
Dear Miss Young .
happy to hear from you again, i was very worried when my mails could not reach you. I even dropped a message on your phone this morning. I wanted to send you my bank Id but my mails were not going. Ok,now, i will send it to you as soon as there is none of the bank official around me. Get me informed if you get any news either from the bank or lawyer
best wishes,
Salif.
Then this message supposedly came from the bank
From: bank of africa
Sent: February 8, 2005
Subject: ***SPAM*** ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF APPLICATION.
ATTENTION TO MISS YOUNG.
DEAR SIR, Note he addressed Miss Young as Sir
THIS BANK IS IN RECEPTION OF YOUR SUBMITTED APPLICATION.
KINDLY BEAR WITH US,WE WILL GET BACK TO YOU IN DUE TIME.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR UNDERSTANDING AND PATIENCE.
YOURS FAITHFULLY,
DR.JONAS YOGO (Director,
Foreign Remittance Dept.B.O.A)
Then she got this message from the scammer:
From: salif ali8
Sent: February 8, 2005
Subject: MY BANK ID CARD.
Dear Miss Young,
i have attached my bank ID so that you will know whom you are dealing with and also know my seriousness regarding this deal which i have been planning for over a years now.
find attached here my id card.
i look forward to your timely coperation.
salif ali.
From: luck_osar_chambers@justice.com
Sent: February 8, 2005
Subject: I WILL INVESTIGATE YOU FIRST.
REPLY TO: MISS YOUNG.
08/02/2005.
TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN.
I HAVE RECEIVED YOUR LETTER TO MY CHAMBER DATED 07/02/2005,REQUESTING ME TO REPRESENT YOU IN OBTAINING AND HELP YOU GET OUT YOUR INHERITANCE FUND FROM BANK OF AFRICA TO YOUR ACCOUNT.
I AM SURPRISED HOW YOU MANAGED TO GET MY CHAMBER'S EMAIL ID AND OTHER INFORMATIONS OF MY CHAMBER.BUT NEVERTHELESS,MY CHAMBER IS READY TO HELP YOU,ON THE CONDITION THAT I WILL HAVE TO GO TO THE BANK FIRST,TO STUDY YOUR CASE IF WHAT YOU HAVE JUST SAID IS REAL AND TRUE.
AFTER MY INVESTIGATION,WHEN I AM BACK,I WILL SEND TO YOU THE ANALYSES OF MY INVESTIGATION AND MY CHAMBER'S REQUIREMENTS AND CHARGES.
YOURS IN SERVICE,
DR.BARRISTER LUCKY OSARO(ESQ).
From: luck_osar_chambers@justice.com
Sent: February 9, 2005
Subject: PICTURE OF YOUR FUND ATTACHED.
ATT:MISS YOUNG.
DEAR CLIENT,
I WAS AT THE BANK THIS MORNING AND HAD A VERY IMPORTANT MEETING WITH THE BANK MANAGEMENT.I AM GOING TO HELP YOU GET OUT YOUR FUND OF USD$10 MILLION DOLLARS OUT AND MAKE THE TRANSFER TO YOUR ACCOUNT.
THE BANK WILL SEND YOU A QUESTIONNAIRE WHICH YOU WILL GIVE ANSWERS TO EACH QUESTION.
ONCE THEY SEND YOU THIS, FILL THE CORRECT ANSWERS AND FORWARD TO ME SO THAT I COULD TAKE IT TO THE BANK ON YOUR BEHALF.
I TOOK THE OPPORTUNITY TO TAKE A PHOTOGRAPH OF YOUR FUND AT THE BANK.
I HAVE ATTACHED IT FOR YOU TO SEE THAT YOUR FUND IS SAFE AND INTACT.
SEE THE ATTACHMENT OF YOUR MONEY AT THE BANK. I WILL SEND YOU MY CHARGES BY TOMORROW.MY CHAMBER CANNOT WORK FOR YOU WITHOUT THE PAYMENT OF MY LEGAL SERVICE.
YOURS IN SERVICE,
BARRISTER LUCKY OSARO.
From: bank of africa
Sent: February 10, 2005
Subject: OFFICIAL BANK QUESTIONS,SEE ATTACHMENT.
ATTENTION TO: MISS YOUNG.
DEAR CUSTOMER,
WITH REGARDS TO YOUR SUBMITTED APPLICATION,THIS BANK HAS SENT YOU SOME SERIES OF QUESTIONS WHICH YOU MUST GIVE THE EXACT AND CORRECT ANSWERS SO AS TO PROVE THAT YOU ARE THE ORIGINAL NEXT OF KIN AND INHERITOR TO THE FUND BEING DEPOSITED IN OUR BANK.
UPON THE RECEIVAL OF YOUR ANSWERS (IF CORRECT),THIS BANK WILL GIVE YOU THE APPROVAL OF THE FUND AND MAKE THE TRANSFER TO YOUR ACCOUNT.
FIND BELOW THE ATTACHMENT OF THE QUESTIONS.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR UNDERSTANDING AND COPERATION.
YOURS FAITHFULLY,
DR.JONAS YOGO (Director, Foreign Remittance Dept.,BOA)
TT:MISS YOUNG.
DEAR CLIENT,
I CAN HELP YOU GET THE ANSWERS BUT YOU HAVE NOT YET BEEN RECOGNISED AS A CLIENT TO MY CHAMBER,THIS IS BECAUSE YOU HAVE NOT PAID OUR REGISTRATION/CONSULTATION FEES.
I WILL SEND TO YOU MY LEGAL SERVISE CHARGES. UPON THE PAYMENT OF MY CHARGES,YOU WILL BE RECOGNISED AS AN OFICIAL CLIENT TO THIS CHAMBER AND ALL YOUR NEEDS,LEGALLY AND OTHERWISE WILL BE TAKEN CARE OF BY THIS CHAMBER.
YOURS IN SERVICE, BARR.OSARO.
TT:MISS YOUNG.
DEAR CLIENT
FIND ATTACHED HEREWITH MY CHAMBER'S LEGAL SERVICE BILL.YOU ARE TO MAKE THIS PAYMENT BEFORE WE CAN WORK FOR YOU.
PAY THROUGH WESTERN UNION MONEY TRANSFER IN MY NAME:
LUCKY OSARO
CITY:OUAGADOUGOU
COUNTRY:BURKINA FASO.
YOURS IN SERVICE,
BARR.LUCKY OSARO.
Ms. Young realized that in order to delve further into this scam, she would have to pay the $8,500 lawyer’s fee that the so called lawyer was demanding from her. That’s when she decided to end her investigation into the scam.
As you can see, it was really all about the scammers conning her into giving them money. And you can be sure that if she was foolish enough to give them that money, they would know that they had a real sucker on the end of the hook. The next letter she would then get would be that there is a bit of a problem that has to be dealt with before the money could be transferred to her account. The problem is that the taxes would have to be paid first and since the so called bank official could hardly pay the taxes himself as that would draw attention to his role in the scam, she would have to pay the taxes. Then the letter would say that the taxes are $20,000 or something like that.
Most victims would back away from the project at that stage before paying this amount and accept their loss of the $8,500 as an act of stupidity on their part but if they didn’t—well use your imagination. When a shark nibbles on a small fish, it doesn’t quit with just a few bites. It wants more. I would have liked to have been a fly on the wall in the scammer’s room when he finally realized that the sucker had just bitten him on his ass.
I am grateful to Ms. Young for the work she did to show us all just how these scammers work.
One obvious clue about the fact that the authors of the messages to Ms. Young and also to me are scammers is that they are really quite uneducated. I can’t imagine anyone who is purported to have the responsibilities that they claim to have in the Bank of Africa would really make the kind of spelling mistakes these scammers made.
I hope you have enjoyed reading this article. By the way, can I interest you in some property? It is in a very nice location where you don’t have worry about pesky neighbours. If fact, your nearest neighbour is 514 miles directly south of you in the City of Anchorage, Alaska. You won’t even have to pay property taxes. All I am asking from you at this stage of your enquiry is $5,000 US as a down payment. Now if you will give me all your bank information, I will arrange for the transfer.
Oh, My. Does this mean you are not interested? I guess I shouldn’t have warned you about the scammers, eh?
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