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The Best Frauds, Scams, and Big Company Cons in America Today |
| Nigerian Money Swindle -- Thieving money via the Internet. |
| MONEY SWINDLES -- EVERYONE NEEDS TO SEE WHAT ONE LOOKS
LIKE -- SO YOU DON'T FALL FOR THIS OBVIOUS
CON JOB! |
Note: For the latest Nigerian Swindle letter, received 6 Sept 01, see near the end of this page. It sounds SO convincing, you'd want to jump right in ... DON'T !!! -- Read this entire article first. |
| EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Money Theft by Conning Gullible People. Nature of Fraud: Claiming that a huge pot of money is waiting to be transferred to you and others. All you have to do is give them some of your money or a bank account first, and then you get the big pay off. SURE ..... |
Example of the Con: There are many versions of the infamous "Nigerian Money Swindle". We were lucky enough to get a rather authentic original version sent to us by some slick con operator. Read it here, exactly as we received it, so you can be wary of these clearly fraudulent money schemes: WARNING! DO NOT REPLY TO THE FOLLOWING E-MAIL. IT IS A CON! Subject: VERY URGENT Date: Fri, 19 Jan 2001 14:55:53 +0000 (GMT) From: USENI TIJANI <tjnuseni (at) yahoo.co.uk> To: (our e-mail address) Dear Sir, My name is MR TIJANI USENI the eldest son of Rtd General JEREMAIAH. J. T. USENI who was the est. while Minister of the Federal Capital territory Abuja in the late General Sani Abacha’s Regime of 1993-1998. I am contacting you in a benevolent spirit; utmost confidence and trust to enable us provide a solution to a money transfer of $60M that is presently putting my entire family into great disarray. You may be quite surprised at my sudden contact to you but do not despair, I got your contact from a business site on the internet and following the information I gathered about you, I was convinced that you could be of assistance to me. So, decided to contact you at once due to the urgency required for us to immediately transfer the said funds out of the country. During the time my father was in the government with the late General Sani Abacha as the head of state, they were both involved in several deals that yielded Billions of Dollars. The prominent amongst the deals was monies that emanated from funds set aside for the importation of Arms and Ammunitions to boost the Nigerian Defense, funds set to embark on an oversea campaign to counter the United States action to put a stop to the self succession bid of the Abacha’s government to retain power, and monies set aside to rehabilitate the ailing Nigerian Petroleum Refineries and the National Electric Power Authority which supplies Electricity to the entire nation. If you are conversant with world news, you would understand better. During this period my father was able to make some good money for himself and kept in his private bank accounts. The then head of state General Sani Abacha transferred his share of the money through a Lebanese businessman, Chagoury and a Jewish businessman, Mark Rissar to bank accounts overseas. Unfortunately, all the secrets were revealed by the investigation agencies set up by the successive governments and most of the Abacha’s loots were traced and repatriated from the various accounts to the Federal Government Treasury. Out of the money my father made, he left the sum of N50 Million (Fifty Million Naira) in the CBN escrow account for further transfer into a foreign account and a sum of $60M (Sixty Million Dollars) was kept in a Private security firm here in Nigeria. Through the confessions made by the Abacha’s Family, the N50 Million was recovered by the investigating agency from the CBN escrow account. But were unable to discover the $60M, which he kept in the vaults. The reason is because no names were used to lodge in the funds. Instead, he used PERSONAL IDENTIFICATION NUMBERS (PIN) and declared the contents as Bearer Bonds and Treasury Bills. Also the firm issued him with a certificate of deposit of the consignments. Note that I have these information in my custody. Right now, my father has been arrested and detained for interrogation. As the eldest son of my Father, I believe that I owe the entire family an obligation to ensure that the $60M is successfully transferred abroad for investment purposes. With the present situation, I cannot do it all by myself. It is based on this that I am making this contact with you. I have done a thorough homework and fine-tuned the best way to create you as the beneficiary to the funds and effect the transfer accordingly. Is rest assured that the modalities I have resolved to finalize the entire project guarantees our safety and the successful transfer of the funds. So, you will be absolutely right when you say that this project is risk free and viable. If you are capable and willing to assist, contact me at once via email for more details. Believe me, there is no one else we can trust again. All my fathers’ friends have deserted us after exploiting us on the pretence of trying to help my father. As it is said, “it is at the time of problems that you know your true friends”. So long as you keep everything to yourself, we would definitely have no problems. For your assistance, I am ready to give you as much as 20% of the total funds after transfer and invest a reasonable percentage into any viable business you may suggest. Please, I need your assistance to make this happen and please; do not undermine it because it will also be a source of up liftment to you also. You have absolutely nothing to loose in assisting us instead, you have so much to gain. Awaiting your urgent and positive response. BEST REGARDS, MR TIJANI USENI. ________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get your free @yahoo.co.uk address at http://mail.yahoo.co.uk or your free @yahoo.ie address at http://mail.yahoo.ie WARNING! DO NOT REPLY TO THE ABOVE E-MAIL. IT IS A CON! |
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| Principles Involved: The most important thing to realize in any dealings with people is that you need some UP FRONT verification of the reputability and certainty of any money dealings, before putting out your money for anything. It is hard to believe that people can fall for these money swindles, but the sad fact of life is that people sending mails similar to the above, have ripped off gullible Americans for hundreds of thousands of dollars -- and of course, they have never delivered anything. Let's look at some obvious earmarks of a Con Job.
YOU JUST DON'T GET INVOLVED IN THESE KINDS OF SWINDLES, UNLESS YOU WANT TO LOSE MONEY. YOU CAN BE SURE THEIR WORDS ARE DESIGNED TO INVOKE COMPASSION IN YOU. THE BETTER THEY ARE AT DOING THAT, THE CRAFTIER THE SWINDLE WILL BE ! KEEP AWAY FROM THEM. THEY ARE NEVER AUTHENTIC! |
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Why can't the FTC Stop Them? We've already sent this one to the FTC. Can you guess how they will respond? How sharp are you? Answer: This is coming from an overseas location, and the FTC (U.S. Federal Government) has no jurisdiction overseas -- therefore, there is nothing they can do about it! That's our guess on what their response will be. What's your's? We will post an update later to let you know how they responded and acted, if we find out. Maybe they will pleasantly suprise us! Will Yahoo act to stop this? Sure, they can delete the account, but what is to stop the person from getting another email account under a different name, the very same day? |
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MORE ON THE NIGERIAN MONEY SWINDLE: After posting our original letter, we got dozens of similar ones, ALL from writers as "illiterate" as the one listed above (the "illiteracy" is actually part of the deception -- very educated people could be writing these swindle letters). There are so many variants, we cannot print them all, but interestingly, every one we received came from a "Yahoo.com" mailbox. You would think Yahoo would do something about it. We sent them numerous examples, and so far they have done NOTHING!! However, we did receive the following unusual response. WE POST THIS HERE MERELY AS ADDITIONAL WARNING NOT TO HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH THESE SWINDLES. We are not suggesting that the following article is factual, or that we have confirmed or believe any of it. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - I like your web page, very informative and very helpful. Would you like to know what happens to people who try to outsmart the Nigerians when they receive the Nigerian Scam letter? You already know that nearly all scam are crimes of persuasion and greed. Greed is almost always required by the gullible as well. Every once in a while a "victim" attempts to outsmart the Nigerians. They open bank accounts and send that account number. The thought being that the victims assume the Nigerians intend to empty your bank account. (Oh, they intend to take your money and sinister things have happened to folks who have gotten into the scheme.) These greedy victims think the dumb Nigerians will put the money into the new bank account. Here's what really happens: The Victim sends the account number. The Nigerians deposit checks they have stolen through the United States postal Service into the accounts. These checks range from a few thousand dollars up to a couple of million. Then the Nigerians have the victim pull out the Nigerian percentage, which the greedy victim readily does. The victim is left with a modest 30% or so of the check. Within days or weeks the greedy victim gets a visit from the authorities and the Nigerians are long gone with their money. Boy were you ever smart! Most of the time the Nigerians string a victim along and persuade them to go to Nigeria where they are abducted immediately and the family is instructed to send all the money they have for the return of the victim. In some cases the victims are beaten and even killed. Passport, identity all jewelry and money is taken from the victims person as well. It's a fairly evil scam. Keep up the good work! TFC [No state given] -- Date March 2001 [NOTE! Please list your state when you write in. Those states need to know that swindles and scams are being conducted in their states, so that they can be "obligated" to do something about it.] BE WARY OF ANY SUSPECT MONEY SWINDLES. YOU NEVER KNOW THE CONSEQUENCES. ALSO, NEVER TRY TO "OUTSMART" THE SWINDLERS AT THEIR OWN GAME. |
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HERE IS THE LATEST NIGERIAN LETTER (July 6, 2001): NOTE: DO NOT REPLY TO THIS LETTER -- IT IS A CON AND A SWINDLE. ALHAJI ADAMU SHAGARI. Lagos, Nigeria FAX NO: 234 1 7594693 Private Address: adamushagari@presidency.com REQUEST FOR URGENT (CONFIDENTIAL BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP OF THE TRANSFER OF US$45,560,000.00 (FORTY FIVE MILLION, FIVE HUNDRED AND SIXTY THOUSAND UNITED STATES DOLLARS ONLY). I hope this letter will not embarrass you since we have not had any previous communication. I got your reference from the Nigeria Exports Promotion Council (NEPC) and went further to have it confirmed by the United States (your country) trade department under private enquiry that is not related to my aim of writing you this letter. I, on behalf of my other colleagues from different Federal Government of Nigeria owned parastatals decided to solicit your assistance as regards the transfer of the above stated amount into your bank account. This fund arose from the over-invoicing of various contracts awarded in my parastatals to certain foreign contractors some time ago. We as holders of official positions in various parastatals, were mandated by this new civilian government to scrutinize all payments made to certain foreign contractors by the past Military Government and we discovered that some of the contracts they executed were grossly over-invoiced, either by omission or commission. Also we discovered that the sum of $65,560,000.00 (Sixty-Five Million, Five Hundred and Sixty Thousand United States Dollars Only) was lying in a suspense account, although the foreign contractors were fully paid their entitlements after executing the said contracts. We all agreed that the over-invoiced amount be transferred (for our own use) into a bank account provided by a foreign partner, as the code of conduct of the Federal Civil Service does not allow us to operate foreign accounts. However, we have succeeded in transferring some of these money, precisely US$20,000,000.00 (Twenty Million United States Dollars Only) into a foreign account in GENEVA (SWITZERLAND) last week. But unfortunately, the provider of the account has severed all forms of contacts with us as he has refused to adhere to our earlier mutual agreement insisting that the total amount be paid into his nominated bank account before disbursement will take effect. If for US$20M (Twenty Million United States Dollars Only) we are not compensated, how can one guarantee full compensation on remittance of the balance of US$45.560M (Forty-Five Million, Five Hundred and Sixty Thousand United States Dollars Only). We are therefore seeking your assistance based on the balance amount of US$45.560M, which can be speedily processed and fully remitted into your nominated bank account. On successful remittance of the fund into your account, you will be compensated with 25% of the amount for assistance and services and 5% set aside for expenses contingency. This transaction is closely knitted and in view of our SENSITIVE POSITION we cannot afford a slip, I assure you that this transaction is 100% risk free. We will avail you with our identities as regards our respective offices, when relationship is fully established and smooth operation commences. I am at your disposition to entertain any question(s) from you in respect of this transaction, so contact me immediately through the above and fax number or through my direct email address adamushagari@presidency.com for further information on the requirements and procedure. Please note that the DEAL needs utmost confidentiality and your immediate response will be highly appreciated and we will use our own share of the money to establish a lucrative business in your country. Please you should contact me immediately with your private fax and telephone numbers where further details in respect to this transaction would be sent to ,only if you are interested to assist us. Please do not disregard my email for any reason because it was address to and from my self, it is for security reason to avoid problem. Yours truly, ALHAJI ADAMU SHAGARI. DO NOT REPLY TO THIS LETTER -- IT IS A CON AND A SWINDLE You can't get much more convincing than that, can you? How the allure of money can deceive people! Note also that it came through Yahoo.com -- as do almost all of these Nigerian swindle letters. These letters are nothing more than fraud. So to save further space, this is the last one we will print. UPDATE ON SWINDLES: We've received so many copies of variations on the Nigerian Money Swindle letter, we decided, rather than list details of each letter (they all are variations on much the same theme), it would be better to just list the e-mail addresses of people sending these letters -- SO YOU CAN BE WARNED NEVER TO WRITE TO THESE ADDRESSES. Note that most addresses probably don't last more than 1 month, and are likely to be closed. But it is important to see where these are coming from -- and most are still from YAHOO.com. Several of the most active swindlers (e.g. the Useni brothers) keep changing emails monthly. Also, if you scrutinize these addresses carefully, you see several variants on the same names. This is further evidence that these swindle letters are probably written by very literate people in the U.S. and North America (not countries like Nigeria, Congo, Togo, Ivory Coast etc, where most people don't have computers or email addresses). Hence the swindlers and Yahoo need to be investigated by the FTC. But the FTC is doing nothing about it, and Americans are being defrauded each day by the swindlers, because our Federal Government assumes the letters are coming from overseas, so they can avoid any involvement. What a con! Any swindle involving American victims is 100% the responsibility of the U.S. Government to stop -- no excuses, and no cop-outs! ---------------------------------- |
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| Sender of Swindle Letter BELLO HASSAN bellohassan@onebox.com TIJANI USENI tjnuseni@yahoo.co.uk [Tijani Useni is by far the most active in this swindle] KONATE MANI mankonate70@yahoo.com KATHERINE BONGANI kathbongani@hotmail.com MARYAM ABACHA mayabach@yahoo.com MARIAM ABACHA mariam_aba203@yahoo.com NELSON AYODELE nellyayodele@yahoo.com POWELL CHIKA chikapowell@yahoo.com AHMED TORO ahmedtoro@yahoo.com ADAMU SHAGARI adamushagari@presidency.com ALHAJI ADAMU SHAGARI alhadamushagari@presidency.com AGOGO MUSTAPHA agogomust@yahoo.com ALHAJI ADEMOLA MUSA ademola_musa@yahoo.com TOGBE LAWSON togbelawson@lycos.com MARK AZIH markazih15@yahoo.com ALHAJI SULEIMAN ABUBAKAR alhajia@lycos.com MIRIAM SESE-SEKO mariam_seseko@totalise.co.uk DR PATRICK ODILI podili@lycos.com GEORGE NOGXINA georgenogxina@hotmail.com JAMES OKUKU james_okuku@yahoo.fr DAVIS OBASAKI davis_obasaki0@mail.com ABDUL BASH abdulbash852000@yahoo.com JAMES LUFAH jameslufah2006@netzero.com ABRAHAM AWELE awele3@tiscali.co.uk MONICA KABILA monikabila1@simbamail.fm Other Names contributed by readers: WETEGO ADAMS wetegoll@yahoo.com TESLIM YUSUF teslim yusuf@yahoo.com THERESA COLEMAN colemantbenson@yahoo.com MICHAEL KABRILLA mikud07@hotmail.com ANTHONY DARARE tonydarare@yahoo.com GARUBA USENI garu2ba@yahoo.com MATHEW DONALDS mdonalds1@yahoo.com ADEOYE LAMBO adeoye301@yahoo.com TIJANI USENI useni_tijani2@yahoo.com [changed address] RICHARD USENI richarduseni@tangana.com CHRIS BONNET chris_bonnet2000@yahoo.fr DANLAMI YARO danlamiyaro@excite.com ALHAJI AKIMOLA BAYO alhaji_akimola_bayo@yahoo.com JAMES MORGAN jamesmorgan6000@yahoo.com ALHAJI S. ABUBAKAR alhsuleabubakar@consultant.com KUKA HASSAN USENI kua_hasie@ipraise.com JAMES KOKOMA jameskokoma9@yahoo.com MARYAM ABACHA collins_aani@onebox.com ABASS MOHAMMED abbasmoham@yahoo.com NELSON AYODELE drnelson4d@yahoo.com MUSA USENI kume_roy@yahoo.com [Note: All 4 Usenis claim to be the eldest son of Jeremiah Useni] HASSAN.H.HASSAN hassan_hass2000@yahoo.com ADO ABACHA alexub40@onebox.com, adab55@yahoo.com DR. SHEYE OBODOS drsheyeobodos@yahoo.com LUCAS WETEGO lu_wet@onebox.com DR.. YUSEF USENI yusufuseni5@lycos.com MAYA IDRIS BELLO mayadrisbello@excite.com TONY IGE tony_ige@onebox.com ALHAJI ABUBAKAR alhsuleiman_abubakar@mail.com FAWEHINMI COLE fawehinmicole@yahoo.com HENRY OWINO KABBAH henryok2001@yahoo.com DR PRINCE ANDY prin_ce513000@yahoo.com M. SESE-SEKO mmssko@hotvoice.com ROY KUME ekumroy1@fmail.co.uk, museni@graffiti.net JOHN NWAJESU johnnwajesu@yahoo.com MUNIRAT ABACHA muniratabacha2@yahoo.com PAUL OKOYE paulokoye9@onebox.com ABDUL BRUME abdul_brume@earthling.net HENRY USENI henryuseni@rediff.com henryuseni@37.com ROSEMARY ETIEBET etmary@lycos.com SADIQ YUSUF s_yusuf_4@yahoo.com LATEEF KARIMU latkarimu@lycos.com latkarlat@excite.com Elder PAUL OKWUNUDU o_kwpaul@tangana.com DR. JAMES BOLA james_b18@arabia.com STEVE LUCAS stlucas_45@yahoo.com stlucas@accountant.com MARY USENI mary72ng@www.com JOHNSON EZE johnsoneze1i1i1i1i1i@mail.com HAMZA YUSEF hamzayusuf1@yahoo.co.uk JOHNSON ATTANGAH barrijosh20@latinmail.com JOSEPH MORE josmorezytrue_biz@mail.com MARY USENI ma72ng@ilovejesus.net (fraud in Jesus' name) ROBERT NIYI robert2000@indiatimes.com BARRISTER F.O. WILLIAMS fwmails@post.cz MARIAM ABACHA mariam@post.cz |
U.S. $ "Available" $ 25,500,000 $ 60,000,000 [50+ mails received] 42,500 c. diamonds $ 12,500,000 $ 15,000,000 $ 20,000,000 $ 40,500,000 $ 28,600,000 $ 21,300,000 $ 45,560,000 $ 45,560,000 $ 35,000,000 $ 46,560,000 $ 25,500,000 $ 27,500,000 $ 45,560,000 $ 18,000,000 $ 31,000,000 $ 45,560,000 $ 17,000,000 $ 14,300,000 $ 22,500,000 $ 60,000,000 $ 40,000,000 $ 18,000,000 $ 23,500,000 $ 24,500,000 $ 10.500,000 $ 23,000,000 $ 17,000,000 $ 60,000,000 $ 10,000,000 $ 21,320,000 $ 60,000,000 $ 60,000,000 $ 15,000,000 $ 36,500,000 $ 46,560,000 $ 35,000,000 $ 45,560,000 $ 45,000,000 $ 30,000,000 $ 42,000,000 [not specified] $ 14,500,000 $ 60,000,000 $ 18,500,000 $ 25,000,000 $ 25,000,000 $ 17,500,000 $ 31,000,000 $ 40,000,000 $ 32,150,000 $ 45,560,000 $ 27,500,000 $ 15,000,000 $ 45,000,000 $ 30,000,000 $ 60,000,000 $ 9,500.000 $ 6,800,000 $ 95,000,000 $ 36,000,000 $ 60,000,000 $ 31,000,000 $ 21,320,000 $ 32,500,000 $ 20,000,000 $ 21,500,000 $ 26,000,000 $ 10.000,000 $ 126,000,000 $ 21,500,000 $ 6,500,000 $ 6,000,000 $ 10,000,000 $ 21,500,000 $ 20,522,000 $ 30,000,000 |
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| Well, congratulations, Johnson Eze, you take top spot for the most outrageous amount so far. Boy -- with THAT MUCH MONEY floating around Nigeria and similar countries in North Africa -- why is the United States giving them TENS OF MILLIONS of dollars in foreign "AID" yearly? Sounds like all us poor tax-paying US citizens ought to STOP the Federal government from giving them ANY aid at all -- give it to U.S. citizens instead, who should be getting our tax dollars! Right? Another solution? Write to the webmaster of the website that the swindler is using to send mail -- e.g. Presidency.com, Consultant.com, excite.com, ipraise.com (and others above) and threaten them with legal action against their site if they allow CRIMINALS to use their email servers to harass you with fraudulent solicitations -- attach a copy of the swindle letter you received. That might get their attention in a hurry. But yahoo doesn't care, so don't waste your time with them. |
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NEWS FLASH! We have obtained the contact page for the Nigerian Government! They are frantically trying to improve internet service in Nigeria. Maybe THEY need to be alerted as to the fraudulent activity coming out of their country -- perhaps THEY need to be asked to STOP it affecting U.S. netizens! Since the U.S. Government is doing precisely ZERO about the Nigerian Money Swindle letters, it might be time to put some pressure on the Nigerian Government to "clean up their country's act". According to one person scammed, these schemes really do originate in Nigeria -- as he received many faxes and fraudulently constructed documents with Nigerian phone numbers and addresses. Here is the Nigerian Govt contacts. If you have been scammed or solicited by one of the Nigerian Money Swindlers, consider writing to any or all of these addresses and express your feelings: Contact The Nigerian Government: General Information Public Affairs Department ncc@ncc.gov.ng Licensing Information Licensing Department licence@ncc.gov.ng Consumer Affairs Consumer Affairs Department consumeraffairs@ncc.gov.ng Legal Information Legal Services Department legal@ncc.gov.ng TO READ THE FOLLOW-UP ON WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU REPLY TO THESE SWINDLES, READ THIS PAGE. IT GIVES FASCINATING INPUT FROM READERS WHO HAVE TAKEN THE "PLUNGE"! Latest Update April 4, 2004 |
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