Lucrative Business Opportunity

Irish Stamp

Irish Stamp

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This is a copy of an e-mail I've received, no idea how they got my details or my address etc.

My Dear Friend,

Compliments Of The Day, Permit me to introduce myself
to you. My name is Mr. Joel Williams,a top Management Official of
BANQUE INTERNATIONALE DU BENIN, Cotonou Bénin République.

I came to
know about you in my private search for a reliable person/company to
handle an important assingment on behalf of my Colleagues and myself.
PROPOSITION: A prosperous oil Gold merchant from Dominican Republic (
Mr.Lius Rio Mendez)had in our Bank the sum of Twenty Eight Million,
Five
Hundred thousand United States dollars in a domiciliary account.

Unfortunately, He died in a Plane Crash accident(2002-04-19) on his
way
to attend a wedding ceremony together with his wife and only
Child
(Lius Jr). The situation left for the Management is to declare
the
deceased account dormant and revert the funds to trading for
interest
to the Bank. In order to avoid this development, I now seek
your
approval to have you stand as a distant relative to Mr. Mendez,so
that
the money would be released to you.

All documents and proofs to
enable
you get the money will be carefully packaged once I receive
your
consent on this proposal. I shall apply for a leave as soon as
the
funds get into your reliable account to come to your country for
sharing and investments which you will assist me in doing.

May I
assure you that this is safe and risk-free, as we have taken care of
all necessary modalities to ensure a hitch-free movement.I calculated
that your share will be 40% of the total fund.
I have reposed my
confidence in you and hope that you will not disappoint me. Reply me
immediately to inform me that you have recieved my mail.

Best Regards,
Mr.Joel Williams.


Is this a lucrative business op, 40% of $28.5m would come in handy?
 
It's an old scam that originated in Nigeria and I believe they are known as 416's or 446's or something like that? (remember that after oil, fraud is the second biggest sector in the Nigerian economy). It's possible that Benin have cottoned on, or equally possible that Nigerian scammers have finally realised that anything with a Lagos address or Nigerian association gets binned. Mind you I thought they might have found a different way of killing the third person off by now!!! I'm under the impression that every other plane flying out of West Africa crashes!!! I used to receive a lot of them about 10 years ago, and strictly speaking I was supposed to report them to the local Chamber of Commerce in those days, as they were working with the local constabulary on the issue. Must admit, I haven't seen one for some time, and thought that people had long got wise to them, but clearly not. They have certainly duped a few people before now, and some have lost life savings and all sorts. Its essentially a numbers game, the more people they hit, eventually they'll find someone who'll be daft/ greedy/ flattered enough to take the bait

Suffice to say Martin, anything you part with cash wise you'll never see again. Don't touch it with a bargepole my dear and trusted friend. You might want to consider reporting it, or publicising it if there's a group actively targeting in your area
 
It's just a scam, Martin. Like Warbler says, it works on the dartboard principle - if you throw enough times, some will hit. And some people have been daft or greedy enough to believe these, and have let the scammers know their bank details.

I've received quite a few in the past 2 years, from varying parts of Africa. They're complete nonsense - just delete them and any others which are similar to them. There have been some recent efforts sent in the daily millions by Eastern European criminals to people by e-mail, telling them that XYZ Bank is checking its security system, and the only way to do it is to e-mail your bank details to them! Once again, people have been silly enough to think that banks would do business that way, and sent their details. Big mistake. Just bin them, don't even bother to reply.
 
Just to update you Martin I put 'Nigerian 416 con letter' into google, and discovered that it was actually 419 I should have been after. They target the US predominantly and I've taken the liberty of re-prodcuing one for you. I'm sure if you put 'Nigerian 419 con letters UK' you'll get advice appropriate to the UK, but here's what the Yanks makes of it....

Q: My company received a (Nigerian scam) letter. We recognized it for what it was. What should I do with the letter?

A: I recently wrote about an illegal scheme in which con artists, often living in Nigeria, try to get people to agree to transfer millions of dollars into their bank accounts in exchange for a promised percentage of the money.

The problem is, there aren't any millions to be transferred. The intent of this scam is to get people to pony up their own money for bogus upfront fees.

The U.S. Secret Service says to forward e-mails that appear to be "419" cons (named after the section of the Nigerian penal code that addresses fraud schemes) to 419.fcd@usss.treas.gov. The Secret Service is building a database of the different versions of this scam. It also shares the information with other law enforcement agencies.

If you have received a 419 con letter via regular mail or fax, but have not lost any money, you can fax a copy of the pitch to 202-406-5031. If you have been victimized by one of these schemes, you should forward any written documentation to the Secret Service, Financial Crimes Division, 950 H St. N.W., Washington, D.C. 20223, or call 202-406-5850.
 
UK advice taken from the Guardian. I must admit I got suspicious when they informed me that had been specifically identified for my reputation for discretion :lol:

Beware email scam with a deadly sting

They want to give you millions of dollars. Sound too good to be true? It is

Tony Levene
Saturday October 27, 2001
The Guardian


You've got mail: But if it is said to come from the widow of former dictator Sani Abacha you would do well to ignore it.
Most emails from people you don't know offer cut-price Viagra, girls' dorm videocams, or PhDs from non-existent universities.

So when you get mail from the widow and the lawyers of former Nigerian dictator Sani Abacha, you sit up and take notice - especially as it is offering millions of tax-free dollars for no effort.


Article continues

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

But you are one of millions to get the same letter - the miracle of emailing means huge numbers can zoom into inboxes. One recent estimate suggests the chance of not getting one is about the same as a National Lottery win.
It is, of course, a version of the well tried Nigerian 419 fraud - so-called after the section of Nigerian criminal law which outlaws these "advance fee" scams. The advance fees are the sums you pay upfront to "free" the big cash "promised".

Not all are from Nigeria - Gabon, South Africa and Botswana are also used, although many really come from organised crime syndicates working elsewhere with few links to Africa. And amazingly, despite a decade and more of regular warnings, police and the National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS) report regular victims.

Around 80,000 pieces of "419" mail are intercepted each year, according to NCIS, which reckons UK citizens lose £150m a year. Recent victims have included churches and charities which have been promised "bequests".

But email is faster, more efficient and less prone to interference. There are probably more than are officially counted. The fraudsters' aim is to draw you into an apparently lucrative, but dodgy deal where you fear complaining to the authorities because you are complicit in crime.

Recognising a 419 is easy.

They are often sent to "chief executive officers" - even in tiny firms.

They are marked "urgent and confidential".

They have spelling and grammar errors - they do this to make it seem like they are poor uneducated folk who need your help.

The currency is always dollars - they use USD instead of the $ sign and then repeat the sum in words.

Senders always claim senior positions in a ministry.

The names of senders are invariably false.

They will claim to have "surplus funds" which they need to get out of Nigeria.

The letters are persuasive (see link) - the fraudsters know how to play on greed. Most recipients just press the delete on these emails. But an estimated one in 100 falls for the bait.

And, according to website Crimes of Persuasion, the racket is netting $1m a day in the US alone.

If you are tempted to reply, you risk the contents of your bank account, as much debt as your bank manager will give you, your savings, and ultimately your life.

The first step once the fraudsters have you in their confidence is to ask for your banker's name, address, phone and fax numbers.

You will also be asked to supply your private phone and fax numbers and a signed sheet of letter headed paper.

Now the real sting can start. You are assured your involvement will cost nothing. You will soon be convinced by the apparent authenticity of the documents. You are then asked to supply three more signed letters and blank invoices together with bank details. You do this, reasoning that nothing happened with the first set.

Stage two is when you are asked to transfer money for "newly discovered" transfer costs and taxes. By now, victims are hooked - what is £10,000 compared with the $10m on offer? There will be further payments, although each one will be listed as "the last one needed".

Most victims retire to lick their financial wounds at this stage. But the really greedy and gullible go to stage three.

This is where they go to Nigeria. They will be asked for more money - now with the threat of violence or kidnap by "government agents" if they don't fork out. They do not have valid visas, so this illegal entry can be used for further blackmail.

In 1995, US government agents rescued seven US citizens from Nigeria although another victim was killed.

NCIS's West African Organised Crime section says:

Never reply to a 419 letter. Even if you write to say "no thanks", they could steal your letterhead or other details.

If you receive a fax or posted letter, send it to NCIS PO Box 8000, London SE11 5EN. Enclose the envelope if possible

And forward emails to westafrican@spring39.demon.co.uk


All part of the service Talking Horses provides, my dear and trusted friend :lol:
 
Thanks all. I had a feeling it was a scam but it made me chuckle and to think people use death to scam people out of cash.

I was identified aged 14 as an "upstanding member of the community" to transfer $14 billion via my account to the USA which made me suspect as i'm sure someone would spot it.
 
I've won the Spanish lottery several times without having bought a ticket, so I don't feel sufficiently deserving to claim my prizes.
 
Originally posted by Grey@Jun 21 2006, 11:56 PM
I've won the Spanish lottery several times without having bought a ticket, so I don't feel sufficiently deserving to claim my prizes.
Click to expand...
There's a quite plausible con of this nature doing the rounds at present involving losing lottery tickets.

Without going into the full details, don't 'buy' a 'winning' ticket from an illegal migrant (usually an attractive female who befriends you in a bar, and slowly reels you in) but who, you are soon to discover, can't claim their prize due to their questionable UK status (and doesn't know what to do). Guess who comes up with a win/ win solution? Even if you ring the number they give you and the person on the other end confirms the winning numbers and the serial number as that of a winner, still don't buy it. It sounds simple but the con works laregly on flattering someones ego, allowing them to think they're the architect of a 'fast one', and building up their confidence slowly to the point where they're negligent in the belief that they're controlling affairs. Mind you the presence of alcohol probably helps too as it tends to dull the victims senses
 
It's plausible because people like to be flattered into thinking they're the only ones being offered such a bonzer deal/the only ones a complete stranger immediately trusts with their fortune, etc. Same with the old pyramid selling deals - "you can be the first in and become a millionaire in weeks!" - and maybe one or two people did, right at the start. Those left near the top of the ever-dwindling pyramid just went bust. We can say these things are daft because we didn't play the games, but thousands did and paid the price.
 
Martin, I get one of those types of e-mails about once a fortnight. They all follow the same theme but with different names and from different countries and I have been getting them for a couple of years now. They are the type of crap that regularly fill my inbox. <_<

As soon as you read the first line best just to then hit the delete button.
 
These internet opportunities are incredible. Somebody in Puerto Rico who knows I need both Viagra and a penis extension keeps eMailing me. How weird is that?
 
:lol:

Well, that was queer - I'd just logged off from here and 'South Today' on Beeb South ran a feature on exactly these scams! Now THAT'S weird...

Dorset Police are interested in the scams and 'South Today' would like to hear from anyone who's been offered any of these unbelievable opportunities. If anyone wants to let them know, you can forward them your e-mailed scams to:
bbc.co.uk/scams and let them know.
 
Originally posted by an capall@Jun 22 2006, 08:22 PM
These internet opportunities are incredible. Somebody in Puerto Rico who knows I need both Viagra and a penis extension keeps eMailing me. How weird is that?
Click to expand...
Even more spooky than that is that they all seem to know that I am in desperate need of breast enlargements - oh, and a penis extension....
 
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