I need your expertise. (page 2)

Been there

Andy,

I also got the same email a couple days ago. I deleted it. It OOZED of SCAM.

Don't feel bad, damsel in distress, fatherless children, all things to tug at the heart of caring people. They count on it!!!!!!!!!!!

My daughters father-in-law got sucked into this scam several years back and lost several million dollars, he still hasn't recovered from it. He is such a proud bastard that he just wouldn't accept that he had been scammed and kept right on sending money, even borrowing it from others. He had a good business and went bankrupt and is trying to recover. My son-in-law works for his father and his life has been hell as he trys to get the business going again, his dad managed to get his finances in terrible shape also. They just had a $200,000 piece of equipment burn up on a job they were doing. I sure hope they can recover.

Ken P.

Marcos

Just a couple of observations.

1) DO NOT SEND A COPY OF YOUR PASSPORT!!!

2) This letter is SO reminiscent of the many variations on the "Nigerian" scam that I think any communication could be dangerous especially in a financial sense.

3) If this person were who she claims to be, her English would be much more natural and probably have a British flavor (wording, spelling, syntax).

4) Why not check with the South African consulate or Embassy regarding the claims she makes. In every country I have ever visited, I have never seen anyone excluded from going to a bank. As a matter of fact, one of the requirements for entry (residence) in most nations is that one have or have access to verifiable funds. Please check it out.

Marcos

LuckyLucy

Go ahead, sounds good to me. Let us know how it goes.

Gopher

No Lucy! Why don't YOU go first and let us know about the financial rewards you reap?

Navigator

I get at least one of these a week. As has been pointed out, it is a variation of the Nigerian Scam. The request for a "deposit" as a show of good faith comes in the next communication.

cruzanheart

I get about four of these a week and promptly forward it to my local branch of the Secret Service. Call yours and they'll give you the e-mail address to forward it to.

Nina

SixofNine

You're going to be a very rich man, Avengers.

This scam was working out of nigeria even before the internet; they would send old fashioned snail-mail to initiate contact with suckers like Undecided's daughter's father-in-law.

*shakes head at the thought of someone losing several million dollars to this*

link

Can I come back on this one.

If anyone else gets this same message from Mary Elsworth and is tempted to follow it up I would like to offer some help.

Mary Elsworth was born in 1963 and would have finished High School the same year as Independence hence she was at school all the time that I was teaching in Rhodesia. She would not have been old enough to be "married to a lawmaker in the Rhodesian Government" The Rhodesian Government only existed for 2 months after her seventeenth birthday.

What you do is this: Tell her that you will help he out if she can answer you one question before you commit, and within the next twelve hours. Ask her the name of the High School that she went to.

The reason that you want the answer within twelve hours is that you do not want to give time for research.

Quite likely she will come back with the legitimate name of a Rhodesian High School or might even say that she went to school in R.S.A. (South Africa). Either way say you want to ask one final question: What was the name of the headmistress at the school at the time she left? Again you need the answer within twelve hours. If she comes back with a name post it here. I have all the names of Heads of schools in Rhodesia at that time and have access to S.A. Heads names so I can tell if it is legit.

However, for other reasons I can tell you now this is not legit.

link

mustang

Send this info to the US STATE DEPARTMENT. A freight forwarder I know who deals with foreigners all the time does this; they have specific instructions (after investigating one of these) to do that.

Anyone wanting passport info in this fashion is up to something criminal. (If they aren't assuming it will protect you and SCREW THEM). Passports are worth $$$$$$. Don't help a forger.

These matters are NOT LEGITIMATE; people have lost money AND THEIR LIVES over this. There is an industry of this sort of thing in some African countries.

Mustang

Edited by - mustang on 15 February 2003 13:23:53

I need your expertise.

Share this