The worst Nigerian con email ever. Target: Scam victims!
The Earth has tilted on its axis, or the universe has folded in on itself. What else could explain the newest twist in Nigerian email scams? It’s diabolical. It’s stupid. It’s brilliant. All at the same time. Read the following email message, which I received today from (oh my God) “Rev. Ubong Idong.”
FROM: CHARTED FINANCE & SECURITIES NIG, PLC
SCAM VICTIMS COMPENSATIONS PAYMENTS.SIR/MADAM,
SCAMMED VICTIM/ $300,000 BENEFICIARIES.
REF/PAYMENTS CODE: CF& S/02354 $300,000 USD.This is to bring to your notice that we are delegated from the UNITED NATIONS in Central Bank to pay 150 victims of scam $300,000 USD (Three Hundred Thousand Dollars) each. You are listed and approved for this payment as one of the scammed victims to be paid this amount, get back to this office as soon as possible for the immediate payments of your $300,000 USD compensations funds.
You are to contact our Global service director immediately on his direct telephone number below and foward the following informations to him:
1. FULL NAME
2. CONTACT ADDRESS
3. DIRECT CONTACT TELEPHONE NUMBER
4. OCCUPATION
5. AGE/SEX
Name: Rev. Ubong Williams Idong
Position: Director Global Service/ Remittance
Email: xxx@xxx.xxx
Tel: +xxx-xxx-xxxxCall me immediately after going through this mail.
You are advice to forward your contact details to me immediately to enable us proceed and pay your compensation fund to you.
Yours Faithfully,
Rev. Ubong Idong
FAITHFULLY???
One thing that should tip off potential victims is the fact that, even though the addressee supposedly is one of a select few who have been approved to receive Three Hundred Thousand Dollars (!) as a “compensations fund,” the letter writer apparently doesn’t even know the person’s name, age and gender. That’s the stupid part.
Here’s both the diabolical part and the brilliant part:
Say you are a recipient of this email. You’re just smart enough to realize a mistake has been made, because YOU’RE not actually a scam victim (yet). But through an amazing stroke of luck, you’ve gotten on a list of people who are going to receive $300K. You think, “Hey, I’m NOT a scam victim, but this guy doesn’t know it. So I’m going to fool him and get that $300K to buy a real nice RV.” And you respond.
A stupid, diabological and brilliant con. A perfect trap for greedy idiots.
Whenever you get a questionable email, whether it’s outlining some weird conspiracy theory or a Nigerian con, check it out with Snopes.com. They’ve got the goods on every false tale and scam going on the Internet. And some have been going for years.
When I get a bad one, if the recipients’ names are all in the “to” box (a no-no if you want to protect your friends from spammers), I reply “to all” and ask them not to forward it and to tell everyone they may already have forwarded it to that it’s bogus.
Cleaning up the World Wide Web, one square millimeter at a time…
For your further enjoyment, here’s an article from the Chicago Tribune about the evolution of Nigerian scams. An excerpt:
Gone are the days when Nigerians duped victims solely with the tale of an orphaned prince’s quest to reclaim his inheritance. The scheme has morphed into a family of scams that now include romance cons like the one Shyrock [a woman duped out of $10,000; read the story] fell for, along with rental scams and even puppy sale scams.
