hi everyone,
do you think the most prolific scammers come from Africa? I personally know two ladies who were almost conned by African scammers via social networking websites.

I guess it is a way of making a living, isn't it? If they can obtain say £50 from someone, that might go a long way in buying food etc. They are very clever. Unfortunately this is not a good way to make a living.

below is another email I received today:
love satchi
Heineken International Promotion
Anthonie Van Dijckerweg,11077
Me Amsterdam,Netherlands.

Dear:Winner,

This is to notify you that you have been chosen as one of the
lucky winners selected worldwide to receive sum of ($2,000,000.00 USD)
in the Heineken International Online E-mail Promotion.

The Online Promotion was based on random selection exercises of
database of E-mail addresses on internet websites worldwide and the
Globe divided into Zones. No tickets were sold but all E-mail addresses
were assigned to different ticket numbers for representation,and your
E-mail ID credited to Ref No: HIP/56B-672GH/L and winning No:
11.28.48.34.44.14 won you the prize.

You are hereby informed that yours falls to our African Zone,hence you
are to be paid by our African Zonal Centre.

For claims,you are to directly contact our assigned Finance Manager in
our African Zonal Payment Centre via email,including the below form.
==================================
FINANCE MANAGER:
NAME: MR. JIM ODIMEGWU
E-mail: heinekenfinance.managers@gmail.com
===================================

1.Full Name:_______
3.Sex:_____________
2.Address:_________
4.Marital Status:_________
5.Age:_________
6.Occupation:_________
7.Nationality:_________
8.Telephone.No:_________
9.Your Ref No:/winning No:_______

On behalf of the Lottery Board kindly accept our warmest congratulations.

Mr. Sar Snijder
Lottery Coodinator.

Yes - traditionally Nigeria was the home of most of these scams (the so called 419 scams) - in the old days before e-mail we used to get the letters in the post - they would get the membership lists for professional bodies (accountants, lawyers, chemists, engineers etc) and use those. Now, with e-mail and social networking, it is so much easier for them.

The Nigerian government is fighting a losing battle against them. http://home.rica.net/alphae/419coal/

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/1944801.stm

hi jepsonclough!
thanks for the links! I didn't know about scams through letters!
the scam-email keeps entering my inbox. I don't know what to do about it.
I delete it and it keeps coming back.

I dont know which is more annoying--advertisements or scam email
love satchi

On the subject of Nigerian scammers... http://www.bobservant.com/resources/Lions$2C+Gold+and+Confusion+SAMPLERpdf.pdf

Very funny and true.

thanks Wally!!!!! yes it is funny!!!!!!!!!!!
the scammer always said "send the money"
I suppose Western Union is easier because you only need a name to claim it?

love satchi

Wally, that link has had me in tears! So funny! May have to re-post it to my facebook page :-)

======= Date Modified 12 Dec 2010 18:54:31 =======
What is exactly the motivation behind this post??? To allege that "the most prolific scammers" happen to be African? But that's just one kind of scam; in fact, one kind of Internet scam. I can name 5 other types of Internet scams off the top of my head that cannot be boxed into cliches like the one you just mentioned - try websites falsely pretending to be you bank. Can you put a nationality, or colour on this, let alone claim that it is peculiar to the people belonging to one continent?! As for cliches, lets see how well they work, let alone how accurate or informative they can be: "most scammers are Africans" or "most red-necks are Americans", "most neo-Nazi are Germans", "...football hooligans are British", "...racists are Caucasian", etc. The issue of inaccuracy aside, these cliches are more dangerous than helpful or useful in any way. It's not like the above statement, even if it were a fact, has suddenly armed me with a revelation that will prevent me falling prey to Internet scam. The only thing that will, is some good luck and a little more caution and the exercise of forethought.

hi baltar and pug
thank you for your posts

love satchi

Larry, you're too funny (up)