I received the below email today. It states that if you have been scammed by someone in Africa (Nigerian scam, 419 scam) or if you have tried to claim money which you didn’t gotten yet due to government bureaucracy (the most common excuse used by scammers, to lure scam victims into sending them more and more money to the scammer) you will be given a $250,000 for your troubles.
The only problem is, it’s just another scam. The African Union is never going to do this, because they have no incentive to do it, they don’t have a centralized database of US scam victims, and they don’t have the money to do it. Anyone who falls for this has just been scammed again.
Besides, they didn’t get my name out of any list, because I have never used my personal email address to correspond with scammers.
African Union Headquarters
P.O. Box 3243
Addis Ababa
Ethiopia
Attention: Beneficiary
We have the utmost pleasure in sending you this message regarding to our meeting at the 53 Heads of State and Government of the African Union at their summit meeting on 31 January to 2 February in Addis Ababa.
At the meeting where Mr. Jean Ping, the Gabonese Minister for Foreign Affairs, was appointed as the Chairman of the African Union (AU) focused was on scammed victim in the globe, foreign contractors that may not have received their contract sum as well as Inheritance, including people that have an unfinished and failed transaction due to government bureaucracy etc. The African union in a drive to restore and protect its image globally has resolved to compensate each person with sum of US$250,000:00.
Be notified that we found your contact in our list and that is why we are contacting you as this has been agreed upon and has been signed.
You are advised to contact Mr. George Ikoli our West Africa Regional Representative in Nigeria. Contact him immediately for your ATM cash card of US$250,000.00 (Two Hundred and Fifty Thousand United States Dollars). This fund is in ATM for security purpose.
Therefore, you should contact Mr. George Ikoli immediately for further directives on how to receive your ATM on this email address. Email: gikoli.auunit@live.com Tel: 234- 80 58 98 83 42.
Yours faithfully,
FOR: SECRETARY GENERAL
Philip Idamo Idamo
(AU COMPENSATION UNIT)
LOL Yea, they found your name on a list someone sold or just put in a bunch of letters and hoped it was an email address. I have an email address just for signing up for websites and the like…so I always know who has sold my email address and always tell anyone that I email to never use my regular address for ANYTHING. I have been able to cut down on a lot of spam that way since I log into the one email once a day or so and just delete everything. When we went on vaca. I had over 300 emails…now I keep getting “job” emails with the occasional Nigerian scam or lotter scam.
I rarely check my one of my accounts because it is the spam account.
You should read http://libertyzone.blogspot.com/2008/05/oh-im-having-too-much-fun-with-this.html and her earlier posts about her “game”.
two scammers to watch out for: Mr. Kadafi James, Kadafi loan lending..personal loan scam, initially requesting $254 for transfer fee, then requested $532 lawyer fee, then requested $995 antiterrorism fee, then $631 income tax fee…after contacting me repeatedly pleading for these Western union deposits to his accountant, Michael Dickson, I have yet to receive loan, mr. Kadafi even went as far as to guarantee the return of my money if the loan was not deposited, that was a lie as well. this guys operations come with letters from EFCC officials identifying him as a registered lender, letters from AntiTerrorism Office, letters from Union Bank of Nigeria officials, etc. I asked many questions, asking for confirmation from these various offices requesting fees..
Also, Mrs. Lisa Paul is a scam…another person sending emails in reference to a personal loan..
Jennifer, no one who is legitimate will ever send you an unsolicited email offering to loan you money. People from other countries will not be legitimately interested in loaning money to people in the US.
Anytime you get anything like that, you should always, always, ALWAYS assume it to be a scam, and delete the message. Don’t even talk to them at all.
How much money did you send to those scammers, trying to get a loan? How much of a loan were you trying to get?
DEAREST SIR:
I HAVE A HEALTHY CURITOSITY AND HAVE BEEN TAKEN IN SEVERAL DIFFRERENT WAYNOT JUST ONLINE BUT THROUGH THE MAIL EVERYTHING FROM INHERITANCES TO LOTTERIA I ACTUALLY PLAYED LOTTERIA SEVERAL YEARS AGO AND WON SMALL AMOUNTS OF MONEY BUT NOW THE FBI IS IN ON THIS TOO THEY THREATEN ME EVERY FEW DAYS I AM A DISABLED WOMAN OF 55 YEARS OLD LIVING ON SSI WHICH IS BEARLY ENOUGH TO KEEP A ROOF OVER MY HEAD I HAVE A FOLDER OF CORRESPONCES I TITLED:
R. U. A. FRAUD I HAVE ANSWERED SOME OF THE LETTERS TELLING THEM I HAVE CHECK ONLINE AND FOUND OUT THEY WERE SCAMMERS OR FRAUDISTERS AND ADDED FOR THEM NOT TO CONTACT ME ANYMORE. I BLOCK THEM DELECT THEM BUT THEY FIND AWAY AND I GET TOLD I HAVE TO PAY HONEY I AM ALREADY PAYING FOR SOMEONE STEALING MONEY OUT OF MY BANK ACCOUNT I DIDN’T SEE ANYONE STAND UP FOR ME OR PAY ME BACK NOW ONE OF MY BANK OF AMERICA ACCOUNTS WHICH WAS DORMANT FOR SEVERAL YEARS I CHECK OUT TO FIND OUT IF THEY HAD A MINNESOTA SITE NEAR WHERE I LIVE AND THE NEXT THING I KNOW SOME ONE HAS DEPOSITED MILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN THE ACCOUNT AND I AM BEING TOLD I HAVE TO PAY FOR SOME DOCUMENT TO CLAIM THE MONEY AND IF I DON’T WHAT? I AM OLD DIEING OF HEART AND DIABETIC PROBLEMS WITH STROKE AND LIVER DESEASE I AM JUST TRYING TO LIVE AND ENJOY MY KIDS AND GRANDKIDS BEFORE I FINALLY DIE. I WISH I HAD MONEY TO GIVE MY FAMILY A BETTER LIFE WHEN I AM GONE BUT EVERY DAY I GET ANOTHER THREAT I AM A VICTIM WHO WANTS TO FOIGHT BACK BUT NOW DAMIT I WANT TO GET PAYED FOR IT I SURE GET SOME KIND OF REWARD FOR JUST PUTTING UP WITH ALL THIS STUFF. BUT THEY NEVER THINK OF THAT THEY WANT TO CATCH THE BAD GUYS SHOW ME HOW AND PAY I HELP!!!!! FAIR IS FAIR HUH! THANKS FOR LETTING ME VENT I HOPE YOU DO GET IN TOUCH WITH ME I HAVE NOTHING BUT RESPECT AND I WANT JUSTICE…