New Page 1

Special Alert

The latest scams. Information to follow but, pay attention:

Latest Warning

14. February 2003: Beware of "Chat Rooms" you may find something like this (actual text): "HI, I AM RAPHAEL DANJUMA ,M,MANAGER SAVANNAH BANK PLC LAGOS-NIGERIA.PLS ARE U IN A GOOD TO HANDLE AN URGENT $8M BANK DEAL ON MY BEHALF ? IF U ARE CAPABLE, U WILL RETAIN 30% OF THIS AMOUNT AS UR COMPENSATION. INTERESTED AND CAPABLE ? CALL ME IMMEDIATELY ON 234-803-4057041 [IFEOMABIALIM@YAHOO.CO.UK].I AMWAITING 4 UR URGENT RESPONSE."

14. February 2003: I will buy your horse, car, guitar, motorcycle, car etc., etc., etc. The gangsters will tell you that they are interested in buying whatever you have for sale. Somebody in "your" country owes them money and they will have that person/company send you the money in the form of a cashiers check. The check will be for more than your asking price for your merchandise. You are requested to return the "excess" money via Western Union. They may tell you that it takes only 24 hours for a cashiers check to clear! It does not! Being an honest citizen, you will send (return) the overpaid amount. Later, much later, you will find out that the cashiers check was fraudulent and now you owe your bank that money. Here is a complete letter from one of the gangsters, spelling errors and all (14. February 2003): from gregmarcus02@yahoo.co.uk

hi ,
i have just seen your Mercedes-Benz 300E car advert.and i'm very much interested in buying it,i will also need pictures of the car.i'm based in cotonou ports fedral republic of benin,west africa.and i will be making the payment buy the use of an
american bank certified cashier's check,there is this US based collegue of mine who is owing me some funds $13150 and he is now ready to pay me,so if you will be ready to sell the car for me,i will make it$6150 to secure the car from selling it to another
person.the check will be adressed in your name, so after the funds is cleared.you will send the excess funds to me viawetern union money tranfer. because that;s the only effective money sender effective in this area.i will personally arrange for the shipping of the car.pls kindly send your fullname,address and phone number.so i will send the data to my friend and the check will be adressed in your own name and it will be sent to you via FEDEX.pls i am looking forward to hear from.thanks.
aminu

2. February 2003: We will provide you with a loan for your business. Very similar to the above scenario except that the check is probably not a cashiers check. It belongs to some company and it is for a substantially higher amount. It can be for hundreds of thousands of dollars. If you deposit the check you can be in trouble: your bank will call the police and have you arrested for "money laundering" (court case pending in Nevada, USA) or if you draw on it (and return some of it to the gangsters) you owe your bank the difference. The check was stolen or forged.

21. September 2002: Your money is already in the bank! The gangsters send you a message that an account in your name has been opened and the money has been transferred. They send you a username and password. When you log in and check your balance, you will find millions in your account. The scamsters are using websites impersonating banks such as Pinnacle Investment Bankers, Prudence Trust and Finance, First Finance Ltd., to mention only a few. These sites have been established for the sole purpose of deceiving you. You are now convinced this is the real thing and you have no problem sending them a few thousand dollars to pay some fees. The problem is that you will never see the money in your account nor will you ever see the money you have sent them again. Click here First Finance Ltd. to see a real life example. The name and the account number have been altered to protect the victim.

1. August 2002: It's recruiting time: Scamsters/Gangsters are trying to recruit Americans and perhaps others to send them names and addresses of wealthy people that can be robbed. If you think of joining them, think again. In America it will put you in jail when caught. Is it worth a promise of part of the proceeds? Honor amongst thieves? Perhaps there is but not when it comes to Nigerians. Here is one of the letter we received:

Dear xxxxxxx,
How are you today? you really got me yesterday. I am a little apprehensive about dicussing this kind of
business with you but I feel I have got nothing to loose any how.

Now here is the deal, I do this as a hobby and it is really profitable if you get the right persons so what
I need from you is to help me to get potential email contacts (of the right persons) that I can send my
proposals to since you are a computer nerd, we could work in collaboration as in you supply the cows and I
milk them from here and we split the spoils 80-20. You get the 20 because I do the whole work, take the whole risk and I also get to do the whole financing with my clique. I am willing to play straight with you if I
can trust you, we could work out a system on how to work together without putting any of us in trouble. we
could use the same email so you can see and follow the whole job from there and there is no way I will betray
you because I am a man who thinks of tomorrow, things must be very consistent if we are to make a lot
of money from this business.

The awareness of this scam is very high in the world today, poeple are hardly responding to the stories but we must keep searching until we get who will pay. I am a man of conscience, but a man has got to survive
somehow I hope you understand where I am coming from.I will furnish you with more details if you give my
proposal to you due consideration Remember goats cant use straw.

Still.....
Ahmed.

25. July 2002: Nigerians are currently "purchasing" used vehicles and other merchandise for shipment to Africa. They send double the amount in the form of a "cashiers check", (from a second party) , and then they want "Western Union Wired" cash back for the balance to cover expenses. - Warning: the checks are no good and it takes sometimes up to six weeks from depositing them in your account until you find out.

4. June 2002: I am a "computer expert" who worked for a Casino in Las Vegas and wants to get money out via Israel (or some other place.....). See letter "Israel Anetor". Click here: Letters

1. April 2002: I was once a Moslem....(see letter Brother Jide Johnson Click here: Letters ) "It is a privileged to hear from God and it gives me joy to relate my testimony to you haven received instruction from God through divine revelation." ....in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.....I am willing to donate the sum of $19.500,000.00 Million Us Dollars to your Church. The latest scams have a very religious overtone. See the letter Grace Eze on the letters page

Internet Dating, Chat, Trading, Advertising, or B2B sites: If you are using an Internet Dating and Chat site, you may be approached. The scamsters want to deposit money into your account and you in turn would write checks to them and you can keep 20% (Similar to Sweetheart below).

Please note: The Nigerians are infiltrating any website where they can approach unsuspecting victims. It does not matter what site you are using, i.e. a Chat, Dating, Trading, Advertising, B2B or other site, please be alert that any response you get may not be genuine. There is no reason to stop using these sites. Just pay attention. If someone wants to give you a lot of money, ask yourself why me?

Be objective - don't be blinded by the promise of a lot of money!

Sports and/Medical Scam * You have Inherited Money Scam
These are variations of the old, known letters but with a twist. The bottom line is that they want you to send money first.

DWE - Courier Service - Worldwide VIP Service? - It's looks an impressive site. However, the owners are criminals. Their address: http://dwe.d8.com is a site at http://freeservers.com/

Stone M. Chambers - Solicitors - They admitted acting for criminals. Are they naive and innocent or are they criminals themselves?

Sweetheart - Scamsters are using an Internet Dating Service JUMPDATES.COM to trap the innocent looking for a date or a mate.

Tradezone - Scamsters are advertising on an Internet Trading platform (http://tradezone.com) to trap the innocent looking for business opportunities.

Boston Seafood Exposition - Scamsters are posing in person as genuine business men.

Below are some e-mails we received from "Mike" Stone:

How dare you? My FIRM?
Just try and publicize me and I will sue the living daylight out of you.
Where do you get this crazy accusation?
Are you trying to scam me, if so you just step on the wrong toe.

Mike Stone

_______________________________________________________

Gentlemen and Ladies!..........

I assure you that I am not joking! I don't think you have dealt with a law firm like mine before. I will be the first Law firm to beat you at your own games.
I will beat the US Attorney General if false accusation is on me and I am prosecuted without solid evidence. I may be in Africa but I do know my rights.

What is there to explain about the Attachment? Have you not seen a Power of Attorney Form before?
I have checked my file and that particular copy of the POA form was given to a client of mine. I would have stated the name but I am sure if it was given to you by my client but don't worry I will find out in due time.

Your accusation is unheard of and untruthful.

Mike Stone
_______________________________________________________

Top of the day to you, (whoever you are)

You may not be good but your judgment stinks, really bad.

Why am I so defensive? "HELLO" you are accusing me blindly and the first thing is to defend myself.
Correction, people that immediately go on the defensive are sure of themselves, have nothing to hide and I don't need any threats from you about the CIA to make me think otherwise.
First of all, who are you? Where are you located? Name and address. I need to have this information because I have being saving all your correspondence for the day we confront ourselves in court over your false accusation.

Kindly get you facts straight before taking this bold step.
1. I did not request for money.
2. The money requested for is my service fee which I made it clear to her that, she can pay me after she confirms the money.
3. The money is for the bank handling charges not the firm handling charges.
4. I have not collected a cent from her.

I do not also intend to drag this conversation with you and why must I satisfy you? Who do you think you are? You don't know me do you? Well time will permit us to know each other much better.

For Now still yours respectfully,
Mike Stone

_______________________________________________________
Top of the day to you,

I really don't have time for this but just for the record,
I have being hired to perform a task; I think it is only logical and proper for me to charge her. Don't you?
I was even willing to do retention services for her! Can you imagine?
Life is very funny.

Mike Stone
_______________________________________________________

From:

mariaam-1
Date:

Monday, January 21, 2002
Subject:

A CRY FOR HELP
Message:

Dear Partner, I am very much impress to write you this letter , having known you be a reliable and reputable source. Following the sudden death of my husband General Sani Abacha the late former head of state of Nigeria in August 1998, I have been thrown into a state of utter confusion, frustration and hopelessness by the present civilian administration, I have been subjected to physical and psychologicaltorture by the security agents in the country. My son is still under detention arraigned before the federal high court of Nigeria for an offernce he did not commit. As a widow that is so traumatized , I have lost confidence with anybody within the country. You must have heard over the media reports and the internet on the recovery of various huge sums of money deposited by my husband in different security firms abroad, some companies willingly give up their secrets and disclosed our money confidently lodged there and many outrightly blackmail us. In fact the total sum discovered by the Government so far is in the tune of $700.Million dollars.

Sweetheart,

I receivcd your e-mail message to me and I am glad to respond. This
is because I have been trying to convince my children who do want us
to make mistakes that I have a strong feeling that you are God sent man
to bring us out of our present predicament.I am very flattered and happy
to know that somebody out there care this much for me.

My children are afraid because of the several betrayals that we have
received from close friends and family members who have benefited greatly
from the Government of my late husband and yet still unveil our secret
bank accounts to the Government making the Government to confiscate about
US$700illion of what my husband left behid for us,
leaving us with virtually nothing apart from these remaining
US$40.3Million.which I speak about and we cannot afford to loss this
remaining funds.

My children, would have wanted me to find out more about you before
proceeding to do this business with you but I have assured them that
I have a strong premonition that you are God sent and I am going to proceed
without any further hesitation.
The full letter can be read at letters

_______________________________________________________

TRADEZONE

And for your information there is a Ad Posted in http://tradezone.com
Soliciting such business ventures. PLUS I wasn't contacted until I posted a
Ad there So I assume they are working ( using )from that web site to contact
victims. Because they can obtain company information and contact names
there and since the ads there are free maybe you should post a WARNING
there.
_______________________________________________________

BOSTON SEAFOOD EXPOSITION

Scamsters are now posing as genuine business people. They are attending expositions, just like the Seafood Exposition in Boston. They appear to be very educated and sincere people. They rope in their victims by first gaining the victims confidence. Once the initial meetings in person are over, they communicate by phone and e-mail and propose investments. The initial requested payments are low: $400 to $500. They slowly go up for bigger promises. Once roped in, the victim will keep paying because he/she expects a payoff any minute. The minute never comes. One gentlemen has lost over $75,000 this way.

_______________________________________________________

DWE Worldwide VIP Service