Crime Online

Just like any other Blog, Crime Online gets it’s share of comment spam. Most of it is the usual type pushing anything and posting some kind of comment which has nothing to do with the blog at all.

Now and then we get comment spam from the Africans themselves and the one we got today was a good example of a typical loan scam. We traced the post to an African Internet provider.
It’s in Portuguese but it basically says the same as all loan scams, cheap loans from 20000 to 20 million US Dollars.

One point to note, is the fact that the Arficans often like to make reference to anything religious. They often use the title of “Reverend” to give the impression that you are dealing with a man of God. Here they make a quote of trusting in God to give us great gifts. The gifts of course, are your money in their pockets.

Of course, the Africans are only after fees. A loan, as such, never gets paid out.

Orignal Text:

Favor fornecer as seguintes informações, se interessou.

Nome completo:
Sexo:
Endereço:
País:
Valor do Empréstimo Necessário:
Duração do empréstimo:
Telefone: Celular:
Alguma vez você já se aplica para o empréstimo antes:
Renda mensal:
Contato: sir.reskcadoloanword@hotmail.com

Nota: Por favor, responda a este e-mail ( sir.reskcadoloanword@hotmail.com)
Quando ele não parece seguir o seu caminho, sempre sei que Deus tem um plano para you.If Coloque a sua confiança nele para lhe dar uma grande gifts.We nem sempre sabem o que os planos de Deus são para us.We só sei que seus caminhos não são os nossos caminhos, mas seus caminhos são sempre melhor.

Esta mensagem pode conter informação confidencial para uso Destinatário (s) acima, e pode conter informações sigilosas. Se você não o destinatário ou a pessoa responsável para o destinatário da transferência, por favor, note que a leitura, difundir reprodução ou divulgação desta mensagem é estritamente proibida. Se você

Você recebeu esta mensagem por engano, por favor avise-nos imediatamente por uma mensagem de resposta e excluir imediatamente a mensagem original.

Obrigado.

Translation:

Please provide the following information if interested.

Full Name:
Gender:
Address:
Country:
Loan Amount Needed:
Duration of loan:
Phone: Cell:
Have you ever apply for the loan before:
Monthly income:
Contact: sir.reskcadoloanword @ hotmail.com

Note: Please reply to this email (sir.reskcadoloanword @ hotmail.com)

When he does not seem to go your way, always know that God has a plan for you.If Put your trust in him to give you a great gifts.We not always know what God’s plans are for us.We just know that their ways are not our ways, but their paths are always better.

This message may contain confidential information for use Recipient (s) above and may contain sensitive information. If you not the recipient or the person responsible for the recipient’s transfer, please note that reading, disseminating or reproducing dissemination of this message is strictly prohibited. If you You received this message in error, please notify us immediately by a reply message and immediately delete the original message.

Thank you.

In contrast to a lot of the 419 emails which reach us, this one is written in a good standard of English. It does put on that “official” air that the African crooks like to use, but it is still a scam email just the same.

—–Original Message—–

From: MORGAN PHILLIPS ESQ
Sent: Wed, Jun 2, 2010 11:07 am
Subject: RE:SECOND NOTIFICATION 3/5/2010

Morgan Phillips Esq.
LONDON, ENGLAND

I am in receipt of your response to the notification.

Kindly note that the notice you received has been prompted by the information contained in the WILL of the deceased. I stand to gain nothing in this matter, other than fulfilling the obligations bestowed on me by the late Mr. Richard Moore to ensure that his wishes are carried out as contained in his WILL. The value of the estate bequeathed to you is about $6.750.000,00. The copy of the Will shall be made available to you after an application of claims has been filed at the Bristol probate registry for security reasons.

The Will has to be executed before you can claim the bequest made to you. In order to execute the WILL, I need you to reconfirm your full names, current address, and phone numbers, with which I would process and obtain a probate order from the Probate Registry division of Her Majesty’s Courts Services that will enable you claim your money from the finance institution were it is lodged.

Do get back to me with your details to enable me commence the processing. And do call me for discussions on receipt of this mail.

Yours faithfully,
Morgan Phillips Esq
+44 704-574-3898

Some time or another, it had to happen. I not only receive a whole pile of emails from African crooks each day, now it looks as one of them is using my name in one of the scam emails. Or maybe one of them is just pulling a prank?

The point is, this comment poster “Ahmad” sent in a copy of an email which quotes my name as a barrister (which I am not) to spin his tail.

I reckon he/she/they will have bad luck because I am just too well known on the web. And if anybody searches for my name they will find Crime Online in association with it. They will land here.

The person who posted this is most definitely somewhere in Africa, or  maybe  Mauritius, and not in Saudia Arabia, which he is trying to suggest. So I will have to consider him/her/them as 419 style crook/s, won’t I?

New comment on your post #20 “At last! My very own inheritance e-mail …”
Author : ahmad eissa
E-mail : ah_eassa@yahoo.com
URL    : http://www.aheissa.sa

Comment:
Attn:Wricks,

I apologize for intruding into your privacy, especially by contacting you through this means for a business transaction of this magnitude, but due to its seriousness and urgency it, therefore, became necessary for me to seek for your assistance.I am Barrister Michael Holdcroft, a counsel to late David Wricks, a national of your country Who used to work with shell development company in lome togo, He lost his life in a ghastly motor accident on the 21st of April 2004 together with his wife and their only daughter were involved in a car accident along nouvissi express Road. Before his sudden and mysterious death, he deposited a sum worth (5.5MILLION US dollars) with a bank here in Lome-Togo . I knew this because all the legal proceedings was duly carried out by my humble self. After his death three years ago, I made several approaches to your embassy to help me locate any of his relatives so as to come and stand as the next of kin to my late client in order to have this huge sum transferred in his or her bank account.

But all my effort proved abortive.After several unsuccessful attempts in locating any of his relations and the latest ultimatum given to me by the Bank, mandating me to provide my client’s next of kin within the 4 weeks or I have the money confisticated, which I wouldn’t live to see it happen, hence my decision to contact you so that I can present you as the next of kin to my late client. All I demand from you is your honest co-operation so that this fund {5.5MILLION US dollars} can be transferred into any account of your choice within the shortest time possible.For your assistance and co-operation, I have decided to have the money shared as follows; 40% for you, 60% for me.

What I introduced to you might be a smack of an unethical practice but this is a once in a life time opportunity that is capable of making things better for us and moreover, if I fail to present my late client’s next of kin in couple of weeks, the truth is that this money would not be taken by the government or by some greedy officials of the bank and I would not fold my arms and watch this happen hence my decision to contact you. I also want to use this medium to assure you that this transaction is 100% risk free and my position as the counsel to the late depositor of the fund, it has been legally planned to avoid any hitch or breach of law. Every information that will back you up as the next of kin to my late client shall be given to you as soon as I have your consent.
I look forward to receiving your positive response soonest.Reply via my private email: michael_h@rocketmail.com
Regards,
Barrister Michael Holdcroft.

Technorati-Tags: michael holdcroft, crime online

If you have seen the Khodorkovsky e-mails, then you know what this one is about. Platon Lebedev is another billionaire put in jail in Russia. I found the last sentence sounds like a James Bond movie:

If you know you can do this, then contact me via private email: natlebdev@list.ru so that i can furnish you with more details but if for any reason you choose not to assist me, please destroy this mail and forget I ever contacted you because of our safety.

———- Forwarded message ———- From: U.L <natlebde@bk.ru> Date: 2009/5/22 Subject: I await your response To: natlebde@bk.ru Good day, I know this mail may rather come to you as a surprise but had no other alternative than to contact you in this manner due to a matter of necessity and urgency for the relocation of my kids and me. Before i proceed further it is better for me to introduce myself; i am Mrs.Natalia Lebedev, the wife of Russian multi billionaire Mr. Platon Lebedev (former director of Group MENATEP, Russia) that was arrested unjust fully by the putin regime for his involvement in the YOKUS company crisis in 2003. You can read more story on this in the below website: http://www.robertamsterdam.com/2007/10/platon_lebedev_statement.htm As a result of the false allegations, all joint our accounts were frozen and properties confiscated except for a profiling amount of one hundred million United States dollars in cash, properly insured and sealed under the UN diplomatic core which my husband succeeded in depositing as consignment with a European depository firm before his arrest. Now that i am currently having problems with Authorities over my husband present circumstance, i had to source for a God fearing individual to stand as the beneficiary of the above quoted sum and also make immediate preparations to relocate me and my kids once the funds are secured. For your assistance in embarking on this task for us, you will receive thirty-percent of the total funds once the transaction is completed. Please note that this transaction is legitimate and all documents backing the funds will be provided upon your readiness to proceed. If you know you can do this, then contact me via private email: natlebdev@list.ru so that i can furnish you with more details but if for any reason you choose not to assist me, please destroy this mail and forget I ever contacted you because of our safety. Thank you very much Yours truly, Mrs. Natalia Lebedev. Private Email: natlebdev@list.ru

What you should know is, banks cannot confiscate any funds residing in bank accounts held with them. So “Philip” is lying to you from the start.

Other points which show that what he is telling you is a farce are,

1. the gmail and AOL email addresses,
2. Amsterdam is a main area where “Nigerian” crooks operate from in Europe and
3. what he is suggesting is illegal and is called embezzlement.

He is actually being very stingy, offering only 20% …..

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: MR PHILIP PRICE <infoprice@gmail.com>
reply-to: infophilip_price@aol.nl
Date: 2009/5/19
Subject: Hello,
To:

Hello,

I seek your assistance on a business transaction that will be of mutual benefits.
Please, read below the details of this transaction and what is required of you to get this transaction started:

Mr. Andrew Parker was my client for over a decade. He died of cardiac arrest in 2002. He had a deposit in the sum of US$45M with Delta Lloyd Finance Amsterdam.

The bank contacted me as Mr. Andrew Parker’s attorney to get his next of kin. I have not been able to get any of his relations. The bank now has the right to confiscate the funds if I do not produce his next of kin soonest. This is the reason why I contacted you so you can act as the next of kin.

If you reply this email by sending me your full name, address, telephone and fax number, I will prepare and send to you a memorandum of understanding which will have to be duly signed by both parties (your good self and I) as
an agreement, so as to protect the shares of both parties and to be in order by laws of your country and the laws of my country.

After the signing of the MOU, I will then email to you the death certificate of Andrew Parker. I will prepare Andrew Parker’s Will in your name. With the Will, I will then get the letter of administration from the probate office thereby making you the next of kin and the bona fide beneficiary of the funds.
I will forward the Will and the letter of administration to the Bank in Europe.
They will then contact you to come to their office to claim the said funds.
When you get to their office in Europe, you sign the funds release documents, they will then transfer the sum of US$45M into your nominated account.

When the funds are transferred into your nominated account, I will then travel to meet with you to share the proceeds. I will take 80% and you will take 20%.

I will exhort you to not only treat this transaction with the gravity it deserves, but also with urgency. May I reiterate that the importance of the confidentiality and speed in this transaction cannot be over emphasized.

Hence in bolstering of confidentiality you are advised against discussing with anyone or your bank the expectation of the funds until I advise you otherwise.
Please treat as urgent.

Send the information ASAP as time is of the essence.
Thank you and God bless.

Philip Price LLB

This week I received a message about an African banker who wants to transfer a few million dollars to my account – It came from the New York Times

The eradication of poverty in Africa is certainly a noble cause. But, ….

I am sure that most people don’t see that when they read this e-mail. The 25 million USD hits you in the eye, even before you get to the “facilitate eradication of poverty in Africa” part.

Just reading this e-mail, shows that African crooks often do have a good vocabulary – facilitate and tantamount are not words you see in every day language.

One small point shows that crooks don’t often think things through, or maybe they are targeting the US market, in the EU the currency is Euros and not Dollars.

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: European Social Fund <eusocialfund15@me.com>
Date: 2009/2/20
Subject: EU AND UNO Developmental Projects.
To: recipients <Undisclosed>

European Union Social Fund.
Nussbaumstrasse 49, CH-3003 Bern, Switzerland
PHONE NUMBER: +41 796 475491

You have been chosen by the European Union Social Fund in conjunction with United Nations Organization as a recipient of $25,000.000.00 (twenty five million US dollars) Social Fund to facilitate eradication of poverty in Africa.

Beneficiaries of this fund are hereby directed to embark on grass root developmental projects in Africa which will enhance their standard of living. Your acknowledgment of this mail is tantamount to acceptance of this voluntary humanitarian assistance.

Yours faithfully.
Schmid Merez.

I find the subject line is remarkable.

The Africans have obviously recognised that trust, especially online, is necessary to enable them to get people to contact them.

What they have not recognised, is the fact that you can’t tell someone you are trustworthy, but you also have to prove it. Not only in word, but also in your deeds and how you treat people.

Of course, that is something the Africans don’t have the need or time for.

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Fedric Obutu <fredrick7_obutu@yahoo.fr>
Date: 2009/2/20
Subject: Reply With All Trust Michael Holdcroft
To:

OBUTU CHAMBERS & ASSOCIATES.
SOLICITORS, ADVOCATES TRADE MARK AGENTS.
RUE,327 THEARTRE NATIONAL,BOULEVARD LOME TOGO.

RE:TEN MILLION FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS INHERITANCE CLAIM (US$10,500,000,00
—-

Attn       20-Feb-09
Michael Holdcroft

Please do not be offended if this message comes to you as I ought to have sought your consent and approval before e-mailing this proposal to you but I acted as I did due to the importance and urgency of this business. Which ever way you may look at it, let it please you to respond quickly either negatively or positively.

My name is Barrister Fedrick Obutu,I am a Legal representative, and Attorney to Late Mr Phillip Cornell. In the Year 2004, my client by name Mr.Phillip Cornell passed away,leaving behind a cash inheritance of Ten million Five hundred thousand United States Dollars ($10,500,000,00).My late client and bosom friend grew up in a “Motherless Babies Home”. He had no family, no beneficiary nor next of kin to the inheritance consignment left behind at the finance security company batch no xx2604AF. The Financial law of inheritance clearly allows for the deceased security company to use deceased consignment as deemed fit, should the inheritance consignment be left unclaimed after the death of the consignment owner.

As you may know,next of kinship is not limited to relation of the deceased,nor is it confided to the circuit of parental relationship,rather it is by choice of the benefactor as regards to whom he wish to make his WILL to(beneficiary) either formally by write up,or informally by secret information disclosure to beneficiary be him/her business partner,relations, Kinsmen,Or Friends or Well Wishers.and whereby the deceased did not mention anybody as the next of kin as in this case, then whoever that comes up with concrete information as contained in his account establishment file/record is assumed to be the next Of kin automatically, because you wouldn’t Have any knowledge of these secret information of the deceased if you are not his next of Kin Or close to him either by relationship or friendship as in private disclosure and i have all this informations and will forward it to you at the appropriate time.

I have contacted you to assist me in repartriating this fund left behind by my client before it gets confisicated or declared unserviceable by the Bank where this huge amount was deposited. The Bank has issued me a notice to provide the next of kin or have his account confisicated within the next twenty one official working days as the policy of the bank is to overrun over four years of unserviceable and dormant accounts.They have a veritable excuse as they knew that my client was dead.

Since I have been unsuccesfull in locating the relations all this while, I seek your consent to present you as the next of kin to the deceased. This is to enable us salvage the proceeds of his account and get it paid to you instead. I have this obssession that if the directors of the Bank confiscated the money, it might not be put into proper and useful ventures to benefit the poor masses of this world. I was contacted and all necessary burial arrangements were made and the remains of the family buried in the public cementary. Since then I have made several enquiries to locate any of my clients either blood families or the extended relations. My concerted search proved abbortive. Perhaps, you may not be related to him but it behoves on us to seize this golden opportunity to salvage his savings since I could not locate any relation of his either dead or alive..

The Inheritance Law clearly leaves the proof of who is or is not the next of kin, to the deceased Lawyer to prove. As the deceased Lawyer,the Law says l have the final say of who is the beneficiary of the deceased consighnment.

This is 100% percent legal. As a lawyer I know this.As this will be a testimony for you and me if you make up your mind,for the claim.

All I require from you is your honest cooperation to enable us see this transaction through. I guarantee that this will be executed under legitimate arrangement that will protect you and me from any breach of the law. Therefore, should this proposal appeal to you and on receipt of your positive response, we shall then discuss the sharing ratio and modalities for transfer.

Regards,
Fedrick Obutu

and sends this loan or credit offer from an account called mrschmalz.

He or she obviously did not check what they wrote before sending it off, did they?

By the way, Schmalz is a German word for “cooking fat”.

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: mrschmalz@centralny.twcbc.com
Date: 21 Dec 2008 02:10
Subject: LOAN OFFER CONTACT VIA EMAIL: microfinancialfund23@8u8.com
To: .@centralny.twcbc.com

Dear Sir/MadamMy Name is Mary C. Elizabeth,the CEO of Micro Financial Loan Plc.i am into lending of money to individuals, business People,Companies Owner’s,local and international at a very low Interest Rate 2%.If you are interested, Apply now!!!. Don’t Worry about Collateral,this is Non-Collateral Loan Program to support the less privilage and improve companies and organization in need of loan for expension for better development in the Society.Contact my Loan Officer via below email and personal information need for him to process your loan.

FIRST NAME:………..
LAST NAME:…….
ADDRESS:…………….
COUNTRY:…………..
Phone number:………
Fax number: ………..
OCCUPATION:………..
MONTHLY INCOME………..
AGE:……………
LOAN AMOUNT NEEDED:…….
LOAN DURATION:……..

Kind Regards
Mr.Mike Adams
Loan Facility officer
Email: microfinancialfund23@8u8.com
Tel:+44-703-193-6933
Fax: +44-870-288-5031

You have to give to the Africans. They certainly know how to write messages in semi official language.

What makes me wonder is, why do people answer this kind of message when it talks about money from Nigeria being held back by the FBI?

I would most people would be scared out of their wits if the FBI suggested they may be doing anything illegal.

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Paul C. Jordan, III Date: 21 Dec 2008 13:35
Subject: Anti-Terrorist and Monetary Crimes Division
To: recipients

Anti-Terrorist and Monetary Crimes Division
Fbi Headquarters In Washington, D.C.
Federal Bureau Of Investigation
J. Edgar Hoover Building
935 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, D.C. 20535-0001
Website: www.fbi.gov
Date: 21/12/2008

ATTENTION FUND BENEFICIARY,

This is an official advice from the fbi foreign Remittance / telegraphic dept., it has come to our notice that the C.B.N Bank Nigeria district has released 10,500,000.00 US dollars into bank of America in your name as the beneficiary, by inheritance means.

The C.B.N Bank Nigeria knowing fully well that they do not have Enough facilities to effect this payment from the united kingdom to your account, used what we know as a secret diplomatic transit payment (s.t.d.p) to pay this fund through wire transfer, they used this means to complete the payment.

They are still, waiting for confirmation from you on the already Transferred funds which were made in direct transfer so that they can do final crediting to your account. Secret diplomatic payments are not made unless the funds are related to terrorist activities why must your payment be made in secret transfer, if your transaction is legitimate, if you are not a terrorist, then why did you not receive the money directly into your account; this is a pure coded, means of payment?

Records which we have had with this method of payment in the past Has always been related to terrorist acts, we do not want you to get into trouble as soon as these funds reflect in your account in the U.S.A, so it is our duty as a world wide commission to correct this little problem before this fund will be credited into your personal account.

Due to the increased difficulty and unnecessary security by the American authorities when funds come from outside of Europe, and the Middle East, the f.b.i bank commission for Europe has stopped the transfer on its way to deliver payment of $10,500,000.00 to debit your reserve account and pay you through a secured diplomatic transit account (s.d.t.a). We govern and oversee funds transfer for the World Bank and the rest of the world.

We advice you contact us immediately, as the funds have been Stopped and are being held in our custody, until you can be able to provide us with a diplomatic immunity seal of transfer (dist) within 3 days from the world local bank that authorize the transfer from where the funds was transferred from to certify that the funds that you are about to receive from Nigeria are antiterrorist/drug free or we shall have cause to cross and impound the Payment, we shall release the funds immediately we receive this legal documents.

We have decided to contact you directly to acquire the proper Verifications and proof from you to show that you are the rightful person to receive this fund, because of the amount involve, we want to make sure is a clean and legal money you are about to receive. Be informed that the fund are now in United State in your name, but right now we have ask the bank not to release the fund to anybody that comes to them, unless we ask them to do so, because we have to carry out our investigations first before releasing the fund to you. Note that the fund is in the BANK OF AMERICA right now, but we have ask them not to credit the fund to you yet, because we need a solid proof and Verifications from you before releasing the funds.

So to this regards you are to re-assure and proof to us that what you are about to receive is a clean money by sending to us FBI Identification Record and also Diplomatic Immunity Seal Of Transfer(DIST) to satisfy to us that the money your about to receive is legitimate and real money. You are to forward the documents to us immediately if you have it in your possession, if you don’t have it let us know so that we will direct and inform you where to obtain the document and send to us so that we will ask the bank holding the funds, the Bank Of America to go ahead Crediting your account immediately.

These Documents are to be issued to you from the World Local Bank that Authorized the transfer, so get back to us immediately if you don’t have the document so that we will inform you the particular place to obtain the document in United Kingdom (U.K), because we have come to realize that the fund was Authorized by (H.S.B.C) Bank in London.

An FBI Identification Record and Diplomatic Immunity Seal Of Transfer (DIST) often referred to as a Criminal History Record or Rap Sheet, is a listing of certain information taken from fingerprint submissions retained by the FBI in connection with arrests and, in some instances, federal employment, naturalization, or military service.

These Condition Is Valid until 26th of DEC. 2008 after we shall take actions on Canceling the payment and then charge you for illegally moving funds out of Nigeria.

Guarantee: funds will be released on confirmation of the document.

Final Instruction;

1. Credit payment instruction: irrevocable credit guarantee.
2. Beneficiary has full power when validation is cleared.
3. Beneficiaries bank in U.S.A., can only release funds.
4. Upon confirmation from the world bank / united nations.
5. Bearers must clear bank protocol and validation request.

NOTE: We have asked for the above documents to make available the most complete and up-to date records possible for the enhancement of public safety, welfare and security of Society while recognizing the importance of individual privacy rights. If you fail to provide the Documents to us, we will charge you with the FBI and take our proper action against you for not proofing to us the legitimate of the fund you are about to receive.

The United States Department of Justice Order 556-73 establishes rules and regulations for the subject of an FBI Identification Record to obtain a copy of his or her own Record for review. The FBI Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Division processes these requests to check illegal activities in U.S.A.

An individual may request a copy of his or her own FBI Identification Record for personal review or to challenge information on the Record. Other reasons an individual may request a copy of his or her own Identification Record may include international adoption or to satisfy a requirement to live or work in a foreign country or receive funds from another country, i.e. Diplomatic Immunity Seal of Transfer, letter of good conduct, criminal history Background, etc.)

FBI Director
Paul C. Jordan, III