Crime Online

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It’s not often that German freemail companies get misused for 419 scam types of e-mails. The Africans don’t usually speak the language and as such they don’t find their way around the sites.

Non the less, this one is obviously doing the 419 scam and is quoting an African, Okeke Frank as the contact man.

Now Frank’s e-mail address is from the French language version of Hotmail. So you can see that they certainly look for alternatives for their e-mail accounts.

———- Forwarded message ———-
From:  <thomas.guettler@freenet.de>
Date: Tue, Aug 12, 2008 at 12:07 AM
Subject: Dear Friend,
To: thomas.guettler@freenet.de

Dear Friend,

I am very happy to inform you about my success in getting that fund. Now,I want you to contact my secretary on the information below.Okeke Frank,

Ask him to send to you the total sum of (USD$1.2Million) in a Cashier Draft, which I kept for your compensation.

So contact him immediately on his e-mail: (o.kfrank@hotmail.fr) and send him the below information toenable him deliver your cashier Draft to you.

NAME:…………………………AGE……………………
ADDRESS:…………………….OCCUPATION:…………
PHONE:……………………….COUNTRY:……………….
COMPANY:…………………..

Regards

Mr,Thomas Guettler

Tags: 419scam, Internet Fraud, Freenet.de

A lot of the Africans write their messages in capitals. They don’t seem to haver heard that on the Internet it’s like shouting at someone.

I can imagine it has to do with the colonial bureaucratic way of thinking, which these fellows seem to follow.

Oh and by the way, Abel is complaining about my lack of cooperation.

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: MR. ABEL JUMBO
Date: May 13, 2008 3:21 PM
Subject: GOOD DAY
To:

FROM THE DESK OF: MR. ABEL JUMBO
DIRECTOR REMITTANCE DEPARTMENT
OCEANIC BANK PLC.
LAGOS NIGERIA

YOUR PAYMENT NOTIFICATION

THIS IS TO OFFICIALLY INFORM YOU THAT WE HAVE VERIFIED YOUR CONTRACT INHERITANCE FILE PRESENTLY ON MY DESK, AND I FOUND OUT THAT YOU HAVE NOT RECEIVED YOUR PAYMENT DUE TO YOUR LACK OF CO-OPERATION AND NOT FULFILLING THE OBLIGATIONS GIVING TO YOU IN RESPECT TO YOUR CONTRACT INHERITANCE PAYMENT.

SECONDLY, YOU ARE HEREBY ADVISED TO STOP DEALING WITH SOME NON-OFFICIALS IN THE BANK AS THIS IS AN ILLEGAL ACT AND WILL HAVE TO STOP IF YOU SO WISH TO RECEIVE YOUR PAYMENT IMMEDIATELY.

AFTER THE BOARD MEETING HELD AT OUR HEADQUARTERS, WE HAVE RESOLVED IN FINDING A SOLUTION TO YOUR PROBLEM, AND AS YOU MAY KNOW, WE HAVE ARRANGED YOUR PAYMENT THROUGH OUR SWIFT CARD PAYMENT CENTRE IN EUROPE, AMERICA AND ASIA PACIFIC, WHICH IS THE INSTRUCTION GIVEN BY OUR PRESIDENT,UMARU MUSA YAR’ ADUA (GCFR) FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA.

THIS CARD CENTRE WILL SEND YOU AN ATM CARD WHICH YOU WILL USE TO WITHDRAW YOUR MONEY IN AN ATM MACHINE IN ANY PART OF THE WORLD, BUT THE MAXIMUM IS ($15,000)FIFTEEN THOUSAND US DOLLARS IN THREE TRANSACTIONS PER DAY. SO IF YOU INSIST TO RECEIVE YOUR FUNDS THIS WAY, YOU ARE ADVICE TO GET BACK TO ME WITH THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION BELOW IN OTHER TO ENABLE ME GET BACK TO YOU WITH IMMEDIATE EFFECT WITH YOUR FULL DETAILS IN THIS FORMAT:

(1)YOUR FULL NAME:
(2)ADDRESS WHERE ATM CARD WILL BE DILIVERED:
(3)PHONE AND FAX NUMBER:
(4)OCCUPATION:
(5)AGE/SEX:

AS SOON AS I RECEIVE THIS INFORMATION I WILL PROCEED TO ACT ON MY OWN PART SO THAT I CAN GET ALL THE APPROVALS AND FORWARD IT TO YOU FOR YOUR PERUSAL BEFORE THE DISPARCH WILL TAKE PLACE.

WE SHALL BE EXPECTING TO RECEIVE YOUR INFORMATION,

THANKS FOR YOUR CO-OPERATION.

BEST REGARDS,
MR.ABEL JUMBO
REMITTANCE DEPARTMENT
OCEANIC BANK PLC
EMAIL: mr.abeljumbo@yahoo.it

The fantasy that the Africans have is sometimes amazing. For instance, they lump the IMF and European Union together in a story which sounds plausible for someone who’s general knowledge is not in top form.

All you hear is IMF and EU and, voilà! The story must be real!

I like the phrase “your inheritance/contract & Winning Prize fund”, which shows the crooks are even lumping together 3 different types of stories they use regularly.

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Jerry Douglas
Date: Sat, May 3, 2008 at 5:11 PM
Subject: International Monetary Fund (IMF)
To:

International Monetary Fund (IMF)
Resident Representative Office
Avd Gran-via 57, 28089 Madrid Spain
Tel: +34 67 6310-641
Fax: +1 (702) 995-7412

Attention: Sole Beneficiary.

This is to inform you that through our Global Security Network, and investigations, which reveals that, you have not yet received your long overdue payment. Please be informed that the authorities in conjunction with the law enforcement agents, European Financial Action Task Force & Crimes Commission have put in place machinery to checkmate this urgly incident.
I wish to inform you that there is a directive from the European Union and IMF to pay all outstanding debts owed to beneficiaries. This was resolved in a meeting held between European Union Government Authorities and Officials of United States Government in New
York last week, as a condition from the International Monetary Fund to support European Union (EU) and United States of America in the fight against corruprtion,money laundering and terrorism

To this effect, your inheritance/contract & Winning Prize fund including the accrued interest is now to be release to you within two days after you have identified yourself as the real beneficiary. And your funds would be releasing to you through the appointed paying bank in Spain(Europe). Please note that because of the series of complains EU Government received as regards to misappropriation of funds and payments to wrong bank accounts the Government took a decision in making two different mode of payment (1) Payment Via Online Banking Transfers (2) Payment by Certified Bank Draft/Cheque Be informed that you have been selected among the qualified beneficiaries who are to receive their fund within 48hrs.
Therefore, you are advise to call the Resident Representative Officer Dr.Donald S.Lucas on direct telephone hotline:
+34 67 6310-641. or E-mail: imfspainrep@mail.md
For immediate transfer of your fund as the authorities instructed.

The entire IMF and Goverment Authorities humbly appologies for any delay and incovienencies which this transfer might have caused you.
Make sure you include this listed informations while contacting the officer in chrage of your remittance (Dr Donald S.Lucas):

1, Your full Name:
2, Your contact Address:
3, Your private phone ,Mobile and fax numbers:
4,Your occupation:
5, Your age:
6, Your Country of Origin:

Regards,
Prof.Jerry Douglas
Clearing Officer International Monetary Fund (IMF)

The April site search statistics show the whole span of the different fraud types.

Andreas Schranner has been used for the “next of kin” scam for the last few years and is obviously still popular with the Africans.

Hipson Scart is new and is the name used in the new “unsecured and guaranteed loan” scam. This shows that they have been pushing this one for the last couple of weeks.

The Zenith Bank is used mainly for “dormant accounts” and the Foundation de France is used to offer grants to individuals.

I wonder what May will bring? I’ll keep you posted.

• Credit card fraud soars despite ‘chip and pin’ [via Zemanta]

Somehow I get the impression that the Africans often don’t understand what they are putting together for fraudulent e-mails like this one.

Sure, Microsoft and Vodafone may cooperate on a business basis, but State Lotteries such as the Dutch Staatsloterij don’t cooperate with any sort of company on the scale suggested here.

One point of note is the e-mail address. Do you see they are using voda-fone.org?

This is unusual, as the owner can be traced. Even though the Registrant is using a cloaking service to hide behind, authorities such as police can force the service company to disclose the person behind the Domain name. Here’s the registry data:

Domain ID:D152496806-LROR
Domain Name:VODA-FONE.ORG
Created On:21-Apr-2008 23:44:30 UTC
Last Updated On:21-Apr-2008 23:44:35 UTC
Expiration Date:21-Apr-2009 23:44:30 UTC
Sponsoring Registrar:Directi Internet Solutions Pvt. Ltd. d/b/a PublicDomainRegistry.com (R27-LROR)
Status:CLIENT TRANSFER PROHIBITED
Status:TRANSFER PROHIBITED
Status:ADDPERIOD
Registrant ID:PP-SP-001
Registrant Name:Domain Admin
Registrant Organization:PrivacyProtect.org
Registrant Street1:P.O. Box 97
Registrant Street2:All Postal Mails Rejected, visit Privacyprotect.org
Registrant Street3:
Registrant City:Moergestel
Registrant State/Province:
Registrant Postal Code:5066 ZH
Registrant Country:NL
Registrant Phone:+45.36946676
Registrant Phone Ext.:
Registrant FAX:
Registrant FAX Ext.:
Registrant Email:contact@privacyprotect.org

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: VODAFONE AWARD CENTRE <vodafoneawardoffice@voda-fone.org>
Date: 2008/4/29
Subject: CONGRATULATIONS !! YOUR E-MAIL ID HAS WON VODAFONE CONSOLATION PRIZE 2008.
To:

VODAFONE INTERNATIONAL AWARD 2008
GOVERNMENT ACCREDITED LICENSE!!!
VODAFONE INTERNATIONAL LOTTTERY
IS REGISTERED UNDER THE DATA PROTECTION ACT OF;
(Registration Z720633X).

Ref No: Ref No: VDF-EBS-719AF
Batch Number: VDF-EBS-390AF
Winning Number: VDF-EBS-798AF
Coupon No. VDTL-146478972197

Dear Email Bearer,

CONSOLATION PRIZE WINNING NOTICE!!!

Vodafone private international e-games organizers and  Co-sponsors,  MICROSOFT/ STAATSLOTERIJ officially bring to your notice of the final  draw result of 2008 VODAFONE MICROSOFT / STAATSLOTERIJ wheel E-game which  was conducted at our international corporate office complex in London.

Most recently this foundation set up the VODAFONE LOTTERY SCHEME to give  out prizes based on COMPUTER BALLOT SYSTEM. By doing this the foundation  seek to encourage the use of Internet for academic and business pursuits.  It major aim is to promote music, theater, art and literature projects in  the social and political arena with a focus on health, as well as  science, research, and higher education. We wish to Congratulate and  inform you on the selection of your email coupon number which was  selected among the 5 lucky consolation prize winners.

Your email ID identified with Coupon No. VDTL-146478972197 was selected  by our E-games Random Selection System (ERSS) with entries from the  50,000 different email addresses enrolled for the E-game. Your email ID  was included among the 50,000 different email addresses submitted by our  partner international email provider companies.

You have won a consolation cash prize of Ј600,000.00 ( Six Hundred  Thousand British Pounds Only).The VODAFONE, MICROSOFT/STAATSLOTERIJ Group  have approved a payout of your consolation cash prize which will be  remunerated directly to you by the official Payment Agency Board.

Our DUE PROCESS UNIT (DPU) will render to you complete assistance and  provide additional information and processes for the claims of your  consolation prize. For due processing of your winning claim, please  contact your claims Agent Rev. Father John Palenberg who has been  assigned to assist you.

CONTACT YOUR CLAIMS AGENT:

Name: Rev. Father John Palenberg
E-mail:claimsdepartment@voda-fone.org
Telephone :+447024077935

You are advised to provide him with the following information:
Name:
Phone/Fax Number:
Nationality:
Marital Status:
Age:
Ref Number:
Batch Number:
Winning Number:
Coupon Number:

MEANS OF PAYMENT
Cheque Delivery
Bank Account Transfer
Diplomation Means

Once again congratulations from all our staffs on your Consolation prize  winning, we hope you will partake in our Forth coming VODAFONE,  MICROSOFT/ STAATSLOTERIJ Email-games.

Regards,
(Group Coordinator)

NB: In accordance with the VODAFONE, MICROSOFT/STAATSLOTERIJ E-games  policy and regulations, this notification is dispatched directly to only  the 5 lucky consolation prize Winners. This notification also contains  information that is proprietary, privileged or confidential or otherwise  legally exempt from disclosure. If you are not the right recipient whose  email address attached to the lucky numbers along with the winning  information, you are not authorized to read, print, retain copy or  disseminate this notice or any part of it.

Copyright (C) 1999-2008 Vodafone Lottery Award Inc.UK

This is a favorite ploy that the Africans use. Of course, they are targeting people who have already been involved with any of the crooks running 419 types of fraud. It doesn’t really matter with whom they have been in contact with, these crooks just adapt their story to accommodate anyone contacting them.

Of course, getting the money involves paying fees. I don’t think I have to say that you never get any money from them, do I?

Yes, this is a strange sort of logic what this fellow calling himself “Datuk Tanko Ibrahim” is quoting here. The reason I should do this deal with him is because the so called “deceased” is a “nationality of German”.

This was sent to an e-mail address belonging to a German company, so his logic says that all Germans are brothers.

Funny that “all Africans are brothers” doesn’t work, does it?

Check up on Ibrahim Tanko here. This gives reason to believe the name is being used as a front on this e-mail.

———- Forwarded message ———-
From:
Date: 2008/4/24
Subject: GOOD DAY MY FRIEND I NEED YOUR ASNWER ON THIS MATTER
To:

Datuk Tanko Ibrahim & Co. (Barristers And Solicitors)
No.9 Jalan jj 23/24, Taman Mayang, 47301 Petaling Jaya
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
TELE: 60173760735
please reply me here with this email address tanko222@hotmail.com

PLEASE YOU SHOULD NOT ALLOW BANK TO GO AWAY WITH THIS
FUND BELONGING TO YOUR GERMAN BROTHER.

Dear Friend,

I am Datuk Tanko Ibrahim, a legal practitioner.Please be patient and absorb the contents of this email which I believe is a message that will be beneficial to the both of us.

I am the legal representative to Late Joseph, He is a nationality of Germany like you so he is your brother.who herein after shall be referred to as my late client.He died in March 2006 as a result of heart condition.

Basically,my aim of writing you is to assist me secure the funds left behind by my client before it is confiscated or declared unserviceable by the bank where this fund valued at $7million dollars was deposited.

I have a mandate from the bank to present the next of kin to the deceased or the funds will be confiscated and so far, all my efforts to get hold of someone related to this man has proved abortive.

I want you to consider this proposal.If you grant your consent that I present you to the bank as the next-of-kin and beneficiary of my deceased client (since you have the same last name and he from GERMANY like you),so that the proceeds of this account can be transferred to you, then we can share the entire proceeds on a mutually agreed-upon percentage.

All legal documentation to back up your claim as my deceased client’s next-of-kin will be provided. All I require is your honest cooperation to enable us see this transaction through.

This entire process will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law.However,if this business proposition of fends your moral values,do accept my apology.Please contact me at once to indicate your interest.PLEASE YOU SHOULD NOT ALLOW BANK TO GO AWAY WITH THIS FUND BELONGING TO YOUR GERMAN BROTHER.

Best Regards,

Datuk Tanko Ibrahim
(Esq)
please reply me here with this email address tanko222@hotmail.com
PLEASE CALL ME +60173760735 AFTER YOU RECEIVE THIS LETTER.

GOOD DAY MY FRIEND I NEED YOUR ASNWER ON THIS MATTER

Most Africans succumb to corruption in their every day lives. They either suffer at the hands of people who relieve them of their money or they are the ones who want the cash.

Corruption does start at the bottom. When a person has an advantage, for example he gets a job where he or she has a certain level of decision making or they provide a service. That is the basis for them to start using this to extort money from fellow countrymen who require a positive decision or service.

This could be anything from a civil servant, for example, who’s job entails issuing any sort of permit or certificate. If they are not paid a fee, the person requiring the permit does not get it. Period.

I know of other cases where Europeans working in Africa have been accosted by local office workers wanting money. If you give them any money, you can be sure they will be back soon for more.

Of course, the higher one gets the more lucrative the corruption opportunities become. Just reading the African press often gives insight as to what so called politicians and high ranking civil servants are doing in countries like Nigeria.

The journalist Sorious Samura shows exactly how corruption forces poverty on Africans in his documentary called “Living with Corruption”. Posing as a local, he shows how corruption rules every part of peoples daily lives. Regardless of what you need or want to do, you have to pay someone for the privilege to get or do what you want.

It’s this deeply ingrained corruption in African society which is the source of 419 and other types of fraud perpetrated by Africans.

In comparison the US, Europe and Asia are seen as being rich. On top of this the 419 scam as such, preys upon the gullibility of us “Westerners”, using greed or the wish of a better financial situation to make normal people into victims.

In my opinion, 419 fraud is not going to disappear any time soon. Corruption is so deeply ingrained in African society, that stopping it will be impossible.

I often wonder at these plane crash stories. If you have been here often you know that the Andreas Schranner story has been regularly posted here. It goes something like this “a multimillionaire died in a plane crash and left a pile of money in an African bank”. The writer goes on to say “we now need some one to pose as the next of kin to claim this lost money”. The reason for this being there are no living inheritors and we would like the money for ourselves. huh!

So where does this go from here?

Anyone who falls for this story contacts the crooks and immediately gets put through the mill. Form one e-mail to another he gets more and more involved, sending documents and setting himself up as the legal next of kin. Or so he thinks …

In reality, he is just corresponding with the crooks in the guise of lawyers, bankers and notaries.

Once he has gotten in this deep, they push him to pay a fee of say, 800 Dollars or better Euros. It could be for taxes, lawyers or bank costs, whatever. Of course, it is an imaginary fee and it doesn’t really matter for what the crooks claim the payment to be for.
They put the pressure on the “victim” to pay, saying the deal cannot go through without it. Naturally the crooks can’t don’t have the money to pay the fee. They are only poor Africans.

Needless to say the money should be sent through Western Union and once this is paid, they push the poor victim for more.

They push him for what they can get. Which means that victims which are gullible enough, pay anything up to 20,000 Dollars and more.

This often means financial ruin for the victims. For the African crooks, it’s a way of life.

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Evans Efedua <evans_info@yahoo.com>
Date: Fri, Apr 18, 2008 at 9:48 PM
Subject: Proposition
To:

Reply-To: evans_efedua2007@yahoo.com.hk

MIME-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: text/plain

Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

Message-Id: <20080418194729.AA873AFDF3E@m162.magenta.fastwebserver.de>
Date: Fri, 18 Apr 2008 19:40:12 +0200 (CEST)

From: Mr. Evans Efedua
Manager Credit and Foreign Bills
Regent Bank Plc
Victoria Island.
Email: evans_efedua2007@yahoo.com.hk
 
Dear Friend,

My name is Mr. Evans Efedua, I am  the Manager, Credit and Foreign bills of  Regent Bank Plc. I am contacting you of a business transfer, of a huge sum of US$15.5M  (Fifteen Million Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars)  from a deceased account. Though I know that a transaction of this magnitude will make any one apprehensive and worried, but I am assuring you that everything has been taken care off, and all will be well at the end of the day. I decided to contact you to the urgency of this transaction.

PROPOSITION:

I am the account officer of a foreigner named  Late Mr. Morris Thompson who died in an air crash along with his wife  and only daughter on the January 31 in an Alaska airline Flight 261 with other passengers on board. You can confirm this from the website below  which was published by www.cnn.com/2000/US/02/01/alaska  airlines.list

Since his death, none of his next-of-kin are alive to make claims for this money as his heir, because they all died in the same accident himself  and his wife (May their soul rest in peace). We cannot release the fund from his account unless someone applies for claim as the next-of-kin to the deceased as indicated in our banking guidelines. Upon this discovery.  I now seek your permission to have you stand as a next of kin to the deceased, as all documentations will be carefully worked out  by me for the funds  to be released in your favor as the beneficiary’s next  of kin. Because after four years the money will be called back to the bank  treasury as unclaimed bills and the money shared amongst the directors of  the bank.  So it is on this note I decided to seek for whom his name shall  be used as the next of kin/beneficiary to this funds rather than allow  the bank directors to share this money among themselves at the end of the year. It may interest you to know that we have secured from the probate an order  of mandamus to locate any of the deceased beneficiaries. Please acknowledge receipt of this message in acceptance of our mutual business endeavor by furnishing me with the following information if you are interested.  All I need from you is as follows:

1.   Your confirmation of your ability to handle this Business for me.
2.   Your word that you will keep this business as Confidential as possible at all times until we conclude this business.
3.   Your telephone and Fax numbers for communication.
4.   Age and Occupation.

I shall be compensating you with 30% (thirty percent)  on final conclusion of  this project for your assistance, while we will retain 65% (sixty-five percent) and 5% (five percent) goes for expenses because I intend to retire after the conclusion of this  business. If this business is acceptable by you.  Do not take undue advantage of the trust I have bestowed in you.

Your faithfully,
Mr. Evans Efedua
Manager Credit and Foreign Bills
Regent Bank Plc

Tags: 419Scam, Inheritance Scam, Evans Efedua

It’s hard to believe the story that this shocking documentary describes. Sorious Samura, a prize winning journalist, shows us how millions of Africans are living in poverty and have no way to break out of their misery.

Living with Corruption Part 2

Living with Corruption Part 3

Living with Corruption Part 4

Living with Corruption Part 5