I Thought They'd Forgotten...

Nigerian money. Apparently, I will be adding even more to my collection. I don't have any of the 50 naira notes yet. Image credit: Online Nigeria.

I was beginning to wonder what I what had become of all those widows, orphans, and cancer victims who stopped begging me to store their money. Looks like they were just busy or something:

From: "Mr. Abdellah Essadiq"
To: cujo359
Subject: Yours Sincerely,
Date: Apr 3, 2009 10:52 PM

From Mr. Abdellah Essadiq.
Accounting Dept, Bank PHB Ningeria.

Gretings Friend,

First I must solicit your confidence in this letter to you, this is by virtue of its nature as being utterly confidential and top secret. Though I know that a proposal letter of this magnitude will make any one apprehensive and worried due to the spam/scam mails that goes across the globe,but I am assuring you that all will be well at the end of the day. I decided to contact you due to the urgency needed, as I have been reliably award of your discreetness and ability in transaction of this nature.

My name is Mr. Abdellah Essadiq, ACCOUNTING DEPT OF BANK PHB NIGERIA.,I came to know about you in my private search for a reliable person to handle a confidential transaction on my behalf. l write in respect of a our customer with Current A/C number:14-2558-2004, who unfortunately lost his life in the plane crash of Alaska Airlines Flight 261 which crashed on January 31 2000,including his wife and only daughter leaving nobody to claim the money.You shall read more news about the crash on visiting this site; http://www.cnn.com/2000/US/02/01/alaska.airlines.list/

The owner of this account Mr. White Thompson, an American and great industrialist and a resident of Alaska.Since the death of this our customer {Mr. White Thompson}, I have kept a close monitoring of the deposit records and accounts since then. Nobody has come forward to claim the money in this A/C as next of kin to the late {Mr. White Thompson}. The total amount in the account US$18.4 million and it is a domiciliary escrow bank account.It is only an insider,the account owner or a next of kin who has information about the account that could produce the Code or password of the deposit particulars.

Also the funds can only be released to a foreigner. As it stands now, there is nobody in the position to produce the needed information other than my very self-considering my position in the bank.Based on the fact that Mr. White Thompson, family perished in the same flight accident, leaving no one to put claim of the deposit as the next of kin,so I am seeking for your co-operation to present you as the next of kin to late Mr. White Thompson, and arrange for the release of the funds to your honor for our mutual benefit.

Besides,efforts had been made by the management of my Bank through the America Embassy in Lagos to contact any of the deceased children but to no avail, as we were made to understand that the couple had no other children.Given the skeletal information available to the Bank, it has so far been impossible to reach any of the relatives.

The option left for the Bank management is to declare the deceased account dormant and revert the funds to trading on behalf of and in the interest of the Bank. If there is more delay in moving this money out, this money will be pushed to the Treasury of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. I am willing to share this money with you in the ratio of 60 -40%. You shall have 40% of the funds and I shall share the rest with my partner at the bank.I hope this is a fair sharing?If you are willing and ready to assist with this business then confirm to the following information of yours below for further proceedings:

(1) Your Full Name------------------------
(2) Your Full Home address.------------------
(3) Your telephone and fax numbers:----------
{4} A copy of your international passport or Driver's License
{5} Your occupation/Age: --------------------

Once again, I congratulate you for this is significant honor indeed.
Yours Sincerely,
Mr. Abdellah Essadiq

Well, there aren't any widows or cancer victims here, but it all sounds straightforward enough - I just pretend to be the last surviving relative of someone who wasn't actually on a plane that crashed nine years ago and the check will be arriving from Nigeria soon afterward. What could go wrong?

It's amazing that no one has claimed this money before, but there are so many people who don't know how to take advantage of an opportunity these days.

NOTE: As always, I'm sure that whoever is behind this scam isn't using his real name. This e-mail came to my Cujo359 e-mail account, not to an account I would use for financial transactions.