Re: 419 (not 411) scam (was Re: VERY UEGENT BUSINESS)
On Sun, Oct 28, 2001 at 03:03:02PM -0800, Karsten M. Self wrote:
> on Thu, Oct 25, 2001 at 12:34:55PM +0100, Julian Gilbey (J.D.Gilbey@qmw.ac.uk) wrote:
> > On Thu, Oct 25, 2001 at 02:11:47AM -0700, tluxt wrote:
> > > Dear Mr Harvesy,
> > >
> > > I reviewed with some interest your mail of business very urgent. I am
> > > the one who receives them mail here, and I am speaking (email) with
> > > people all over the world sometimes, so I am not sure I know the girl
> > > you are talking of, because there are som many people!
> > > [...]
> > >
> > > This all sounds very urgent, but I am want to talk to you more to get
> > > the details of the size of the ammont, and how you want to do it.
> > > Please contact me here at debian-devel, as I am read this email very
> > > often quickly.
> >
> > Be warned: this is known as a "411 letter";
>
> The Scam operates as follows: the target receives an unsolicited fax,
> email, or letter concerning Nigeria containing either a money laundering
> or other illegal proposal OR you may receive a Legal and Legitimate
> business proposal by normal means. Invariably, the proposition involves
> resources which are somehow locked up: oil or other invoice problems, a
> bequest, money cleaning, or misallocated funds.
Well off-topic, but interesting no less.
A gullible friend actually fell for this. In her case, she was
instructed to open up a joint bank account at a specific foreign
bank. The money would be deposited there, and she'd have to give some
of it back later.
Lo and behold, when she inquired about opening the account, she found
there was minimum balance of roughly $400 to keep the account
open. She foolishly made the deposit, and you can guess what happened
to her $400 when the third party then turned around and closed the
account.
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