Nigerian Bank Scam

I saw an article where a magazine editor tried this same experiment, so I thought i'd try it, just to see if I received a similar response.

If you aren't familiar, there are individuals out there who will send you an email, sounding very official, yet very foreign. They usually say they are an executor of an estate for some wealthy statesmen of some sort. He wants to use your bank account to store the millions of dollars in the account in trade for a percentage of the estate. He claims he received your name from a reliable source who says you are a very trustworthy person.

As you can read in the original letter from Mr. Isaac Peters, there are more details, which i'll let you discover on your own.

One further note, the original email from Mr. Peters was sent to my personal email account. I created a dummy yahoo account under the name: Johanne Erickson. The letter was addressed directly to Mr. RICE, and every place RICE was displayed in Mr. Peters' original email, it was in all caps. However, in my reply, I explicitly left the name as Mr. ERICKSON, just to see if it would throw Mr. Peters off. We'll see.

I will follow up with all correspondance between myself and Mr. Peters as it occurs.

All letters from Mr. Peters will be shown in YELLOW.

FROM THE DESK OF ISAAC PETERS CHAMBERS.
(Solicitor Advocate and Notary public)
ADDRESS: Plot 1155 off Kings Way Road Ikeja. Lagos, Nigeria.
Dear RICE ,
I humbly crave your indulgence in sending you this mail, and I want you
to
study it with all seriousness of purpose.
First let me introduce my self to you before any further discussion,I
am a
Fifty-One (51) year old established Lawyer. My name is Barrister ISAA
PETERS from ( ISAAC PETERS CHAMBERS) and member of Nigeria Bar
Association
and the attorney at law to Engineer David Alfonzo RICE , until his
untimely
death in November 2003 with his entire household in a ghastly accident
along Port Harcourt expressway, he was a foreigner to my country, who
used
to work with the Atlas Dredging Company here in port-Harcourt, Whom
here
in after shall be referred to as my client.
Note that my late client left no one behind as his next of kin/sole
beneficiary till he died. I have made several enquiries to your embassy
here to locate any of my late
clients extended relatives acting on the directive of the STANTARD
TRUST BANK PLS
, issued to me on
the 18th of December 2002, where my late client left behind a deposit
of
US$13 million American
Dollars to come forward as his next of kin and lay claim to the funds
he
left behind so that the security company
can renormalize the account and remit the funds to the person. After
several unsuccessful attempts at locating his relatives, I have
contacted
you to come forward and claim the money for you and me from the bank,
before it gets declared unserviceable and confiscated by the Bank. The
said Bank has issued me another notice to provide the next of kin or
have
the account confiscated within the next Twenty One official working
days,
so we have to act fast. Be informed that you have nothing to worry
about
with regards this fact, you see the inheritance law clearly leaves any
proof of who is or is not the next of kin, to the deceased's lawyer to
prove, as the lawyer of the deceased the law states that I have the
final
say on who is and is not the beneficiary of the deceased's estate and
properties. And since you bear the same last name as my late client,
all
is well.I am in possession of vital information and
legal documents needed to back you up for this 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 a legitimate arrangement.
I await your urgent response to enable us start this transaction in
earnest so we can proceed and also discuss the sharing ratio for the
money
between us and the procedures to make the claim. Be informed also that
this account has been declared dormant by the said bank from my
investigations and as such you would have to apply to the bank as the
sole
beneficiary to the funds for the claim of the money, after which the
bank
would direct you on how to re-activate the account back to normal and
then
you would instruct the bank on how you want your funds transferred to
you.Upon your response i will furnish you with the text of application
letter you would send to the bank and the necessary information?s to
back
up the claim application.
Your nationality does not matter as all modalities have been set to pay
whomever I present as the next of kin. This transaction will take only
few
working days to conclude
as soon as you indicate your interest. For prompt action,
please contact me urgently only on my altanative email stated below :
email hidden until closing of experiment
I shall role out the modalities for the actualization of this project
as soon as I receive your email response. Please, do accord this
transaction the confidentiality
it deserves.
Due regards to your family.
hope to hear from you as you receive this mail.
I hope this mail will be given the desire consideration.
Best of regards,
BARRISTER ISAAC PETERS (LL.M, PH.D)
Solictor


All letters from myself to Mr. Peters will be shown in
Grey.

To: (Mr. Peters email) I will post this email address at the very end of this experiment so you can send him your inquiries as well.
From: johanneerickson@yahoo.com (Feel free to email this account with any comments/ideas you have regarding this experiment).
Subject: re: ERICKSON PLEASE CONFIRM (I formatted this to appear as it would have if i'd replied from my personal account, only changing the name)

Dear Mr. Peters,

Thank you so much for your email. I am very excited about this offer. I have fallen on hard times recently, and could use a break like the one offered in your letter.

Please send me instructions on what to do next. I have to admit, I am a bit wary of getting involved in a situation like this, but like I said, my financial situation is in a state that the potential reward outweighs the risk.

Just curious, how did you come across my contact information? I would like to thank the person who sent this blessing my way.

Have a great day, and i'll look forward to your response.

-Mr. Johanne Erickson

Awaiting Mr. Peters' reply....

Mr. Peters' first reply (to Mr. Erickson, note how all references to Mr. Rice are now Mr. Erickson)


FROM THE DESK OF ISAAC PETERS CHAMBERS.
(Solicitor Advocate and Notary public)

ADDRESS: Plot 1155 off Kings Way Road Ikeja, Lagos-Nigeria.

Dear Johanne Erickson,

Top of the day. Sorry for my late response towards your email, I hope in
concluding this transaction with you in good faith by GOD's grace.

First and foremost I wish to use this opportunity to thank you for your
prompt response and your interest to assist as the Next of Kin to my late
client, you have to be rest assured that you will not be subject to any
attract from any organization or governmental bodies as the procedure which
the funds will be transferred to you in your country will be well planned
by you and I, as I stated in my previous mail to you regards Late Engineer
David Alfonzo Wesley is my client and unfortunately he died with his entire
household and a lot steps have been taken to locate his relations but to
no avail. And our banking law and guideline stipulated that if such account
remains dormant or unserviceable for 2 years that the funds would be transferred
into government account.

Be clarified that Late Engineer David Alfonzo Erickson is Hispanic American
but should not be a barrier if you are not Hispanic or even American.

Our primary focus here is your name (Erickson ) which happens to be identical
to that of my late client and makes it very convenient to present you as
the next of kin.

Your connection to this matter is primarily based on the identical name
which you have with my late client and I thought that you might be his extended
or direct relative. Let me assure you again that you could still be presented
as the next of kin since providing all Legal paper work from the Federal
High Court and the Probate in your favour could do the related authentication.

Notwithstanding, Be inform that It is my duty to brief you with some vital
information you need to strengthen us in this claim, moreover you should
also understand that the security firm official are devastating in getting
this funds confiscated, so therefore we thou to be fast and accordingly
in whatsoever we are doing to enable us get this funds out of the security
firm custody.

My good friend, be rest assured that this claim is 100% guarantee that this
transaction is 100% risk free transaction, be aware that we have limited
time, due to the fact that we only have some few working days to execute
this transaction in a solemn way by the mighty grace of God, in order for
this money and property should not be confiscated or declared unserviceable
by the security firm.

My good friend, to be pragmatic on this regards all I need is your honest
co-operation and your honesty towards this claim, from your response you
truly indicated your readiness, credibility and ability in handling this
transaction as the next of kin to my late client.


You are requested to furnish me with this information's such as:

YOUR FULL NAME AS IT IS STATED IN YOUR INTERNATIONAL
PASSPORT:

YOUR RESIDENTIAL ADDRESS:

YOUR OCCUPATION:

YOUR OFFICE ADDRESS:

YOUR PHONE NUMBER / FAX NUMBER:

YOUR MARITAL STATUS:

YOUR AGE:

My good friend, as soon as I receive your positive response towards this
regards, I would send you my CALL TO BAR CERTIFICATE and my INTERNATIONAL
PASSPORT for easy reference regards this claim at your Demand and also to
satisfy your curiosity, due to the fact that this transaction will be carried
out under a legitimate and transparent arrangement to enable this transaction
a solemn one.

Due regards to your family.

I hope this mail will be given the desire consideration.

Warmest regards,

Barrister Isaac Peters. (LL.M, PH.D)
Solicitor.


I love this guy!


Mr. Peters,

Thank you so much for the reply. I am very excited to begin this venture so I can receive your funds as soon as possible. But, again, some trepadation on my part has left me with a few questions.

1) In my first reply, I asked if you could enlighten me on the origins of your finding my name to be chosen as the "relative" of your deceased client. Surely there were 1000's of Ericksons you could've chosen. My question is, Why Me?

2) How did your client come into his fortune in the first place? Was he a successful business man? Was he a drug trafficker? Was he a man of political power? Not that the answer would dissuade me in any way from accepting his "gift", i'm just curious.

3) Can you split the funds up into sevaral bank accounts? I don't like the idea of putting all the money in one place. For tax purposes, and other legal reasons.

If you can answer a few of these questions, it will ease my mind, and allow me to create some accounts for you to deposit the funds.

Thank you and have a great day.