Application Time

Dear Friend,

I am really happy you want to help me complete this transaction be informed that the Attorney is in charge of all the legal aspects of this transaction If we are lucky and you follow all my Instructions to the letter, these funds could be released to within the next few banking days you have to move ahead to contact the bank so that they can recognise you as the beneficiary ,this is the most important thing .The offshore account is meant especially for people like you who are outside England and will enable them to enjoy the services of the bank through their private computer .I want you to understand that the policy of the bank does not allow direct wire transfer ,this is to protect our highly esteemed clients from across the world .

I am sending you the APPLICATION RELEASE LETTER AND THE BANKS CONTACT DETAILS NOW ,you will need to send it to the officer below ,he is the accounts officer attached to the office of the Director of Foreign/International Remittances.

NATWEST BANK PLC
Officer in Charge :Dr. Elliot Bois
Email: customercare@natwestbank-plc.co.uk.tt

I want you to fill and sign the Application and send it to the Bank today email . Please I have my contacts in the bank's Computer Room so I know what i am talking about , please do not mention my name to anybody in the bank, this transaction is between the both of us OK ?I am only acting as an insider to ensure our success .

Do have a splendid day.

Your Partner,
Todd Williams.

The Letter is below:

Name:……………………………
Address:…………………………
……………………………………
Date:……………………………

The Operation Officer For Foreign Payment.
Private Banking
Natwest Bank.
Dear Sir/Madam,
Ref: A/c # 01514770727 of Mr. Andreas Gardner Schranner
RE: APPLICATION FOR RELEASE OF FUNDS.

This is to inform you that Mr. Andreas Gardner Schranner is my relative, who died five years ago.

On checking the various records of my relative, we found that he maintained an account with your bank with the above a/c # 01514770727. Some of the deceased records suggest that there was a credit balance of above £ 18,500,000.00 (Eighteen Million Five Hundred Thousand Pounds) in the account.

As next of kin, I would now like to submit my Application to your esteemed bank for release of my relative, Mr. Andreas Gardner Schranner funds in your bank, in the above said a/c #, and also in other accounts, if any.

Please let me know all the information I am required to provide to back up my claim. You may note that these funds are needed to pay off Mr. Andreas Gardner Schranner's liabilities, and also to complete some of unfinished urgent projects started by Mr. Andreas Gardner Schranner in his time, I would request you to please process my claim and release the funds as early as possible.

Thanks for your co-operation,
Yours faithfully,

………………………………….
AUTHORIZED SIGNATURE

I wrote Mr. Todd back:

"This is very difficult for me! Can you please send the application for me? I give you authorization to use my name, and do this on my behalf. Please let me know when it is done."

Fake Relatives

When I first started to peruse the internet for information on scammers I remember being bombarded with warnings: "These scammers are smart, so be careful!!"

First of all: They are not smart; they are desperate and will do anything for your personal information. You can provide them with inconsistency and inconsistency and they will not budge! One day they will ask for you some pertinent information, and if they do not get it, the next day they will try for something else.
Number 2: Don't give them personal information and you will be fine.

"Dear Partner, (This is a long one, but indeed he sent me his "passport")

Thank you very much for response and your interest in this transaction, I am also glad to note that you are noble and trustworthy person whom I can rely on for your capabilities to handle this transaction with me I have not contacted anybody but you for assistance , after reading your last email i became more convinced of your ability to see this through , i am now more sure of your willingness, trustworthiness and commitment to execute this transaction with me after reading your message, I cannot afford to compromise these virtues Considering the huge amount involved, it is necessary for me to be sure of the person to whom I will be entrusting this money to, Actually my trust is not given out lightly but something in my heart tells me i can trust you to deliver, I will send your full names to the local Attorney here in London who will represent prepare all the documents to ensure the funds are released to you without your physical presence here in the United Kingdom after i have been able to source out a reliable Lawyer later today . READ THE FOLLOWING AND GET BACK TO ME: Firstly,You should note that this project is highly capital intensive. This is why I have to be very careful. I need your total devotion and trust to see this through. I know we have not met before, but I am very confident that we will be able to establish the necessary trust that we need to execute this project within the next couple of days when the transfer to your local account in your Country will be completed . Furthermore, to ensure our success i shall be responsible for paying the processing of the relevant affidavits and documents in your name to put you as the legal beneficiary of the funds and I will take care of the cost of retaining the services of the Attorney and to have the transfer documents perfected as soon as possible so that the release process can commence without any undue delays. He shall draft the necessary Affidavits which shall put you in place as next of kin after obtaining the Letter of probate/Administration and power of Attorney and he shall then be handling all matters of probate on your behalf as far as this transaction is concerned, I will handle these costs on my side. To ensure that the funds are transferred to your local account in your own country, you will be required to open an offshore/online account with my bank from where you will personally transfer the funds to your local account from your own computer through our secured website. It is necessary for me to let you know that you will be required to take care the cost of opening the account and having the account activated as you will be dealing directly with NatWest Bank . You have to realize that although i am an insider, i will prefer you deal Directly with the concerned Bank official. The reason I am telling you this is because the Bank will not transfer the money from here to you without recommending that you open an online account with it and have it ready to transfer the funds, I do not want any complications.What I expect from you is trust , commitment and total co-operation , I want this money transferred with your assistance out of My bank If we act fast enough and you show enough commitment ,we could complete the project within a maximum of five banking days, hence we must remain on continuous correspondence daily by email, I will send you the application release letter so that you can send it to the bank at once .I shall be expecting a positive feedback and assurance from you as soon as possible, everything is ready on my side for the successful completion of this project, i have also attached a copy of my passport to this email . I earnestly await your response.

Sincerely,
Todd Williams (Mr.)


P:S Do not forget that details of this transaction remains CONFIDENTIAL as i do not want you to draw undue attentions to yourself as a result of this huge funds you are expecting in your bank account soon.

Holy Moly! I have no idea what he wants from me!

"Mr Todd,

Please forgive me, but I'm not sure at this point what you require of me.

I received your passport, and I appreciate you going through the effort to help assuage my concerns. Everything seems very legit; opening the offshore bank account, not telling anyone whatsoever about this transaction, pretending to have relatives that I don't have... but what do I need to do specifically at this point?

Please give specific instructions, and names of all individuals that I need to contact.

Please hurry, my bills are due soon.

Taikei

Trustworthy?

Moments after I contacted Mr. Todd I received this in return:

"Good day ,

Thank you for your mail and your willingness to help me, as i said you will take 40% from the total amount. The funds are in Pound sterling. So it is not a joke ,But i want you to be aware that i might not have the time to come over to your place as most of this transaction will be done online , Now i need to know more about you, what do you do for a living? if you can handle this funds?? I will also require your full legal name as the funds will be transferred through your name, so that the Lawyer can prepare the documents in your name .

Can i trust you? are you married with kids? I will also want you to send me your passport copy if you are serious and i will also send you my own OK, trust is very important for this transaction.

Please it is very important i know who i am dealing with. This business is hitch free so do not worry about getting into trouble, there is no risk involved at all. Everything can be concluded within four to six banking days , and the bank will have to release the funds to you, I have the file of the Client here with me, that we will use to support the claim.

We need to move fast. Once i get a positive response from you, i will send you the Application Release Letter and the bank's contact details, so that you can send the letter to them by email. So that they can release the funds to us. You can call me on : +4470-1113-6090 at anytime as it is my private mobile phone. I will wait for your call or call you any moment on your mobile line. Thank you but i need you to send an immediate response via email as i am at my desk awaiting your response. I have attach my identification for your perusal so that you will know who you are dealing with . I will appreciate if you do same .

Kind Regards ,
Todd Williams (Mr.)"

I've been preoccupied the past couple of days, and neglected to write Mr. Todd back even though "we could really use the money."

Today I feel like playing a little cautious though:

"Mr Todd,

I am so happy to hear from you! I'm sorry I did not write you back sooner, I had a few days off work, and I do not have email at home, but I am glad to hear that you are still waiting for me.

I received your bank ID, but please send your passport as promised. I hear a lot about Nigerian scammers, but as you are from London I believe you and think you are legit. If you would please send me a copy of your passport I would feel a lot better about this transaction.

If you will send me this, I will be glad to send you the rest of my pertinent information that you requested.

I look forward to hearing from you.
Taikei"

Let's see if Mr. Todd picks up on the fact that 5 days ago I said I worked from home, but today I said I don't have internet at home, just at work. Remember though, I do have untold amounts of integrity and that should make up for any inconsistencies right?

Bad Filter

My spam filter does a fairly good job of weeding out unwanted emails, but a Mr. Todd Williams snuck an email through this week, and I jumped on the opportunity to start a new dialogue with a friendly scammer!

"Before proceeding, I wish to introduce myself to you; I am Todd Williams a staff of Natwest Bank plc London. I am the head of the accounts department.I am pleased to get across to you for a very urgent and profitable business proposal which I believe will profit the both of us after completion. I contacted you after a careful thought that you might be capable of handling this business transaction, which i explained below.

The sum of ( £ 18,500,000.00 Million Pounds), has been floating as unclaimed since 2000 in my bank. If you are interested send your confidential telephone for more details.
Email: toddwilliams17@gmail.com
Kind Regards ,
Mr.Todd Williams"

Naturally, I jumped right on a response to him:

"I was very excited to get your email regarding your unclaimed sum. I am a very honest person, with excellent credit and untold amounts of integrity. I hope that you will consider me an excellent choice to help you with your business transaction. This couldn't have come at a better time as my husband is out of work, and some extra money would really be great for our family!

Unfortunately I don't have a confidential telephone - just my phone work as I work from home and I don't know if it's confidential.

Thanks again and hope to hear from you soon!"

Fool Yourself

Now it's over.

To Mary's credit, she gave me all the warning signs. Not to be uncompassionate, but if you find yourself dealing with a Nigerian scammer that is as out of the loop as MaryWelch9@gmail.com, serves you right.

But to my credit, I gave Mary all the same signs. I was inconsistent, ridiculous, demanding, illiterate, and so forth and so on, and she still was a fool enough to go to Western Union to attempt a bid at the non existent money.

What's more is that she blames me!!

FOOL YOURSELF NOT ME.....
Why are you so stupid do you think am a small boy i went to the western union outlet and th money was no match found fool your self ok

Although I can make little sense of this shamble of words, I can clearly interpret that she/he is upset that I took them for a little run around the track. What I don't understand is what: "fool yourself not me" means. Didn't I fool them? I mean I was playing the whole time, she/he was the one that actually went to Western Union even though I gave her/him two different "text" questions, two different amounts, and two different control numbers.

No Mary, I fooled you. And I topped it off with one last email:

"Yes, I do think you are stupid."

It's Not Over

I thought it was over, you thought it was over, and any real landlord would have written me off forever had I the nerve to tell her she was a "bad landlord". You know - I was always under the impression these scammers were smart; not these ones.

I tried a last ditch effort to get some attention, and wrote MaryWelch9@gmail.com an email letting her know I did in fact send the money!

"Hi Mary,

I went to Western Union with the advance payment today:
The number is: 5029188726
I sent it to:
Receiver's name: Paul Welch
Receiver's Adress: 101 Isolo Rd.
City: Mushin
State: Lagos
Country: Nigeria
Zip code: 23401
I sent $800.
I haven't heard from you in a few days, so I hope that all is well and I hear from you soon!

Unis"

A few hours later I heard back:

I will want you to get back to me with the full western union transfer details as listed below......do and get back to me as soon as possible..
THE SENDER NAME AND ADDRESS
THE RECEIVER NAME
THE MTCN CONTROL NUMBER
THE TEXT QUESTION
THE ANSWER
THE AMOUNT SENT
i wait to hear from you today .....

Regards
Mary

Did Mary care, or even link that I told her before during our chat I only sent $250 dollars? Apparently not!

"Mary,

Silly me, I thought I already told you all this information!
Well, I've been known to make a mistake or two in my lifetime so here it is again:

THE SENDER NAME AND ADDRESS Amy Unis Viceroy Cedar Shade RV & Mobile Home Park
THE RECEIVER NAME Paul Welch
THE MTCN CONTROL NUMBER 992310457
THE TEXT QUESTION Do you mean test question? This says text, that's funny! What color is the sky?
THE ANSWER Yellow
THE AMOUNT SENT $800
Now that I've paid you the money, will you answer my questions about the apartment?

Unis"

Does Mary care that I gave her a completely different MTCN? Or a different "text" question that I cited during our chat? She didn't seem to care about the differing amounts. I think I may have roped her in again!

Live and Learn

Let this be a lesson to you, don't stall too long because they will get bored of you.

After Mary emailed me asking for my questions, I wrote back asking the following:

"Hi Lady,
Don't you love the Olympics?
What country are you rooting for?
I need to know how many square feet is this apartment?
Does it have a garage?
How many windows?
What floor?
What is the view like?
Is it near a park?

Make sure and answer EVERY SINGLE ONE of my questions!

Thanks, Unis"

I have to admit, I was actually shocked when she didn't answer even one of my questions. I thought she was actually willing to play along.

Instead, she asked again for my money: Big Shocker! And she waited a full three days after I made the inquiries. So, here's the lesson. Don't stall too long, and if you feel like you are losing control - you are!

So, after I got the email I struck up a conversation with Mary:

me: Mary, why haven't you answered my questions?
me: Mary, Mary, Mary?
me: Why aren't you answering me?

Mary: hi

me: why haven't you answered my questions?
me: are you busy talking to someone else about the house?

Mary: no, tell me if you still need the house and pay the advance rent

me: do you know what a question is?

(I'm still not sure if insulting is the best method either, sometimes think the insult gets lost in translation)

me: Mary?
me: Are you there?
me: Are you there?

Mary: yes

me: Why aren't you paying attention to me?
me: I really want this house?

(After a long pause, I decide to play a different card. Honestly, I'm getting upset, I never even got to mess with her with the western union #, and that makes me a bit upset. We haven't even gotten to the good part!)

me: I have the western union #.
me: Do you want me to email it to you, or can I tell you now?

(she doesn't believe me, at least 10 minutes pass before she answers)

me: You don't seem to be paying any attention to me.
me: You certainly aren't answering my questions!

Mary: yes you can tell me now

me: Do you need the test question?
me: I'm in a hurry tonight, so if you are too busy to chat I gotta go.

Mary: yes, give me the text question

me: Okay, the test question is: Are you a criminal? The answer is: Yes

(Obviously, I'm not so upset that I want to behave seriously though.)

me: I sent the payment to Paul Welch 101 Isolo Rd. Mushin
me: Lagos Nigeria 23401
me: I sent $200

Mary: okay # mtcn okay

me: mtcn? what does that mean?

Mary: the control number given to you by western union

me: oh
me: got it? (I didn't send any #)
me: so what is the address that I'll send the rent to for September?

Mary: and the name and address you use in sending the money

me: huh? I already told you
me: Mary? What are you talking about!
me: Are you busy watching the Olympics?

(Another 15 minutes pass)

me: This is ridiculous!
me: I better go
me: It's been 10 minutes lady!

(Another 20 minutes)

me: You are a bad landlord
me: I gave you all the information, where are you?