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November 24, 2005
Nigerian spam -- by snail mail!
I'm sure most of you are familiar with Nigerian spam -- the mass e-mails that come in from people supposedly looking for a place to stash untold millions of dollars currently hidden in a bank, in some jeopardy of being lost or impounded if the holder can't find a suitable hiding place, which (they hope) is your bank account. You're supposed to give them your bank account number, and they'll arrange for an electronic transfer of several million dollars, a healthy chunk of which you get to keep for "providing your assistance" in spiriting the cash out of Nigeria and away from the long arm of the tax man.
Well, I recently got a strange form of this solicitation: a letter, printed on paper and mailed in a handwritten envelope from the Netherlands (judging by the stamps, anyway). I'll quote from it briefly (all of the typos, misspellings, and grammatical errors are reproduced exactly as in the original):
"Dear John Kafalas
"I know this letter will reach you as a surprise, but you need not to worry as we are using the only secured and confidential medium available to seek for foreign assistance/partnership in a business transaction, which is of mutual benefit. I work in an auditing department of the African Development Bank Plc, (Cape Town) South Africa which I have served as a staff for the past eighteen years. A foreigner, late Engr. George Kafalas an oil merchant/contractor with the federal republic of South Africa, who have bank with us until his death three years ago; has a closing balance of US$14.5Million (Fourteen Million, Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars) which our bank now unquestionably expects to be claimed by any of his available next of kin or alternatively have the funds donated to the trust fund of the African Union (AU) peace keeping forces...."
You get the picture. This description is followed by the usual request for my bank account number "so as for this funds (US$14.5M) to be transferred into your bank account as the beneficiary's next of kin, with the fact that your last name (Kafalas) is the same with the late contractor."
The paper is rather cheap stationery, but at least it's phony letterhead, with this "African Development Bank Group" logo at the top. At least they tried. There is an e-mail address (ironically enough, smudged badly enough that it's not quite legible, so I couldn't contact them even if I were dumb enough to fall for the scheme) at the end of the letter.
None of this is unusual, except for the fact that it arrived on paper, rather than by e-mail. Anyone else gotten an African spam by snail mail? Actually, a Google search confirms that it does happen -- in fact, it's been going on since before there was e-mail. It just seemed a little odd, when it showed up in my mailbox!
Posted by Urbie at November 24, 2005 04:53 PM