Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Piling it on



As you probably all know, the recent Anyface reunion tour was prompted by Dave's sudden need for cash in the wake of losing his retirement savings when the Bernie Madoff ponzi scheme collapsed. So I'm making an exception to my usual no-legal-posts rule. Turns out that the government submitted to the Judge a stack of papers intended to highlight the magnitude of the fraud, and included in that stack a bunch of emails from victims of the fraud. Most are along the lines of “This man single-handedly destroyed peoples’ lives . . . “; “Please do not let this weasel negotiate some sweetheart deal . . . “; “Madoff’s crime has robbed us of a lifetime of savings”; etc., but on page 36 is the following, less-predictable, e-mail:

From: [redacted]
Sent: Saturday, March 07, 2009 6:38 PM
Subject: REPLY ME

My Name is Mr. [redacted] but my origin is from Republic of Congo. I have an inherited fund I want to invest in a business in your country with a help of a local. I don’t know about what business but I found it wise to invest the funds in your country with your collaboration with me.

Ever since I move to Dubai due to the problem in my country, I have not been able to invest the funds in Dubai due to security reasons. Now I am seeking foreign assistance to transfer the funds in your country based on the news of their development.

If you can assist, I am willing to give you 10% of the funds that is US$3.5Million. You will understand that my entire life and future depend on this money and I shall be very grateful if you can assist me. The major thing I demand from you is the absolute assurance that the funds will be safe and you will not sit on it when it is transferred into your account.

I will be willing to coming to your country once everything has been done and the funds are in your bank to discuss on lucrative investment in your country.

I hope to hear from you so that we might get to talk better on this issue. Please do give me your contact information in order for me to call you ASAP.

If this email offends your moral value, do accept my apology.

Hope to hear from you soon.

Best Regards,

[redacted]

Good work lads!

4 comments:

Dave said...

Identity theft knows no limits! Sweet. By the way, that Anyface gig to replenish my 401k scheme backfired as Tama gave away all the CDs for free.

Mike said...

If the chap was Nigerian, I might be a little suspicious.

A hobby called scambating involves playing with these scammers and ultimately making them do outlandish things for your amusement. Check out:

http://www.419eater.com/

Joe said...

Man, I thought that one was going to work!

Jay said...

I lost lungs laughing at 419eater shenanigans. I think it deserves its own post, actually.