Unsure how to Respond.......

[chrisinth]

There are a lot of spam & scam emails out there, with the Nigerians taking the blame for a great deal of them even though the 'Nigerian Scam' has spread to almost every country with subjects like shares in diamond mines, stolen war funds, missing inheritances, recovered bank accounts, etc, etc, etc.

They cloud my compassion somewhat.

I found it difficult to sleep last night after receiving this email as a plea for help, this is the first one like it i have seen. Not sure what to do as it goes against my belief in equality and basic human rights:

Subject: Nigerian Astronaut Wants To Come Home

Dr. Bakare Tunde

Astronautics Project Manager

National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA)

Plot 555

Misau Street

PMB 437

Garki, Abuja, FCT NIGERIA

Dear Mr. Sir,

REQUEST FOR ASSISTANCE-STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL

I am Dr. Bakare Tunde, the cousin of Nigerian Astronaut, Air Force Major Abacha Tunde. He was the first African in space when he made a secret flight to the Salyut 6 space station in 1979. He was on a later Soviet spaceflight, Soyuz T-16Z to the secret Soviet military space station Salyut 8T in 1989. He was stranded there in 1990 when the Soviet Union was dissolved. His other Soviet crew members returned to earth on the Soyuz T-16Z, but his place was taken up by return cargo. There have been occasional Progrez supply flights to keep him going since that time. He is in good humor, but wants to come home.

In the 14-years since he has been on the station, he has accumulated flight pay and interest amounting to almost $ 15,000,000 American Dollars. This is held in a trust at the Lagos National Savings and Trust Association. If we can obtain access to this money, we can place a down payment with the Russian Space Authorities for a Soyuz return flight to bring him back to Earth. I am told this will cost $ 3,000,000 American Dollars. In order to access the his trust fund we need your assistance.

Consequently, my colleagues and I are willing to transfer the total amount to your account or subsequent disbursement, since we as civil servants are prohibited by the Code of Conduct Bureau (Civil Service Laws) from opening and/ or operating foreign accounts in our names.

Needless to say, the trust reposed on you at this juncture is enormous. In return, we have agreed to offer you 20 percent of the transferred sum, while 10 percent shall be set aside for incidental expenses (internal and external) between the parties in the course of the transaction. You will be mandated to remit the balance 70 percent to other accounts in due course.

Kindly expedite action as we are behind schedule to enable us include downpayment in this financial quarter.

Please acknowledge the receipt of this message via my direct number 234 (0) 9-234-2220 only.

Yours Sincerely, Dr. Bakare Tunde

Astronautics Project Manager

[email protected]

http://www.nasrda.gov.ng/

I think i might just send them $10 just for the effort........................

[Seligne2]

Please send them nothing or shit like this will never cease...

[chrisinth]

Please send them nothing or shit like this will never cease...

Looking at the dates, it appears this is from around 2004! It was the first time i have seen this particular one, seems they were more inventive in those days.

It is of course good advice with reference to responding to any email like this (even in jest), don't.

All response does is to verify that your email address is live, then the potential problems begin for real.

Edited March 4, 2016 by chrisinth

[Don Mega]

Tell him you do not trust electronic money transfers and that you will gladly assist but he will have to travel to Papua New Guinea to collect the money in person. you will reimburse the costs of his travel as well.

[dddave]

Ahhhh.......Now, at least we know how the astronauts got their drugs,,,this explains a lot.

So, Major Tom turns out to be a Nigerian?

[Pib]

Well, I'm going to send a donation. I expect the secret Soviet military space station Salyut 8T toilet tank is almost full and we need to get Major Abacha Tunde back to Earth before it is full. Otherwise he'll have to empty the toilet tank and I just know this sh&t bomb is going to land on Thailand.

[impulse]

If you don't mind wading thru some racist crap, 419eater.com has an answer for you.

[Chicog]

Hit forward. Open the original and copy the message headers.

Highlight the "Reply-To" address.

Ask for the account to be deleted.

Send it to [email protected] they are using, e.g. [email protected].

Just think of the smugness of knowing some little Nigerian crook sitting down in his Lagos cybercafe with a skinny latte and realising he's got to start all over again.

I do this with a coffee sometimes just for fun.

[bendejo]

He's been there since 1990 and "In the 14-years since he has been on the station" ?

This scam is almost old enough to grow a moustache!

This US guy just got back to Earth, and after 1 year in space he grew 2 inches. So let's see, 26 years in space, 2 inches a year, that's 52 inches of growth, so he is now more than 4 feet taller than he was on Earth. If he was 5 feet tall, he is now more than 9 feet. "Giant Nigerians From Outer Space" great movie title. Sequel would be "Revenge of the Giant Nigerian From Outer Space," followed up by "Giant Nigerian From Outer Space vs the Martian," where he kicks Matt Damon's ass across the solar system until Matt reveals his bank account number.

Oh, the phone's ringing, it must be Spielberg...

[cyberfarang]

This was not sent by a real scammer. It was a farce that someone invented and then sent round as if being an actual Nigerian scam to attract attention. It`s now gone worldwide, probably one of the best pranks of all time.

Edited March 6, 2016 by cyberfarang

[JHolmesJr]

Also see

https://www.ted.com/talks/james_veitch_this_is_what_happens_when_you_reply_to_spam_email?language=en

[Pib]

This was not sent by a real scammer. It was a farce that someone invented and then sent round as if being an actual Nigerian scam to attract attention. It`s now gone worldwide, probably one of the best pranks of all time.

Kinda like Donald Trump running for U.S. President.