IWA for Sunday 100707

Hey folks,

It’s SUNDAY!!! Time for the IWA. As I was reading this article, I ACTUALLY got THIS emailed to me.

Dearest in Islam,

Please, let this message not come to you as a surprise, but a divine duty.

I am Hajia Alia Ammed, I am married to late Dr. Abu Ammed of blessed memory who was a Cocoa Merchant and an Oil Explorer in Cote d’lvoir for many years before he died in the year 2005. We were married for twenty five years without a child, but we are both devoted Muslims. Since his death I too have been battling with both cancer and stroke. When my late husband was alive he deposited $1.5Million (One Million Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars) with a security and finance company here in Cote d’lvoir

According to the doctor, my medical report quotes a very short life sperm due to my health status presently. May be I may still have another 5 month to live, that I do not know but Allah can say. That is just my faith as a deteriorating cancer patient.

Recently, I am been disturbs by my one sided paralyses due to stroke diagnoses. Having known my condition I decided to donate this fund to a devoted Muslim individual or a Muslim organization that will utilize this money the way I am going to instruct herein. I want an individual or a Muslim Organization to use this money in all sincerity to fund mosques, orphanages, widows, and also propagating the word of Allah and to ensure that the society upholds the views and belief of the holy Quran.

Our holy Quran emphasizes so much on Allah's benevolence and this has encouraged me to take the bold step. I took this decision because I don't have any child that will inherit this money and my husband relatives are very bad, in fact am suspecting them to be the one that killed my husband so that they will inherit all his wealth.

Meanwhile they have possessed some of my husband properties but this fund is not disclosed to them that is why I am searching for real brother or sister in Islam to assist in using this fund for the said purpose. And I don't want a situation where this money will be used in an unholy manner. Hence the reasons for this bold decision. I know that after my death I will be with Allah the most beneficent and the most merciful.

With Allah all things are possible. As soon as I receive your reply, I shall inform you the next step and your role in this matter. I want you and the Muslim community where you reside to always pray for me. Contact me on this e-mail address: XXXXXXXX

You will be entitled to 5% of the total amount for your time and kind assistance.

Thanks and Allah bless with you.

Hajia Alia Ammed

Now I normally would just hit delete and move on. My spam protector is pretty good, but some of these things get through. I would NEVER have imagined that anyone out there would fall for this. The IWA winner this week YOU. Not really YOU, but anyone that has actually fallen for this

But, to my surprise, apparently THOUSANDS or people have fallen for it. According to the AP -77 arrested in e-mail scam crackdown By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID, Associated Press WriterWed Oct 3, 2:22 PM ET

The e-mails arrive out of the blue, from Nigeria or other exotic countries. They tell of inheritances, political problems, other reasons someone needs to get money out of the country. If you help, they promise to let you share the money.

Or in this case, Cote d’lvoir

Unfortunately, thousands of people fall for the scam, losing an average of $3,000 to $4,000 each.

Idiots. Seriously. I have no sympathy for people like this.

So far this year, an average of more than 800 people a month have filed complaints about such scams.

Hoping to stem the losses, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service announced an international crackdown Wednesday in which more than 540,000 fake checks with a face value of $2.1 billion have been seized.

There have been 60 arrests in the Netherlands, 16 in Nigeria and one in Canada, the Postal Inspection Service said, and the effort is continuing.

There is no room in the mail for any of these phony come-ons, Postmaster General John Potter said.

Most of the cons start with e-mails telling of an inheritance or lottery win and ask the victim to help bring the money to the United States. The victim is asked to cash a check that comes in the mail and to send part of the money back to the person sending it, said Greg Campbell, inspector in charge of global security and investigations for the Postal Inspection Service.

Here is a tip for all of you out there. If you never entered a lottery, then you are not in it. “Got to be in it to win it.” Right? Then you have to KNOW someone from one of these countries for them to email you. Logic would dictate, there is nearly NO chance that a Prince or Princess, an Oil tycoon spouse, or anyone else well off, would just as happenstance, pick YOU via YOUR email to give you money.

Not to mention the old saying, “If it seems to good to be true, it probably is.” Back to the AP.

Then that person disappears with the money and the original check bounces, leaving the victim with a loss.

Retired people have lost their nest eggs and young families have been defrauded of their savings for a home, Potter said.

Again, I’m sorry, I cannot feel sympathy for these people.

Many of the cases originate in the Netherlands, where West African con artists operate from Internet cafes, said Johan Van Hartskamp, commissioner of the Amsterdam police.

In what he called Operation Dutch Treat, police have arrested 60 people there, with three extradited to the United States and four more facing extradition. The rest are being prosecuted in the Netherlands, he said.

Ibrahim Lamorde, director of the Nigerian Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, said the problem is monumental and will only be surmounted through global efforts.

U.S. Assistant Attorney General Alice Fisher said: There is no lottery. There is no inheritance. The checks are not real. But there are real victims. The crime knows no borders, and our coordinated law enforcement knows no borders.

To anyone out there that actual believes these things are real, remember that saying, “If it seems to good to be true, it probably is.” To anyone out there that has actually lost money buying into these scams, congratulations, YOU are the Idiot of the Week.
Peter

Sources:
OPNTalk- Email
AP -77 arrested in e-mail scam crackdown