As featured in the Flying Circus TV Show - Episode 14

At the age of fifteen Doug and Dinsdale started attending the Ernest Pythagoras Primary School in Clerkenwell. When the Piranhas left school they were called up but were found by an Army Board to be too unstable even for National Service. Denied the opportunity to use their talents in the service of their country, they began to operate what they called 'The Operation'... They would select a victim and then threaten to beat him up if he paid the so-called protection money. Four months later they started another operation which the called 'The Other Operation'. In this racket they selected another victim and threatened not to beat him up if he didn't pay them. One month later they hit upon 'The Other Other Operation'. In this the victim was threatened that if he didn't pay them, they would beat him up. This for the Piranha brothers was the turning point.

hahahahaha wow that's a great candidate for worst scam email. 

As a Nigerian by birth, I will demand an apology from "Marcus T" for labeling this post a Nigerian scam.

Nowhere in the mail was the name Nigeria mentioned. Therefore, it beats my imagination and sense of reasoning to see where this particular email has anything to do with Nigeria.

Its been proved once again that, a lot of people usually claim knowledge to what they do not have absolutely no iota of knowledge about. Marcus is trying to tell us here that he knows much about what he termed "Nigerian Scam". Well, please let me educate you, because you really do need it.

What you termed "Nigerian Scam" (called “419”) is actually a real scam perpetrated by the then military government officials with the collaboration of the International Businesses working in Nigeria during the early 80s till early 90s. These unpatriotic government official would embezzle state funds and wire the money abroad through these International companies. They would use already established International companies in Nigeria to do the job. When this is not possible due to the need for cover-ups, they would resort to companies in Europe or America. This was how “billions” of Nigerian money were siphoned abroad to many Western banks.

At the end of the military regime with the start of democracy in 1998, the trend was changing, it was becoming impossible for the military officials to embezzle the nation’s wealth any longer. Meanwhile, those that were still privy of the of the sequence of event, decided to play game with their collaborator gullible Western partners. They continued to let them know that there are still huge lots of money to be transferred out of Nigeria, therefore still seeking their participation in the nefarious activity. These gullible companies and individual continued to believe until it became clear that it was not business as usual anymore.

The modus operandi is still the same today. The beneficiary would present itself as a contractor that had completed a project (fictitious) for the government, and therefore is qualified for payment of its work. Th gullible company would pay every taxes, and bank charges so the money can be released. That worked then during the military regime. But it no longer worked after their exit from government, but the gullible companies/individual did not realize early enough. So, they got ripped off.

That was the beginning of “419” in Nigeria. And that same logic and pattern has now been duplicated everywhere in the world. It has become what you can call franchise business, albeit without royalty…

Therefore, when you get such an email, you have now been informed, that the source might not have anything to do with Nigeria or Nigerian. For this reason, I demand that Marcus apologize for labeling the email “Nigerian Scam”.

Peace! Bola

Sadly most of those scams do come from Nigeria...

How do you know?

Guys.

I am receiving one mail x week, not only from Nigeria. Some of them are really tricky. Just ignore all that scam.

I know someone who believed in it...and by the time he understood he was not going to see the $ 8M which was promised to him, he had lost over CHF 200k.

E

There is no denial that many of those emails originate from Nigeria. The point I am making here is clear. I abhor generalizing. It is same as stereotyping. I will not sit beside and allow people to disparage my country of birth. An insult is an insult, and that post is an insult to me as a Nigerian. I still carry Nigerian passport in parallel to my Finnish passport

To the Admins, please note that I have demanded an apology from “Marcus T”.

Bola,

The term "Nigerian scam" is into common use as synonym of advance-fee fraud.  Just like "French fries" and "Russian roulette", it bears no reference to the country anymore.

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1055378/Nigerian-scam

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advance-fee_fraud

Peace and love.

Ciao OmegaMan,

Your positive intention is noted. Thanks. However, the intention of Marcus T is still unknown. As we all know, he could used the term "Advanced Free Fraud". Comunque, grazie lo stesso.

Peace! Bola

HI Bola

I have lived in your country of birth for almost 5 and a half years in my childhood, I went to school (partly) in a local school in Ibadan, where Yoruba was taught as French or English is here, and have many happy memories of that wônderful land ...(and if im truthful some pretty horrific ones too , but thats a very long story).

Ive mingled with civilian presidents (before they were such) and military too from ruling generals downwards... all have treated me with kindness and respect, and in most cases bought me icecream, or such like, and i played with their kids.

In this case I have to say that I agree with The Omegaman on this case and state that the "419" scam that was initiated in Nigeria is now the synonym for most spam scams that appear in people email boxes. It also true that many will originate from Sth Africa, or Ghana, or other parts of the African continent, and also from the UK and Europe where as you say the "franchise" has expanded. Its still called the "Nigerian 419 scam" ...and police call it such as well the world over.

Nigeria has many great exports, but sadly this now world famous scam is also one of them...and the "synonym" has stuck as has its "generalist name"... I am sure that the original poster meant no harm toward Nigeria or its people, just towards the originator of this email perhaps....

One thing I have learnt over my life in many countries is that in written form it (english) is very easy to misunderstand or take offence of where none was meant, especially when written by a non english native speaker.

I applaud your desire to defend your country and your people, but dont take offence so easily here... Im sure it was not intentional. I agree it is bad to generalise and to make unfounded assumptions... but in this case the original poster has a point, and maybe he just needs to clarify his statement a little to subdue your patriotism :-)))

Have a good one.

Charlie

The intention (IMHO) of Marcus T was to entertain on a relatively otherwise boring Sunday morning (for those of you who didn't sign up for my hike.....).

It was not meant to be a slur on any country or race or nationality.  In fact, all the "Tony Browns" of the world could uprise and complain about the mispelling of their name, all the "Dougs" or "Dinsdales" of the world could uprise for being dragged into the frey, and as for calling it the "Spanish Prisoner Scam" - well - we could have another inquisition on our hands.

But what do I know - I'm only another bravehearted, tartan-waiving, ignorant Jock frae the barralands. Peace and Freedooooooooooom!!  :-)

Seriously ...Mel Gibson talking Glaswegian...are you serious?

I remember his best line was "och aym off tae pick a fight".....

to whiskey..or not to whisky... thats the question.

Thanks to every contributors. Okay, lets bury this issue and move forward. For anyone that thinks my reaction was a bit "irational", I say I am humbly sorry.

@Charlie, nice to know of your little past in Nigeria. I have lived and worked in nearly all the continents of this world. I also do have lots of good moments and some (must say few) sorry ones.

Lets move on.

Peace! Bola

Hmmmmm - Didn't actually mention Mel Gibson, I just mentioned that I was Glaswegian, but now that you do mention it....nobody got anywhere by "gayn off tae pick a fight" - with you on that one......Peace and little coffee cups to one and all xx

Dear Bola,

My most hiumble apology if my use of the word Nigerian caused any offence.  I hopefully added a little humour to most people's Sunday.

In modern English, "Nigerian Scam" is just an expression used to describe any sort of Advance Fee Fraud such as this one.  Many expressions have the name of a country in front without implying any current association to the country.  Take the English expression "French Letter", or the French equivalent "Capôt Anglaise".  Nobody is really thinking that the English or French own the condom.  Dutch Courage, Irish Stew, German Sheppard, Spanish Flu, French fries, Russian Roulette, French Kiss, Scottish Verdict, Mexican Stand-off, Roman Alphabet and so on.

Having said all that, there is a good chance that this email originated in Nigeria, Togo, Ghana, Benin, or Ivory Coast, since it is a well documented fact that emails such as this are being churned out of these countries in their millions daily.

Amongst the clues:

1) The letter offers me countless millions for nothing.

2) The address of the sender is different from the address given for reply.

3) The reply address is a mis-spelled English name with a free email address in Italy.

4) The grammer is crap (the email starts with the word "AM"),

5) The spelling is dodgy.

6) The entire email is written in CAPITAL LETTERS which as we all know is another feature of the Lagos scamming sub-culture.

Now to keep the balance, I will give a few reasons to assert that Bola is right and the email doesn't after all come from Nigeria, but rather from an immitator.

1) The Spelling isnt that bad

2) There's no mention of 5% being set aside for expenses.

3) There is no religous greeting or sign off.  I would have expected something like "MAY ALMIGHTY GOD BE WITH YOU AT ALL TIMES"

4) There is no request for:

YOUR FULL NAME..........................
YOUR PHONE NUMBER.......................
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN.......................
0CCUPATION..............................

f it is important to know where the email originated you could always call the Mexican phone number in the email and see if the person who answers is a Mexican or whether the call is re-routed to Nigeria or somewhere else.

Just in case anyone knows how to look it up, my headers show the email comes from the following IP address.

"Received: from User [41.211.232.214] by mail.reiters.net with ESMTP"
 

It’s my bed time, but despite closing my part of this discussion, I will still try to point out the callousness in your post.

You claimed that yes, the email did not originate from Nigeria because

Amongst the clues:.

Bla bla bla....

By those assertions, you are implying that Nigerians can not write correct English, and they do not know what spelling checker means… right? Pathetic!

Now your true color has been revealed. But because I already posted my conclusion on this issue, therefore I will no longer be pulled back by you.

It appears though, that you do not even know what IP masking and virtual phone numbers mean. The telephone number you got and the IP address can not get you anywhere. You need the full email source code to detect anything if not totally encrypted.

Bola

I started this post with a bit of humour from Monty Python.  Not everyone saw the funny side.  So let's close the argument on whether spammer scammers can use a spell-checker, or what country they might come from.

For those who like arguments, please try and enjoy a little bit more Monty Python humour.   It's an extract from Monty Python's "The Argument Sketch".  The arguer, is of course, played by John Cleese.

Whilst John Cleese is best known for his roles in Monty Python and Fawlty Towers, he also produces an email blog which quite coincidentally is called "John Cleese's Nigerian Lottery".  His blog has absoultely nothing to do with Nigeria, nor for that matter with lotteries.  Before anyoneone else gets upset, I would like to mention that neither John Cleese, nor I, are trying to generalise or stereotype lottery emails as being Nigerian. Obviously not.

If anyone is still looking for an argument, here it is - Monty Python's "The Argument Sketch" written and played by John Cleese.

M= Man looking for an argument (Graham Chapman)

A= Arguer (John Cleese)

M: (Knock)
A:   Come in.
M:   Ah, Is this the right room for an argument?
A:   I told you once.
M:   No you haven't.
A:   Yes I have.
M:   When?
A:    Just now.
M:   No you didn't.
A:   Yes I did.
M:  You didn't
A:   I did!
M:  You didn't!
A:   I'm telling you I did!
M:  You did not!!
A:   Oh, I'm sorry, just one moment. Is this a five minute argument or the full half hour?
M:  Oh, just the five minutes.
A:   Ah, thank you. Anyway, I did.
M:  You most certainly did not.
A:   Look, let's get this thing clear; I quite definitely told you.
M:  No you did not.
A:   Yes I did.
M:   No you didn't.
A:   Yes I did.
M:   No you didn't.
A:   Yes I did.
M:   No you didn't.
A:   Yes I did.
M:  You didn't.
A:   Did.
M:  Oh look, this isn't an argument.
A:   Yes it is.
M:   No it isn't. It's just contradiction.
A:   No it isn't.
M:  It is!
A:   It is not.
M:  Look, you just contradicted me.
A:   I did not.
M:  Oh you did!!
A:   No, no, no.
M:  You did just then.
A:   Nonsense!
M:  Oh, this is futile!
A:   No it isn't.
M:  I came here for a good argument.
A:   No you didn't; no, you came here for an argument.
M:  An argument isn't just contradiction.
A:   It can be.
M:  No it can't. An argument is a connected series of statements intended to establish a proposition.
A:   No it isn't.
M:  Yes it is! It's not just contradiction.
A:   Look, if I argue with you, I must take up a contrary position.
M:  Yes, but that's not just saying 'No it isn't.'
A:   Yes it is!
M:   No it isn't!A:   Yes it is!
M:  Argument is an intellectual process. Contradiction is just the automatic gainsaying of any statement the other person makes.
(short pause)
A:  No it isn't.
M:  It is.
A:  Not at all.
M:  Now look.
A: (Rings bell)  Good Morning.
M:  What?
A:   That's it. Good morning.
M:   I was just getting interested.
A:   Sorry, the five minutes is up.
M:  That was never five minutes!
A:   I'm afraid it was.
M:  It wasn't.
Pause
A:   I'm sorry, but I'm not allowed to argue anymore.
M:  What?!
A:   If you want me to go on arguing, you'll have to pay for another five minutes.
M:  Yes, but that was never five minutes, just now. Oh come on!
A:  (Hums)
M:  Look, this is ridiculous.
A:   I'm sorry, but I'm not allowed to argue unless you've paid!
M:  Oh, all right.
(pays money)
A:   Thank you.
short pause
M:  Well?
A:   Well what?
M:   That wasn't really five minutes, just now.
A:    I told you, I'm not allowed to argue unless you've paid.
M:   I just paid!
A:   No you didn't.
M:   I DID!
A:   No you didn't.
M:  Look, I don't want to argue about that.
A:  Well, you didn't pay.
M:  Aha. If I didn't pay, why are you arguing? I Got you!
A:   No you haven't.
M:  Yes I have. If you're arguing, I must have paid.
A:   Not necessarily. I could be arguing in my spare time.
M:  Oh I've had enough of this.
A:   No you haven't.
M:  Oh Shut up.

Michael Palin not G.C.

Marcus gets a lot of email.  Here's the photo of my spam filled in-box.

For you information Marcus.

You got yourself to blame! Getting those load of scam emails mean one and only one thing. You have been identified as a "Mugu" (prey - good fish), and this is due to one or numerous of your actions. Try google what phishing means.

You don't get continuos offer for anything, if you have never for once had an interest in that particular product... Pornography is an example...

Enjoy the video links... ;)

Peace! Bola

If Nigeria had invented the 419 earlier then WW2 might have been different.....

Great post Charlie, thanks!

Seriously, scam has its variations.

Examples:

- The US trained and armed the Afghans to fight against the Soviet. They were later to become US enemy after getting the guns and training. That is scam!

- The whole world was scammed by the Bush administration to believe that Saddam of Iraq had WMD. That has since been proved incorrect. We were scammed!

- African nations were once more scammed by the Obama administration and its allies to support UN resolution against Libya. The resolution has since been breached. We were scammed!

How many more to list...???

Who will pay for all these scams? I hope that I can live long enough to see someone paying for the destruction going on in Libya due to the Western nations continuously scamming the African nations.

Peace! Bola

"You got yourself to blame! Getting those load of scam emails mean one and only one thing. You have been identified as a "Mugu" (prey - good fish), and this is due to one or numerous of your actions. Try google what phishing means."

Seriously? Thats just stupid. Your email is not exactly the most private thing in the world. Only one person needs to sent you a mass email and your address is open to spam attacks. You dont need to do anything. And anw spam is harmless if you dont act on it. I mean how many UPS packages i have waiting for me when i havent used UPS in my life. Especially with the same tracking number for 10 different people?

Thiago,

I am sorry, but you really have not followed/read all my posts on this particular thread and others.

In this particular thread, I had issue with only one person, he is "Marcus T" and no one else. Now tell me, how does Marcus T equals everyone on this thread? That beats me.

Even in other threads, such as " 'Black culture' to blame for the riots in England? Inflammatory and divisive language on d bbc.", I simply say the truth - though bitter as it is - and had nothing antagonist against no one. Even when "Nefertiti" started her blabbing, I still mentained my cool.

However, if what you call being against everyone is about my posts concerning Libya, then I will say YES YOU ARE CORRECT. I will rather be against everyone on this planet than supporting rebels destabalising their own country, a country that has been built over the years with hard labour. It will be over my dead body to support traitors that invited destruction to their homeland and Africa in general.

So, if the later is what you mean, yes I am against the world in that one. Otherwise, please notice that I am well cautioned with how I choose the words I use, anytime, anywhere.

Peace! Bola

Sorry, that was not Nefertiti. The person was "wendi4y". Apology to Nefertiti.

Bola