Nigerian Scam

..and no i did not create this graphic...

If you have been on the internet for a while then you have likely been targeted with at least one version of the "Nigerian Scam" email. It is also known as the "4-1-9" or "advance fee fraud" scam where the sender wants to gain access to some locked down money but can't unless someone like you is willing to be a financial mule and take part of the cut. Some of the emails pretend to be from bankers who are trying to move money from accounts that have been abandoned (this would be against the law) while other emails pretend to be moving their own money out of economies in countries that are in some political termoil (legal... but why would they contact you? answer: they wouldn't.)

No matter the story, the end game has you opening an account with the email sender while you seed that account with enough money to legitimize the type of account required. Of course, the email sender never puts any money in the account. They simply remove your seed money and then disappears (or some variation of this scam where you eventually grease the wheels of the money transfers with you money and then the email sender disappears with your cash.)

This scam has been on the web in some form for more than a decade where snoops.com quotes a secret service agent saying that as of 1997 the Nigerian Scam stole at least $100 million out of the U.S. economy in the last 15 months.

I have no idea how effective the scam remains and I can say that the emails have dwindled in the last few years. But this week I have received a new version of the message and I think it is kind of funny. Here it is (I've bolded a few items worthy of note):

Joseph Owor
Dean of Faculty of Business Administration
Uganda Christian University
Mukono Town , Uganda.

Confidential Message:

I hope this message will meet you in good faith, please pardon me for reaching you in this manner because you do not know me, I have an obscure proposal of mutual interest to share with you. I got your email address from the Internet through my search for a relatively unknown person who will assist me in securing a large sum of amount.

I am Joseph Owor , The Dean/Head of Faculty of Business Administration of the Uganda Christian University.

I will need you to assist me in executing a confidential business project.It involves the securing of a large sum of fund. Everything concerning this transaction shall be legally done without hitch if you are willing to consider this proposal.

Please I will kindly request that you endeavor to observe utmost discretion in all matters concerning this message if my proposal is accepted by you and if this proposal is not acceptable by you, kindly delete this email and do not pass it to a third party as I vehemently risk my job to send you this email.

I am presently on a foreign committee appointment in Europe through the United Nations Christian charity project fund of Uganda.

Once the transaction I am proposing to you have been successfully completed if accepted by you and the fund in question is in your possession, we shall be offering to you a ratio to be agreed upon.

kindly reach me back at this juncture to get your opinion first, after that I will furnish you with more information about this transaction.
You are to contact me on my secure email address below for further details if this proposal is accepted by you:

profjosephowor@mcom.com

Yours Sincerely,
Joseph Owor.

So, typical Nigerian Scam. Here is what makes me giggle:

• The scammer decides to evoke a degree of trustworthiness (in my opinion) by saying they work for a Christian University. As such they hope the message meets me "in good faith." I have no idea what they mean by that other than to evoke the work "faith" near the reference to "Christian." Lovely!
  
• They found me in their search for someone who is relatively unknown. OK. I don't know if I am supposed to feel offended at being classified as relatively unknown or if I am supposed to be impressed by the search capability of someone who can find me, a relatively unknown person. Pretty fun either way!
  
• I am told in one line that the transaction will be "legal" and a few lines later there is this obscure reference to their committee appointment in the United Nations Christian charity project fund... hello? So the transaction will be "legal" even though they are hinting that the money will be laundered from a U.N. Charity fund? Downright silly!
  
• More funny is the idea of a United Nations Christian charity. While I could imagine the U.N. working with a Christian charity, I think it is downright hilarious to imagine that the U.N. has a Christian charity fund. Full-on hilarious!
  

Finally, to use the grammar from the message, I am typically in favor of personally "securing a large sum of amount" or "a large sum of fund" but...SERIOUSLY, when will this scam die?

I don't know who I feel worse for... the entrepreneurial scammer who is just now hoping to strike it rich with this scam today in 2009 OR the sucker who receives the email and ignorantly tries to participate!