DEAR CITIBANK: I WOULD LIKE REQUEST TO YOU HELP IN SECURING 27 MILLION DOLLARS US
from the writes-itself dept
As the US government looks to take over a bigger chunk of Citibank, you might wonder what the bank has been doing with its money lately. Apparently, part of it was going to a slightly more ambitious than usual Nigerian 419 scam. The scammer and some colleagues tricked Citibank into believing they represented the National Bank of Ethiopia, that country's central bank -- and convinced Citibank to then transfer $27 million to accounts they controlled. It doesn't sound like the scam actually worked in the end -- as questions arose, and the receiving banks transferred the money back eventually. Also, the supposed mastermind behind the scam has now been arrested. But, apparently, 419 scammers have figured out that, given how well various banks have managed their money over the last few years, they're just as good as targets, compared to clueless spam recipients.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Filed Under: 419, advance fee, nigeria, scams
Companies: citibank
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There goes free checking.
So, readers, please help me. I'm stuck in a virtual location and have seemed to run out of funds to get out. Please send funds (USD only) to my Paypal account and I promise to pay you back, with 50% interest, for helping me out in my dire situation.
Thank you.
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Re: There goes free checking.
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Help is on the way
Allow me to introduce myself, I am a deposed Prince of the Former and now deposed Nigerian King, and I have a business proposition for you.
We can share the sum of 40 Million $US, if you follow my easy plan. This is of no risk to you my friend.
Please send me your name, address, phone number, a copy of your birth certificate and drivers licenses, and your bank account and routing numbers, to deposedprince@hotmail.com, and I will get back to you.
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Ahem
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Re: Ahem
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Re: Ahem
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Re: Re: Ahem
Either way, it's pretty funny:
Saying "Ahem" could be a way for Shohat to check their own situation if internally focused, OR more likely, if it carried an external connotation, an invite for Americans to look at how hilarious you really are.
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Dear deposed prince.
I'd like to take you up on your offer of $40 million US but don't have that kind of change right now.
Would you take 400,000 viagra pills instead?
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Re: Dear deposed prince.
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Re: Re: Dear deposed prince.
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Re: Re: Dear deposed prince.
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Re: Dear deposed prince.
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Scam
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Whenever I get a 419 E-mail...
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Re: Whenever I get a 419 E-mail...
http://www.419eater.com/html/kothapalli_rao.htm
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Additionaly details from the article...
"To carry out the elaborate scheme, prosecutors in New York said on Friday, the man, identified as Paul Gabriel Amos, 37, a Nigerian citizen who lived in Singapore, worked with others to create official-looking documents that instructed Citibank to wire the money in two dozen transactions to accounts that Mr. Amos and the others controlled around the world."
and
"Prosecutors said the conspirators, contacted by Citibank to verify the transactions, posed as Ethiopian bank officials and approved the transfers."
In other words, it was a team effort and they not only forged documents that appeared authentic, they had people posing as Ethiopian bank officials to confirm the transactions. Not your standard 419 scam and a fairly elaborate scheme to put things together. I really don't think Citibank is as much to blame as you'd like to portray.
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This reminds me of that Nigerian who, with a cheap 5 year old PC managed to borrow millions and trade on the big board from the comfort of his apartment. He had made a massive amount of cash and was doing fine until someone looked up his credentials and found out he had schemed his way into to system and he got shut down. Brass balls.
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When I get one in my inbox
I then follow up with emails of "Did you contact Jim yet?"
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Is it too big to fail or too cheap to manually review?
That is all.
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Are we postponing the inevitable?
Are we postponing the inevitable? What if these companies go out of business despite the fact that the government has given billions of dollars in an effort to keep the companies going out of business? Where will be then if the government loses billions and all the jobs the government were trying to save are gone any way?
http://www.weeklypoint.com/2009/02/23/us-may-invest-more-in-citigroup-bank/
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Personally the few times I have dealt with email scammers my first thought was to fly to where they are with the promise of giving them what they want and simply putting a bullet in them. NEXT
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Citibank
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