Nigerian 419 Scam

A long long time ago, pre-internet, pre-email, I received a letter from the daughter of Jean-Bédel Bokassa. She told me that after the overthrow of her father, he had hoarded many millions through Uranium sales to France and other countries. She needed my help to get this money out since all this money was hidden in secret accounts. She had $75,000,000 worth of money and she promised me 25% of that. All I needed to do was send her details of my bank acoounts and blank pieces of paper with my signature on it. I can expect the money within a few days.

I am not so smart or wise but any offer of easy money immediately has my bullshit detector light up, and now it was lighting up. I did not respond because it looked like a scam but I felt real proud I was considered scam material, it means I am worthy of a scammer's attention. I felt like I joined the Forbes World's Billionaires list - scammer version.

Now that I was on the scam inc. mailing list, I started getting at least 3 or 4 letters every year. I had the oppurtunity to help different African ex rulers, Malaysian Magnates, Russian Oligarchs and many other rich people that needed my personal help. I felt honoured and priviliged.

Scammers then discovered the internet and my email address. A recent appeal for help was from Saddam Hussein's Niece that needed help in getting her billions out of a Dubai bank. It was really nice of her to consider me and asking for help from a Kuwaiti like me. Maybe she felt sorry for the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and wanted to personally enrich me by sharing her wealth. Let bygones be bygones.

These scams are known as the Nigerian 419 Scam after section 4-1-9 of the Nigerian Penal code wich relates to this scheme. It seems just like Henry Ford created Mass Production, some Nigerian Entrepreneurs perfected this scam into a whole industry.

Well one 419 scamstress was caught recently.

Amaka Anajemba,the scamstress has been sentenced to two and a half years in jail. She must also return $48.5million to a Brazilian bank which she also scammed, another $5million to the government, and pay a $15,000 fine. The scams in which Anajemba was involved, along with two others, totalled more than $242 million.

Wow, $242 million!, thats better than winning the lottery. Maybe some clever scammer can write a letter on Amaka's behalf and say that she managed to stash a few millions from her 419 enterprise and needed my help in getting that money out.

A recursive scam. That would be fun to see.