SCAM EMAIL GOING AROUND

[bunkshaner]

Just got a scam email...thought I would share it and give a quick reminder/notice to others to becareful

Johnson Kofi at [email protected] thought you might be interested in the Cato web site.





Date: 4/26/2013
Personal Message from [email protected]:


Dear Sir, My name is Kofi Johnson from Ghana in West Africa. My father was a gold miner in the mining village of Ghana Tarkwa. Before his death last year, he kept 310 kilos of gold Bars and Dusts in stock. As the first Son of my father, I took in charge of my father’s business. I want to market the gold internationally and use the money carefully to upgrade our mining equipment's. My vision is to continue in the mining industry established by my father. My father acquired vast mining concession before his death, but some of the mining equipment's in the field are old and outdated. My mission is to sell the available gold and use part of the money to purchase modern mining equipment to upgrade and enhance the collection of more gold. To achieve this, I need an honest foreign partner who will help me to market the gold internationally so that I will use part of the money to purchase the equipment's. I will be glad if such partner would like to go into partnership with me. Both of us can establish a Joint Venture Company and work on percentage level in the mining business. If you are interested in this offer, please do let me know. I will send you all the necessary details you need to know about me and the gold. I am looking forward towards hearing from you. Best Regards Kofi Johnson

 

[ordy]

Lots of that kind of junk in E-mails. I wonder how successful this scammer is. I don't open any mail from someone I don't know.

 

[HAWKEYE10]

I haven't got this email. I guess they know I don't have any money. Don

 

[george minze]

Nigira, Ghana are only two of the rip off artist coming out of Africa. This goes back over 20 ,years.....I didn't think anybody that gullable was left to scam......

 

[BJoe]

Darn! I would LOVE to help but have all my money tied up trying to help a Liberian Prince get his $200,000,000.

 

[Marshwheeling]

He had me at "Kofi".

 

[CajunBass]

That ranks right up there with "I'm a French model."

 

[webfarmer]

What? You didn't jump all over this?

 

[carpriver]

Sorry I can't help as I have allergies to gold dust and I swore off gold bars after my wife had to post my bond.

 

[Damn Yankee]

Alright guys don't waste your time because I have already tied this up and sent my money to Kofi.

Just sitting here waiting for the payoff.

 

[Alpo]

This is different from the ones I've seen. He's not offering any. Most say "I've got 5 million and you can have two for helping me" or "ten percent for your trouble" or something like that. This guy just says he has 10 thousand ounces of gold, and let's your greed take hold.

At 1453 an ounce, that's only 1.5 million. Not really worth messing with.

 

[iouri]

I can"t believe that scam still around, it's over decade old
I guess it still works. I've been targeted with more advanced one lately. Received an email from lady I've met few times in my sons classroom, where she explains that they are on vacation in Philippines (country doesn't" matter much, I guess) and got mugged and they could use any help, provided through Western Union, of course. Turned out mailbox of this lady was hacked and messages sent to whole contact list. So even if you receive email from the person you know - don't rush to money transfer service...

 

[deanodog]

I have been promised millions many times and I am still broke.

 

[shouldazagged]

No problem. No money. And no gullibility.

 

[cddanjr]

I have a less expensive scam, just send me $100, CASH, and I will never contact you again. Nice and simple, lesson learned and you saved your whole bank account, id, everything.

Sounds like a good deal, so hurry, LIMITED TIME OFFER.

Chuck

 

[Steve in Vermont]

If only they were paying attention, instead of gold they would say "my father died and left me a large number (over a million) of small and large pistol primers as well as a similar number of 22lr rounds. Please contact me to make arrangements to transfer to your custody, etc, etc............Thanks, Zumbo Marquine, Nairobi". No-one has any imagination today.

 

[feralmerril]

About two years ago my BIL a leo, called my wife and asked her how it was I was stranded in england. I had got pick pocketed and was putting the arm on him to borrow money to get home! After him in the next 24 hours another 8 or 10 aquantances also got ahold of us wanting to know about my misfortune. I got hacked and I think everyone I had ever sent E-mail got a similar letter begging for money to get home.
What had happpend was my E-mail was blocked and I couldnt get into it until I gave some "harmless" info. I ignored it for about a week and tried everything else to get in my e-mail and nothing would work so I fell for it.

 

[Gunslinger808]

At 1453 an ounce, that's only 1.5 million. Not really worth messing with.

Huh, I did the math at $1500 per ounce and came up with 16.3 Million.

 

[sipowicz]

To achieve this, I need an honest foreign partner who will help me to market the gold internationally

I contacted him but he turned me down. He told me he knows I would have kept the ammo Cabelas sent by accident to another forum member.

 

[Foodfuzz]

Ha! I just bet Kofi thinks I have a lot of guns I'm willing to give him too!!! He's NOT going to fool me again....... er, I mean he's foolish if he thinks that scam will fly.

 

[rwsmith]

I don't suppose the Nigerians......

Can the Nigerians come up with a new story? I don't suppose they need to since out of a billion or so tries they get a bite now and then.

 

[sipowicz]

Can the Nigerians come up with a new story? I don't suppose they need to since out of a billion or so tries they get a bite now and then.

Evolution takes a little more time with some countries...

 

[Alpo]

Huh, I did the math at $1500 per ounce and came up with 16.3 Million.

310 kilos time 2.2 pounds per kilo times 7000 grains per pound divided by 480 grains per troy ounce is 9945.8333333 troy ounces. Times 1453, which is what Google says it is today, is 14451295.833333333, and yes that is 14.4 million, but there are no commas on my calculator, and I eyeballed it as 1,4451,295.83333333. Eyeballed my comma in the wrong place. Probably why I'll never be rich.

At 1500 an ounce it's only 14,918,749.99, so it appears you also made a math error.

 

[COL Jagdog]

The response some witty and enterprising soul should send to Kofi:

Dear Kofi,

Thanks so much for your kind and generous offer -- it came to me just as my company was running low on funds -- the group of mercenaries that I command have exhausted most of the money we got from looting a small country in the region -- we are currently airborne and heading in your direction and would appreciate it if you would arrange for the lighting on the Tarkwa airstrip to be illuminated in anticipation of our landing, ETA 40 minutes -- once we "secure" local transport,
we will inspect and set up a defensive perimeter around your mining concession and will be happy to inspect your gold reserves -- if all meets our approval, we will dictate the terms of our sharing arrangement and we will take your gold with us to market forthwith.
We would suggest a 70-30 split (70% to us to cover transport, marketing "fees", security, beer and lobster -- 30% to your company) -
some of my men are a little edgy from the 3 days of de-mining operations, so please do not have any unexpected surprises or loud noises on the airstrip when we land.

Looking forward to our new joint enterprise,

LtCol Mike "Mad-warthog" McKenzie

 

[mike from st pete]

Lots of that kind of junk in E-mails. I wonder how successful this scammer is. I don't open any mail from someone I don't know.

I feel left out. I have never had any e-mail like those.

 

[feralmerril]

Did ja use 16 ounces to the pound or troy ounces?

 

[straightshooter1]

I don't remember if I have told this story here before. If I have, please forgive me as I am apparently getting a bit forgetful.

When I was a prosecutor, I was the one who, among other duties, had the job of investigating and prosecuting lawyers who committed crimes.

One, I recall, had stolen large sums of money from several clients that he was holding in his trust account for them as a result of various settlements of civil personal injury cases.

He came in to talk with me (yeah, I had to "interview" them, too, to try to get a confession just like the cops except, since they weren't in custody, there was no Miranda issue).

After the usual dancing, he finally told me he had to take the clients' money. Why did you have to do that, I asked him.

He said it was because he had lost all his own money in one of the same types of scams the OP posted here. Could have knocked me over with a feather.

Here's a guy who had to have made good grades in high school, had, back then at least, to have a very high grade point average in college to get into law school, and he falls for a scam like this!

He went on to show me all the documents that proved he had really lost his funds in the scam. And, he had bills and a mortgage to pay, kids in college, an ex-wife getting alimony and office rent to pay.

So, I felt sorry for him and just let him go-NOT!

Always wondered how he paid those bills from his new abode. Especially since he lost his law license and had a huge amount of court ordered restitution to pay.

Goes to show you, I guess, that, as they say, common sense ain't very common.

Bob

 

[Mcwsky09]

Scams can be far simpler. Any email that says you need to log on to an account ( bank or Paypal etc ) should be viewed very cautiously. Generally you want to go directly to the website and not click a link in an email since it is very easy to make he link look like it is for a legit site while actually not taking you there. For example where does this link take you? http://www.aol.com

I was scammed about a year and a half ago for a relatively all sum. Tried to sell an item on Craigslist and in the midst of Christmas season and changing jobs I fell for a scam involving a western union transfer. It is a long story and in retrospect every step of the way should have been a red flag but along the way no one single warning sign seemed big enough to stop until it was too late. The bastages even had the nerve to send me another phony check after I had already filed a police report and such on the first one and the emails claiming that I had stolen money from them since I received the check ( via FedEx ) and had not sent the western union transfer for the amount of the phony check, which I still have. And I had to send their emails to my provider to get the blocked. It is embarrassing especially since I work in the computer industry and am generally the one that all my friends and family check with to see if something is legit or not. Not sure if thought I could not be scammed so easily or just didn't have anyone I could bounce it off if before it was too late.

It was a painful and expensive lesson to learn but now I know what my dad means when he says for every dollar you make there are two people laying awake at night trying to figure out how to take it from you.

 

[bunkshaner]

That ranks right up there with "I'm a French model."

Bonjour! that commercial bags me up