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The African scam can be recognized by the usually long scam letter along with the promise of millions of dollars to the email recipient. Although the African scam mostly comes from African countries such as Benin, Ghana, Ivory Coast and Nigeria, it can and frequently comes from outside of Africa from countries such as the UK. The African country of origin for this African scam appears to be Burkina Faso in West Africa. The secret bank account transfer is a major recurring theme on the Internet. Scams from Africa typically use the same story over again with a few minor changes such as the amount of money. Many African scams also state that the dormant bank account is unclaimed due to the deceased millionaire not leaving any beneficiaries. The Africa scam also says it will give the scam victim a large amount or a percentage of the money in this account. The African scam letter will sometimes lead to the check scam if the scam victim responds with their personal information. Many Internet scams including the Africa scam will ask the potential scam victim to keep quiet. This is done by claiming that the proposal is either "confidential" or "top secret" since no one else knows about the hidden account. The African scam also tries to manipulate the scam victim into acting quickly without thinking by using words like "urgent." Some of the other schemes used by the African scam include the Nigerian inheritance scam and the sick and dying person who wants to give their money to the scam victim to help start a charity.
TREAT AS URGENT AND CONFIDENTIAL Dear Friend, I am the director in charge of auditing and accounting section of Africa Development Bank,(ADB) Ouagadougou Burkina-faso West Africa.with due respect and regard I have decided to contact you on a business transaction that will be very beneficial to both of us at the end of the transaction. During our investigation and auditing in this bank, my department came across a very huge sum of money belonging to a deceased person who died on October 31st 1999 in a plane crash and the fund has been dormant in his account with this Bank without any claim of the fund in our custody either from his family or relation before our discovery to this development. The said amount was U.S $20M (Twenty million United States dollars). As it may interest you to know, I got your impressive information through the Burkina-faso chamber of commerce on foreign business relations here in Ouagadougou Burkina-faso. Meanwhile all the whole arrangement to put claim over this fund as the bonafide next of kin to the deceased, get the required approval and transfer this money to a foreign account has been put in place and directives and needed information will be relayed to you as soon as you indicate your interest and willingness to assist us and also benefit your self to this great business opportunity. In fact I could have done this deal alone but because of my position in this country as a civil servant(A Banker),we are not allowed to operate a foreign account and would eventually raise an eye brow on my side during the time of transfer because I work in this bank. This is the actual reason why it will require a second party or fellow who will forward claims as the next of kin with affidavit of trust of oath to the Bank and also present a foreign account where he will need the money to be re-transferred into on his request as it may be after due verification and clarification by the correspondent branch of the bank where the whole money will be remitted from to your own designation bank account.I will not fail to inform you that this transaction is 100% risk free. On smooth conclusion of this transaction, you will be entitled to 30% of the total sum as gratification, while 5% will be set aside to take care of expenses that may arise during the time of transfer and also telephone bills, while 65% will be for me. Please, you have been adviced to keep "top secret" as I am still in service and intend to retire from service after we conclude this deal with you. I will be monitoring the whole situation here in this bank until you confirm the money in your account and ask me to come down to your country for subsequent sharing of the fund according to percentages previously indicated and further investment, either in your country or any country you advice us to invest in. All other necessary vital information will be sent to you when I hear from you. I look forward to receive your email or call as the urgency implies.
DR ALI MUSA. This sample African scam letter demonstrates how the Africa scam works. The purposes of this scam letter is stictly to provide information. Do not respond to this African scam letter or any other type of scam letter. Report a scam to authorities such as the email service provider and the FBI. Scam letters such as these should be avoided when they are identified as such. Sometimes, the scam letter might lead to other types of scams like the check scam or identity theft if special forms are filled out or sensitive information is given out over the telephone. The African scam can also be recognized by its incoherent language, bad grammar and misspelled words. By recognizing certain characteristics of the Africa scams, they can be easily identified. Bad spelling and grammar along with bad sentence structure usually give away these types of scams. They try to be friendly while at the same time getting the scam victim to act in haste. The scammer usually pretends to be a bank employee like a bank director or accountant in bank account transfer scams. The occupation posed by the scammer varies greatly, however, depending on the theme. African scam letters can be blocked by adjusting the settings on the email filter since nearly all of them arrive through email. Return to Phishing Internet Scams Home Page » Return to African Scams Home Page |