Nigerian Scam - by physical mail!

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Not quite a Newb Joined: 17 Aug 2009 Posts: 20

Today, much to my bewilderment, the postman gave me an envelope with red and blue borders, "By air mail/Par avion", with a South Africa stamp.

It was addressed to my grandmother (who died at 97 last August and has never touched a computer let alone leaving her data on the Internet

The address was something like

First Name Second Name
Road, number, Province
ITALY

yeah you read right, no surname, no city name, no ZIP code.
It was like if someone sent the letter to

Abraham Smith
Douglas Avenue 130
Kansas

Inside, an elegant-looking letter from the National South Africa Bank and the usual scam letter for 18 million dollars, with a link to the BBC news page about the plane tragedy in which the owner of the money died.

Funny thing: a letter in English sent to a 97 years old in Italy. How likely is she to know English?
Dangerous thing: Many other people around here that I know received the same letter today.

How can this be happening? Where did they get the addresses from? And also, why would they spend real money to deliver real mail?

Posted: Mon Feb 14, 2011 10:57 pm

Could be a relic from the pre-internet days when all scam letters where sent in the mail.

The internet quickly became their friend, but maybe your lad is hoping to fly under the radar by doing it the old fashioned way.

Other forum members have received scam letters by fax as well

Not quite a Newb Joined: 17 Aug 2009 Posts: 20

Well this is new to me.
But again I live in Italy so maybe spammers concentrated on anglophone countries, not having to translate the letter in many languages. I still wonder what did they expect to achieve sending English letters in a non anglophone country
(I know, I'm writing in English, but I'm a rare case)

Posted: Mon Feb 14, 2011 11:05 pm

I suspect that they simply mail out the letter, assuming everyone speaks english. I've discovered during my time at eater that a lot of lads have little interest in things outside their country and assume (often incorrectly) that whatever they do in their country will happen elsewhere

Not quite a Newb Joined: 17 Aug 2009 Posts: 20

Now I'm in two minds

Reply to him telling him I received a real letter, and those can't be scams (thus making him send and spend more, but with the risk other people may fall for it)

Or reply to him as if it was an email?

Posted: Mon Feb 14, 2011 11:12 pm

if there's an email addy, why not do both? Write back as two different people and see what happens or which format he writes back to. then bait away Smile

btw, with the physical mail, why not write back in Italian, you'll have a laugh at their reply, while causing lad more work

Posted: Tue Feb 15, 2011 12:28 am

Hang on, hang on, what about the don't bait with your real details rule.
If you bait them well, they by definition will be pisssed off with you and frustrated and may well come round in person. - If you feel ready to deal with a half dozen angry lads on your doorstep demanding to know how you're going to compensate them for their troubles that YOU caused - then go ahead.
Otherwise I suggeest you create a fake E-Mail account or two with no personally identifiable info attached and bate safe.

The Responsible forum management. (Unofficial)

Not quite a Newb Joined: 17 Aug 2009 Posts: 20

Well of course I am not going to tell them any of my real detail.
The address they used was so vague it could have been anywhere within 60 miles, only that for their fortune there is only one road called like mine in the whole area.

I am not going to remember them who I am, my name, nothing. Don't worry.

Posted: Tue Feb 15, 2011 12:34 am

Good, just checking. Wink

Bate safe and let us know how it goes. And above all, give 'em hell. Twisted Evil

Posted: Tue Feb 15, 2011 2:42 am

internationalchrysis wrote:

Could be a relic from the pre-internet days when all scam letters where sent in the mail.

Did you check the postmark? Maybe they mailed it sometime in the 80s and it has been bouncing around in the Italian postal system all that time.

Posted: Tue Feb 15, 2011 7:17 am

Has that letter actually been send by the postal system? Didn't the lads just throw the letters in the mailbox themselfs?

Not quite a Newb Joined: 17 Aug 2009 Posts: 20

No that's the weird thing. It has a stamp, that weird orange barcode and was given to me by the postman himself

Posted: Tue Feb 15, 2011 9:34 am

It was 1970 in this forum yesterday. The letter probably slipped through the time warp.

Posted: Tue Feb 15, 2011 10:28 am

Did they mention a way to contact them, or something?

Are you familiar with the address, is it somewhere in your area?

Posted: Tue Feb 15, 2011 10:31 am

pinguisavis wrote:

No that's the weird thing. It has a stamp, that weird orange barcode and was given to me by the postman himself

Odd. As a fellow countryman, I'll be on the lookout.

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