The Baiters Cup (dry run) Scammy VS Branwen- BRANWEN WINS!!!

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419Eater is my life Joined: 15 Apr 2009 Posts: 296

Has the poll actually closed now? I can't tell, as I've already voted (for Branwen, of course) and so it looks closed to me regardless.

I'm quite eager to post the developments over the past week, but obviously I won't until the voting is complete.

Posted: Fri Aug 14, 2009 7:34 pm

I think, theoretically, the voting should be closing at midnight GMT, but hey, this was just a dry run ... so Scammy, get posting about the developments and then get those votes to beat me!

419Eater is my life Joined: 15 Apr 2009 Posts: 296

^^^^ Well, there's no doubt in my mind that over the course of the two weeks you outbaited me. Three bank accounts is going to have been a major blow for our lad, and I would imagine you're still baiting the guy and will be for a while.

Shortly after the deadline, though, my bait got a lot more successful...
The key facts to note, now the voting's over, are that a) the lad has bought my ridiculous story hook, line and sinker, and b) I have 2 more siggy piggies than I had last week. Very Happy

I'm going to wait for the next (critical) lad reply, and then post up the last week's worth of correspondence along with my plan for the next couple of weeks.

All that aside, I'd like to take this opportunity to congratulate Branwen on a competition well won. Absolutely grade-A straight baiting, and a well-deserved victory.

Posted: Sat Aug 15, 2009 6:38 am

Congratulations Branwen! I never had any doubt you would win. So here you have the dry run cup to put in your trophy cabinet:

Posted: Sat Aug 15, 2009 7:56 am

Thank you, Scammy; thank you Vampire.

Thank you, voters.

And a final quote from our Lad:

Quote:

i believe in good people like you.
i aslo wish to use this opportunity to ask you,PLEASE WOULD YOU BE MY FRIEND FOR LIFE?

Posted: Sat Aug 15, 2009 12:05 pm

Congrats Branwen Wink

And please, go on, grant the lad his wish, make it a long lasting relationship.

419Eater is my life Joined: 15 Apr 2009 Posts: 296

Well, it looks like it's time for me to post the last week's activities...

When last we saw our lad he'd received a long stream of increasingly desperate "deadline" emails. Well, he may have missed the deadline, but he certainly didn't miss the emails...

After the deadline, the lad wrote:

Dear ,

I am just seeing your mails,i am shot of words,all i could say is that am very sorry,i really need help but from your last mail if you decided not to help me again,i will understand.

Sir,i want you to know that i am not a lazy man,the reason why you did not hear from me is because i went to a building site to carry blocks so that i could see something for us to eat,i am not supposed to stay around computer all the time while chioma has not eaten,you should understand that i have to do something atleast,chioma is crying right now because you said you will not be sending any money for us soon,am trying to calm her down but she keeps blaming herself saying that if i had not gone out to look for food for her,that maybe we would have had enough money to live our lives happily together.
My dear,since i was born i have never experienced the happy side of life,life has been most unfair to me,you came into my life and i had hope,you gave me hope to see the positive side of life,but now,i feel abandoned,though no fault of yours,if only i have a brother or sister to tell me that all will be well,i will have a reason to live,but now to be honest with you,i am seriously considering suicide.

My dear friend,incase you did not hear from me again,just know that i have nothing against you,your care has made me happy this far,but now,i do not think i could continue,but i want you to know that you will always be in my heart,and my spirit will always bring you luck.

you are a good person,and i pray goodness shall meet you in abundance.

SO LONG MY NEW FRIEND,

Your friend DEREK

I quite like this lad- he doesn't email much, and he's fairly hard work, but he's creative and dark and keeps doing things I don't expect. How does he avoid having to wait for ages, having missed the deadline? He increases the urgency of his situation, so that he takes priority over my business dealings. Clever stuff.

To the lad, I wrote:

Don't do anything stupid!!!! Suicide is not a good way of solving your problem, that would mean Chomia would have to go out and work to pay for the baby, and then who would look after the baby???? She would have to go back to Chief Mr Tony and he would be angry, you don't want that, so don't make yourself die OK??????

If you can get me the bank details I will do everything I can to get Mark some free time so he can arrange the transfer OK???? Just be patient because he is going to be very busy, it might take some time but PLEASE don't give up, I am still here and I will still help you OK?????

I will try to fix this as soon as I can!!!!!

Did he bite?

The lad wrote:

Thank you very much,
I think i will hang on for now as you said,please bellow is the account information i got from a friend;

*****BANK DETAILS SNIPPED*****

please use the above account to transfer the funds and send me a scanned copy of the transfer slip which i will show to the bank as an evidence of payment.

here also is another account from the same person,use this second account if you have any problem trying to use the first one;

*****BANK DETAILS SNIPPED*****

I really hope and believe in you,please do all you can to get this money across to me,God bless you as i await to hear from you soon.

Derek.

You bet your arse he did. Two accounts in one email! Both of them had already been sent to Branwen, so Alan received yet another stack of evidence to help him shut them down. I sent through a cluster of emails, too, to show the scam and the lad's IP (from a Chief Mr Tony email), and check out what I got in return...

Alan- yes, THE Alan- wrote:

A week ago he was threatening to kill someone. Now a worried father! What fun!!!!

Alan

Yup, that's right, even Alan likes my bait- and he's the messiah or something, possibly. Wink

In the mean time...

I wrote:

OK, I will give this information to Mark, he will sort things out from here!!!! It might be a while though because he has a lot to do, just hang on!!!!!!

His newest personal email is ***SNIP*** and I will tell him to send you an email so make sure you can receive emails from that email OK???? Hopefully you will have the money pretty soon, just try and stay on top of things OK?????

The lad wrote:

Thank you very much,
I am a bit relaxed hearing from you,i look forword for your promise soon,please do not let me down.

Derek.

I wrote:

I am glad to hear you are more relaxed!!!!! Don't worry I will fix things. Mark says he has started doing things to send the money, so it shouldn't take long now!!!!!!

I wrote the following email as Phallus to Mark's address...

As Phallus, to Mark, I wrote:

Here is the bank informations that Imoh Derek sent to me, make sure you send him the money as soon as you can because it is really urgent OK??? He is in a bad situation, I know you are busy but please find time to do this, if you work any extra hours because of this please log them as normal.

***BANK DETAILS SNIPPED***

...then wrote the following to the lad with the above email in the reply history. It's the little details that are important. Smile

As Mark, I wrote:

Mr Derek,

I am Mark Bowden, Mr ' advisor and personal financial consultant. Could I just confirm with you that the sum of 25,000 US dollars is the agreed-upon amount for immediate transfer? I am sorry to say Mr has been somewhat light on detail in this regard.

Once I have confirmation from you that this is indeed the correct amount, and following some basic security checks I will be running, I will be in a position to transfer the funds directly into your primary nominated account. I apologise for the delays so far, I have been deeply embroiled in a series of negotiations and legal arrangments regarding Mr ' latest accquisition.

Kindly respond to this notice swiftly, as the lull in my workload is likely to be temporary and I understand your situation is an urgent one.

--
Regards
Mr. M. Bowden CFA

There was a small delay, so I prodded the lad from my main character...

I wrote:

Mark says you have not been in touch with him yet even though he has emailed you an email, is everything OK????? Did you get his email????

...and then he got his arse in gear.

The lad, to Phallus, wrote:

I am very sorry for my late response,
How is your day and how are coping with work?

I received email from Mark,and i also explained some certain things to him, i really appreciate your effort and care, you are more than a brother.
I will contact you once i hear back from him .

Regards,

Derek.

The lad, to Mark, wrote:

Dear ,
Good day,i am Imoh derek, and that is the exact amount intend sending me,but i made inquire from the bank,and they told me that you cannot send more than $9,000 at once here in Nigeria as it is against the Nigeria law on fund transfer,the money has to be split into three and paid installmentally to avoid breaking our country`s law.

Please get back to me,

Regards,

Imoh Derek.

That email's a fantastic one, I think. He's fully aware that large money transfers are tracked by the banks, so he's trying to bullshit about a law to avoid the limits- clearly he's either quite a clever lad or he's getting some good advice from somewhere. The thing is, though, Mark is a qualified financial... er... financier, and is fully aware of the rules and regulations of this kind of activity. It's time for some subtle de-education, mixing some snippets of fact that the lad clearly already knows with some absolute bullshit which I hope he'll remember. Very Happy

As Mark, I wrote:

Mr Derek,

I believe either yourself or the bank staff are mistaken here, as there is no such limit imposed in law in your region. The misunderstanding may have arisen due to the trigger boundary of 10,000 US dollars beyond which international transfers are subject to the Bank Secrecy Act. This is a legal mandate overseen by the US to which most large-scale banking organisations have subscribed, and is intended as a countermeasure to money laundering and related frauds. Beyond this level, transfers must be backed by a filed CTR, or Currency Transfer Report, or else under normal circumstances they will be investigated by the relevant regulatory bodies for the region.

However, Mr is a high net-worth individual, and transfers above the boundary level are quite commonplace. The funds will be issued to your bank via what is known as a "Heavy Bondage" transfer, whereby both the funds and the transfer path itself are pre-verified by a qualified authority- in this case, myself. There is subsequently no need for the banks, or myself, to file a CTR. As an additional benefit, the transfer once initiated will be complete within the hour, as the usual 3-day clearing process is not required.

This, however, brings me to a point of issue with the details you have supplied.

I am sorry to inform you that one of the accounts you have given me, ***SNIP***, has been "grey flagged". This means that the account has recently been investigated for potential misuse. There is no need to be overly concerned, as the investigation has clearly revealed no illicit activities- otherwise the account would have been "black flagged" and would be inaccessible. However, due to Mr ' high profile, I am unwilling to associate him with this account.

In order to pre-authorise a Heavy Bondage transfer, I need two valid target accounts against which to bond the fund path. The first account, ***SNIP***, has been successfully cleared, however I will still require one more account from you.

Please respond ASAP so that I may initiate the transfer with no further delays.

--
Regards
Mr. M. Bowden CFA

I "grey flagged" the second account he sent to Branwen, as he sent her another shortly afterwards completely without prompting- so it's fairly obvious he's already very suspicious of the account, and doesn't want to use it. The other account here is the last sent to Branwen, which is clearly his current favourite.

Did he buy all that nonsense about Grey Flags and Heavy Bondage? You bet your arse he did.

The lad, to Mark, wrote:

Dear Mr Bowden,
Thank you very much for your mail,i believe all you said because from your expression is obvious that you have clear knowlegde on banking and all it entails, its saturday morning hear in Nigeria,so i will source for a new account by monday to enable you facilitate the transfer.
Once again,thanks for your assistance and patience.

Regards,

Imoh Derek.

That's all we've got so far, but I think you'll agree that my bait really hasn't turned out too badly after all!

My plan now is for Mark to do as much damage as possible by discovering repeated "grey flags" until the lad simply runs out of accounts. At that point, I'm going to suggest a "Light Bondage" transfer, which will require a whole pile of ID, photos, and possibly some forms. At some point, Mark's going to go off the deep end and be convinced that Mr Derek is a scammer- but obviously, my main character is going to give him the benefit of the doubt. At this point, though, there will be no way for me to send him the money remotely... but I could always meet him in Cotonou. Twisted Evil

Posted: Sat Aug 15, 2009 4:22 pm

Excellent work, Scammy. Thumbs up

You have that lad so hooked he's swallowing everything you tell him. You're pulling the same trick on him that scammers pull on victims - be an "expert" in the field and write a pile of official-sounding BS, and they'll believe you 100%. Only you're doing it even more convincingly than the lads do. Wink

419Eater is my life Joined: 15 Apr 2009 Posts: 296

Further developments have developed!

The Lad, to Mark, wrote:

Dear Mr Bowden,

Good day sir,I have done my best to get another account,but it was not successful,besides i do not trust everybody as to collect account from anyone i see.
I also contacted the account officer of the account i gave you and she said that it is advisable to to split the $25,000 into three and transfer it seperately using the same account,if you do a bulk transfer like you said,it will involve a lot of protocalls here for me to be able to lay claims to the money and besides i do not have any other account,please do it this way for my convinience ok?
Use the account( 026***SNIP***690 with its full details as gave ealier) for the transfer and please split the money into three.
Also send me scanned copies of the three transfer slips which i will use as an evidence of transfer,Am really sorry for any inconvinience this might cost you.

Regards,

Derek.

I want this lad to be a bit more nervous about dealing with the Financial Expert, so I've added a couple of warning signs into the reply...

As Mark, I wrote:

Mr Derek,

I will certainly not be splitting the transfer into multiple pieces, that is a most irregular request and I would question the wisdom of the individual issuing such advice. If no secondary account is available to you, I am afraid there is simply no way of initiating a Heavy Bondage transfer of funds, as both primary and reserve fund paths must both be pre-verified.

One option remains for a such a transfer, avoiding the overhead of filing a CTR, but this will involve more paperwork than Heavy Bondage. A "Light Bondage" transfer involves only a single tracked transfer path- which you already have available- but will require fully verified ID for both sender and recipient. Obviously, Mr is known to the bank, however I will have to submit the recipient's details myself.

I will require high-resolution scans of two pieces of ID for the account holder, along with photographic confirmation of his identity. A photograph of him clearly holding both pieces of ID would suffice for this. It is normal practice to submit the ID directly, which would require it to be physically sent here, however I understand that your situation makes this undesirable.

This is the second major setback I have had to deal with. I feel duty-bound to inform you that I am becoming somewhat uncomfortable with this arrangement, and am proceeding only at Mr ' insistence.

--
Regards
Mr. M. Bowden CFA

At about the same time I sent that reply, the lad pinged my main character. Looks like he's pretty keen...

The Lad, to Phallus, wrote:

Good Day,sorry for my delay in getting to you,i have been discussing with Mr Bowden and he demanded for another account to merge it with the previous account to inable him to do what he called bondage transfer,but i do not have another account,so i wrote the bellow mail to him this morning but i have not had from him.

***SNIPPED FULL EMAIL TO MARK***

Please hear from him and contact me.

Regards,

Derek.

I take this opportunity to point out how hilarious all my fictional banking terms are, as I don't think he noticed...

As Phallus, I wrote:

I just talked to Mark and he said he had sent you an email about something, I don't really understand but he was saying about heavy bondage and light bondage and I think the whole thing is really funny, the bank things sound like they are about sex games or something!!!!!!

Mark didn't think it was funny though, he never does!!!! He is in quite a bad mood and he was telling me he is worried, he says things sound strange to him, but I don't agree I think he is too nervous!!!!!

You should check his email, I am sure he will tell you what to do, he is the best there is at what he does!!!!!

That seemed to reassure him.

The Lad, to Mark, wrote:

Ok,
I got another account today,you can use it now, here is the new account;

***SNIPPED BANK DETAILS***

I look forward to hear from you.

Regards,

Derek.

...but he's clearly not a happy camper. He's realised the danger that a suspicious Financial Expert poses to his scam, so he's complaining behind his back.

The Lad, to Phallus, wrote:

Dear,
I do not understand neither do i appreciate the distrust your friend is showing me,maybe you should explain things about me to him because he sounds like a stranger in the whole thing, he makes ridiculous sugestion to me,you are the one i know,so if anyone should distrust me,it should be you,well i got an account today and i have sent it to him,i just hope he does not find another excuse to give this time.

I will contact you once i hear from him.

Your Friend,

Derek.

I love the way that providing ID is a "ridiculous suggestion". Very Happy

Anyway, Phallus is not going to have anyone badmouthing Mark.

As Phallus, I wrote:

Mark is not just my friend, he is a man I trust more than anyone!!!!!! He worked for my father and now me and he is very clever and a very good man, do not say bad things about him. I don't know why you two are not getting on, but I don't want to hear you complaining about him because he is a good person and has done great things for me, OK??????

Don't worry, Mark will sort out sending the money and then you will be OK. You just need to stay calm and hang on!!!! OK?????

I think he's learnt his lesson.

The Lad, to Phallus, wrote:

Thats ok,
I am really sorry for my countenance,please do not be upset with me, i will contact you when i hear back from him.

God bless you and keep you.

Derek.

It's all going according to plan. Mark's going to keep causing as much damage as possible, whilst getting more and more suspicious, and then leave our poor lad with a safari as his only remaining option.

If only the Baiter's Cup dry run had been a month long... *sigh*...

Wink

EDIT: This came in several hours after the last email... he's clearly been fretting about this in the mean time. I believe he's starting to think he might be getting in over his head!

The Lad, to Phallus, wrote:

Dear,
I must say that am not comfortable with the whole idea of bondage transfer,it will be better for me if you could ask Mark to send $9,000 first using the first account i gave him,then we can transfer the ballance once i receive the payment,i will really prefer it that way if you could ask mark to do so.

Derek.

I've taken this opportunity to test the water about his opinion of my main character. I'm bouncing him back to Mark, but also offering an opportunity for him to have some more input about the amount.

As Phallus, I wrote:

You'll have to talk to Mark about this!!!! I don't know anything about banking, that's what I pay him for!!!!! You don't need to worry though, he is really really good. Just explain what you don't understand and he will make it all clear I am sure.

But I don't understand what is the $9000 all about???? I thought you needed $25000???? Are you saying you need $9000 more????

I'm expecting him to either:
a) Quickly reassure me that he only needs $25k and I shouldn't worry.
b) Gently test the water to see if I will give him $9k extra.

Under normal circumstances, he'd obviously say a), but I've been sowing the seeds of the "billionaire idiot" persona for a little while and I want to see how much of it he's picked up on. On the off-chance he goes for b), he's in big trouble, as it means I can really start turning the screws as Mark. Twisted Evil

At this point, I'm just trying to establish whether he's bought my story hook, line & sinker, or hook, line, sinker, rod & copy of "Angling Times". Wink

419Eater is my life Joined: 15 Apr 2009 Posts: 296

Looks like the lad's playing relatively safe, but he's taken the time to educate me about the way financial crime is monitored in Nigeria. Thanks, lad!

The lad, to Phallus, wrote:

No,
i do not need extra $9000, the maximum amount to transfer once to my country must be below $10,000,any transaction that exceeds this amount will be under investigation by a group called EFCC hear in Nigeria,and it will be very difficult for the owner to receive the fund,it will involve a lot process,so in order to save stress for me,i would prefer the money to be sent installmentally so that no transaction will exceed $10,000,pls explain to Mark,i think he understands you better.but if he insist,let him do it his own way,and i will be hoping a should be able to get the fund without problems.

Your Friend,

Derek.

Obviously, the Idiot Billionaire doesn't really understand any of that, but is still very keen to get the money sent quickly.

As Phallus, I wrote:

I've told Mark that you are worried about something, but I don't know anything about transfers so you will have to explain it yourself!!!!! He said that you are not giving him any information though, what's going on???? He's quite cross, I don't think he likes you for some reason, you should try to make friends!!!!

Please make sure you work with Mark so that you can get the money as soon as possible because I hate the idea of you and Chomia being in such a bad situation and I want it to be better for you but it can't be better until you and Mark get the money sent!!!!!

Mark, however, is wasting a little time with some clarification- the calm before the storm!

As Mark, I wrote:

Mr Derek,

Mr has informed me that you have some questions regarding my approach to this transaction. If you would care to inform me of any areas that require further elaboration, I shall do my best to clarify.

Before I expend any further effort in verifying the transaction path, I would like to confirm that the account holder is the same individual both for this account and for the previously verified account. Here, you have given the holder's name as "SHAIBU BASHIRU ALHAJI", whereas previously it was given as "BASHIRU SHAIBU". Could you please clarify this individual's surname and first name for me, as I am unfamiliar with Nigerian names and would hate to delay the process with an unfortunate mistake in this area.

--
Regards
Mr. M. Bowden CFA

More interesting facts from the lad...

The lad, to Mark, wrote:

Thank you Mark,
The account belong to one person, the ALHAJI in the names of the second account is a chieftency Tittle(he is regarded as a chief in Nigeria and that is the meaning of ALHAJI) he acquired from his tribe,so he decided to add it to the new account,he has not acquired the tittle when he opened the other account,just use the names the way it is written in each of the accounts.

Regards,

Derek.

If this is genuine, it seems like the identity used here may be a pseudonym belonging to someone fairly high-ranking in the lad gang- hence the "Chief" salutation! I'm inferring that, of course, but still it's nice to think I'm inconveniencing someone important... Wink

Anyway, it's time to ramp up the pressure a little. Or possibly a lot. Twisted Evil

As Mark, I wrote:

Mr Derek,

I have once again run through the verification process for the transfer paths. The account ref ***SNIP*** has successfully validated, however the account ref ***SNIP*** now shows a Grey Flag against it. I cannot overemphasise how uncomfortable this makes me, and I must inform you that I have strongly suggested that Mr call off any business dealings he may have with you.

However, Mr is insistent that I comply with his wishes in this matter, and despite my advice he requires me to continue with the transfer.

In order to establish a Heavy Bondage transfer, I will require two validated transfer pathways, and I must reiterate that any accounts which show any investigative flags against them will not be acceptable. I suggest that you converse with your Chieftain friend and clarify exactly what activities he has engaged in which may have attracted regulatory attention, if indeed you are unaware of such activities.

You may now choose to supply an additional account to allow the Heavy Bondage transfer, or alternatively you may supply the necessary details prerequisite to the Light Bondage transfer process as discussed in our prior correspondence. I must reiterate my concerns about this transfer, and I wish to make it known that if I encounter ANY further suspicious elements relating to this, I will NOT be continuing with this process, regardless of Mr ' feelings on the matter.

This is your final opportunity to maintain my involvement with this process, and without my involvement there will be no bank transfers of any kind. Have I made myself clear?

--
Regards
Mr. M. Bowden CFA

I'm giving him a hard time here because I want him to go for the "easy", ID-providing option- I'm very curious to see what ID which would be accepted by a bank actually looks like. Also, I'd quite like to send it on to the bank! Is that something Alan would do, or would it be my job?

Anyway, I feel I'm on-course for a safari in a couple of weeks. I've already picked a destination- the 5imba 5afari p4rk in Benin gets excellent reviews, and offers a handy complementary shuttle bus from Cotonou... Wink

Not quite a Newb Joined: 18 Aug 2009 Posts: 29

This lad is still active with the same script. Just picked it up in a catcher account a few hours ago...

He seems like fun - I wonder how many baiters he is in contact with at the moment, hahaha...

Twisted Evil

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