Money transfer scam?

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Posted: Tue Mar 10, 2009 1:38 pm

Can somebody urgently tell me if this is a scam and if the sender of the money is innocent or a part of the scam.

FINANCIAL INTELLIGENCE CENTRE ACT
JOHANNESBURG
SOUTH AFRICA

Attn : Phimphaon Mali,

Based on transfer of US$250,000.00 being carried in your favor by Africa Development Private Bank ,we want to inform you that we have placed hold of your transfer because it is against the financial laws of the federal republic of South Africa to transfer any funds above US$50,000.00 without due clearance from the Financial Intelligence Centre Act.
You are now advised to confirm to this office that you did not realise this funds through any illegal deals such as sales of hard drugs, illegal sales of fire arms and ammunition, that you are not a terrorist and that this funds will not be used to sponsor any terrorist activities worldwide.
This is in accordance with the laws of the United Nations and the international communities because of the September 11th bombing of the world trade centre in America. It was discovered that the money Osama Bin Ladin and his Al-Queda terrorist group used to sponsor their terrorist attack against America and the rest of the World were transferred to him by some unknown fellows.

You are hereby advised to reply this mail immediately to enable us issue you the drug law/anti-terrorist clearance certificate and also release your funds so that it will enter into your nominated bank account.
The undersigned should be contacted for further clarifications.

Mr. James Walton
Tel: +27-78191-8318
Fax: +27-11507-5012
Email: [email protected]

Baiting Guru Joined: 19 Apr 2007 Posts: 3123

This is an advance fee scam - not many of those in that format turn out to be genuine. The 'victim' (you) will be asked to pay a fee for the release of $250,000.00. After paying the fee, you will receive NOTHING.

The sender of the money is innocent (the victim). The scammer at no point sends any money. A barrister will come in, to confuse you with legal jargon in order to make it more believable. They are likely to be the same people (original sender & barrister).

Posted: Tue Mar 10, 2009 1:50 pm

There are a TON of scams going around using the name of the Africa Development Private Bank.

Three things that scream "I'm A SCAM"

1) You don't have that money in there - you never had business dealings with them before. Why would they send you money out of the blue like that?

2) The english, while good, isn't what you'd expect a professional to write.

3) The e-mail comes from live.com, which is a FREE e-mail. Businesses DON"T use free e-mail services.

Stop communications with them - they have personal details (at least your name and e-mail addy).

All they want are fees - legal fees, transfer fees, etc.
They will want the money sent via western union or money gram (Not usual bank methods).

Once the money is sent it is untraceable and unrecoverable. You WILL NOT get the fees back and there IS NO MONEY.

Posted: Tue Mar 10, 2009 2:02 pm

Thank you, you have acknowledged my suspicions.
Guess this means that the sender of the money is in the scam too.
What would be the best way of scamming back you think?

Posted: Tue Mar 10, 2009 2:05 pm

The basis of the scam is easy to spell out clearly and in a way that is easy to understand. He doesn't tell you in one mail, or you would be more likely to see it's a scam too. This is how it will work out.

Quote:

I have a very large sum of money to pay you. You must pay me a smaller amount first to get it.

He will not tell you about the money you have to pay until he knows you are fooled by his scam. Of course he will never send you any money and he has stolen the money you sent him.

Baiting Guru Joined: 19 Apr 2007 Posts: 3123

Zappo_man wrote:

Guess this means that the sender of the money is in the scam too.

Who are you referring to as the sender of the money?

Quote:

What would be the best way of scamming back you think?

Use that term lightly, as we don't scam them in the sense that they try to scam us ( extract cash). Our main aim is to waste scammers time, more time spent on e-mailing you is less time spent on real victims. As you advance through the basic techniques, perhaps with the help of a MENTOR, you will be able to waste time & finance moe effectively (i.e a safari, trophy pictures e.t.c)

Start off small, as I said above, time wasted on you is less time spent on real victims.

Posted: Thu Mar 12, 2009 3:03 pm

OK, since I am not a native english speaking person scamming to me means you cheat another, no matter what you do.
But I do understand that if you do it for money you are no better than any of the scammers themselves.
My female friend, who almost got scammed by someone saying he loved her, have novw recovered and fully understand that she was that close to get scammed.
She got a mail whith a claim of $2.500 for a certification to release the money and must be paid by Western Union, of course.