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Posted below is the sort of email you would receive.This scam has been going on for years now. I personally know 2 guys who fell for it and  lost about half a million dollars and almost lost their lives in the process.

FROM:Joseph  Ossai
Attn:The President
URGENT BUSINESS PROPOSAL

This letter may come to you as a surprise since it is
coming from
Someone you have not met before.  However, we decided
to contact you based on a satisfactory information we
had about your business person as regard business
information concerning your country and the safety of
our funds in a steady economy such as that of your
country compared to our country Nigeria Africa.

I am a civil adviser currently working with the
monitoring committee
Over seeing the winding up of the petroleum trust fund
(PTF).Myself and
my close and trusted colleagues need your assistance
in the transfer of
US$25 million into any reliable Account you may
nominate overseas. This fund was generated from
over-invoicing of contracts executed by the PTF
Under, the administration of the past military
government.

These Fund were discovered while we were reviewing the
PTF accounts. From Our discoveries, these contracts
have been executed and the contractors in question
were all paid. The difference of US$25,000,000 being
the over-invoiced amount is the funds, we want your
corporate entity to help us receive.

What we want from you is a good and reliable company
or personal
Account, into which we shall transfer this fund.
Details should include the following:

1. Name of Bank

2. Address of Bank with Fax & Tel.

3. Account Number

4. Beneficiary/Signatory to Account (Account Name)

Upon the Successful crediting of your account. The
fund will be shared
as follows:

1. 20% for you and your assistance

2. 75% for myself & my Colleagues

3. 5% for contingency expenses

Please after your first reply through e-mail I will
want us to continue
further communication by fax and telephone for
confidential purpose. We
wish to assure you that your involvement should you
decide to assist us, will be well protected, and also,
this business, proposal is 100% risk free as we have
put a whole lot into it.

Thank you for your anticipated cooperation while we
look forward to a
mutual benefiting business relationship with you.
Please when
replying  my e-mail kindly include your telephone, fax
number and mobile telephone numbers preferably
extremely private numbers where we can reach you any
time of the day. Please be aware that a high level of
confidentiality and trust is required in this
business.

You can reach me on this e-mail
address:jpssai3@nospam.com

We expect to hear from you.        

Yours  faithfully  

Joseph Ossai

... in response to Beware of Nigerian scams, posted by Cold Warrior on Dec 11, 2001

From. Mr. Mitchel Mobutu
Email: mobumitch67@hotmail.com
Tel. 00 225 07956454

Dear maura palomino,,

I got your address from an international magazine when  
I was seeking for a reputable firm or individual that
can assist me in investing my funds abroad. I am
Mitchel Mobutu from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Presently, I am in Abidjan because of some
circumstances.
   
My reason for contacting you is to see if you can
assist me in transferring some money into a foreign
account. My late father Mobutu Sese Seko ( of blessed
memory ) lodged 15.8 millions US Dollars into a trust
account in one of the banks here in Abidjan using my
name as the beneficiary. Due to wide-spread allegation
over my family, I have decided to remain calm until
this moment before deciding to quietly transfer the
fund abroad for purposeful investment.

   Please let me know if you are interested by sending
me an acceptance letter. Remember, I am living a quiet
life out of Public searchlight so endeavour to keep
this inquiry confidential whether you accepted it or
not. All the documents concerning this deal are in my
possession. I can be reached on telephone number 00225
07 95 64 54.
   
Thank you.
Yours sincerely
Mitchel Mobutu.

... in response to Beware of Nigerian scams, posted by Cold Warrior on Dec 11, 2001

"You can't cheat an honest man."

The scammer is offering to let the mark in on an illegal money-laundering deal.  He tells you the funds were fraudulently obtained through padded or illegitimate invoices ("over-invoicing") by someone who is now out of the picture.  He needs to launder the money through the mark's account (or maybe through his business).  

And the whole deal is so sensitive that absolute secrecy and trust are required.  So don't tell anyone.  Take my word for who I am and send your personal and financial information to my blind e-mail address at yahoo.com.  

This "found money" scam has been around for ages in different forms. The Nigerian e-mail version, was broadly publicized just a few years ago.  Why wouldn't people remember?

... in response to Beware of Nigerian scams, posted by Cold Warrior on Dec 11, 2001

I've gotten similar hand written letters back as far as the late 1970s. I've read that they got their share of suckers back then. These days with e-mail they can blanket millions. Also, as I've heard, they don't disappear after the first thousand, that doesn't quite cover it so next it's $5K, then $25. They particularly target company officers. If your company is listed in D&B and you as an officer, you get hoardes of them, along with at least 5 calls an hour from New York "investment consultants" Yeah, right. My secretary has a full time job just dumping the scam artsits. I wonder how those people sleep at night. I always imagine the scene from the Green Mile (modified slightly) when he says, "When I stand before my maker and he asks what I did with the gift of life he gave me, what am I going to tell him?"
-- Jeff S.

... in response to Beware of Nigerian scams, posted by Cold Warrior on Dec 11, 2001

P.T.  Barnum would have proud of these Nigerians.
If, because they were greedy, yes greed, they fell for it.  What more is there to say.

... in response to Beware of Nigerian scams, posted by Cold Warrior on Dec 11, 2001

The way the scam works is as follows:
1.They have $millions which they need to transfer in an out of a third party account(yours) to make ligit. Your commission will be 20%.

2. They send you all there official documents plus bank account details.

3. you send them your bank details.

4. they confirm will be transfering $million to your account which you then transfer to a seperate account which they give you.

5. just to make sure everything will go smoothly they ask you to transfer first from your account a small amount say $1000.

6. thats the last you hear from them.

... in response to Beware of Nigerian scams, posted by Cold Warrior on Dec 11, 2001

I received a very similar e-mail a few months ago and knowing it to be a scam, just deleted it.  I would not even give such a prospect an account number for an empty account, why would someone be foolish enough to give them an account number with half a million dollars in it?  Or did the two guys you know get scammed in a different way?

... in response to Beware of Nigerian scams, posted by Cold Warrior on Dec 11, 2001

I was approached about three weeks ago by e-mail about such a scam and was joking about it at a cafe when a realtor I occasionally do business with said one of his other clients had lost a little over three grand on one of these scams-----and I thought that was crazy, but half a mil. and risking their lives!!??
I was a little curious when they first contacted me because they came across as being interested in purchasing a large tract of land that I have listed on the internet. The b.s. was thick and heavy, but it sure rang my bell when they started asking for bank account info-----wouldn't that throw up a red flag for most anyone?? I did decide to play with them a little though-----I wrote the guy back and ask for them to send me 8 grand to cover airfare and expenses for my lawyer to fly there and oversee the legal work he said was needed. I got a hoot out of the numerous faxes and telephone messages I recieved from him. By the way this guy's name was "Dr. Simon Lesso".

... in response to Re: Beware of Nigerian scams, posted by Lynn on Dec 12, 2001

The guys I know were asked to send 250000 dollars each to cover legal expenses and other bribes to Nigerian Central Bank officials to transfer the money. The scammers then dissappeared. The guys went to Nigeria in search of them and were imprisioned and severly beaten up by Nigerian police.Apparently top Nigerian goverment officials are involved in the scam.

... in response to Re: Re: Beware of Nigerian scams, posted by Cold Warrior on Dec 12, 2001

Just on a whim, I checked the origin of the telephone numbers given me and all were in Lagos or Abuja. They never requested money from me, I guess because I ask them for money first;) I played with them for about three weeks in which time they sent me all kinds of documents by fax and called me 8 or nine times on a number that I never answer unless I recognize the person leaving the message. Forms had "Ministry of Health & or Ministry of Justice" on them.
The guy always ended his message with "May God bless" , I don't know who his god is, but I suspect that he may want a extra large thermos of ice water in the end.
Apparently they must monitor high profile sites with business principals and their contact info displayed. I listed my property on a site used by major corporations seeking or selling properties-------the contact was made within two days of posting.
I remember hearing something about a simular scam going on in the FSU a few years back.