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A LETTER FROM NIGERIA

By Paul Estronza La Violette

9/01/2006

I hope you have enjoyed these stories because I am about to come into a great deal money and will soon be leaving the area to build a big mansion in Pascagoula.

I made a solemn promise that I would not reveal the source of the money, but if this source is any indication, there is enough to go around and I would feel guilty if I didn’t share it with you. Please, however, take what I am about to say as extremely confidential.

Late last year I received the following heart-rending e-mail message from Nigeria:

ATTN: Brethrens In the Lord, Calvary Greetings To You,

I am a preacher with the Holy Ghost Fire Ministry, Int'l in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea and I will like to get advice from you. I believe the advice I need is secular to some extent, but do have the patience to understand my intention.

A few year's ago I was in Liberia where I had established a little congregation where I preached regularly, but the civil war escalated and the church was converted to a hospital of sought. On one faith full day three Liberia Soldiers came to me and left trunks of Money with me and swore to come back for it. When the war in Liberia intensified I deposited this box in a security vault in Madrid Spain, as we where evacuated by the Red Cross International to Spain, which was the closest European Country for safety and was escorted to Spain by soldiers who felt the content of the trunks were documents and never cared to check the trunks.

Consequently, we were air lifted to England, I stayed in England and when I was getting frustrated I returned to Africa only to find out that two of the three Soldiers died in Battle while the last was decleared MIA (Missing in Action). Now I have the fund which the soldiers said was precisely Thirty Million United States Dollars ( US$ 30,000,000.00 ),but it lies in a security vault in a Security Company in Madrid - Spain and I was contacted in a letter dated 12th of December last year by the security company asking me to indicate if I was in receipt of the letter as a sign that I am living and still subscribed for their service.

I am interested in using a small fraction of this money, much less than one percent for a re-organisation of the work I am chosen to do, but I do not need the rest and do not want to have any direct dealing with it, but I need someone who will be able to use the fund better maybe for charity or something universally profitable (Like building of Orphanage Homes, Churches & Setting up a Global Foundation to Cater for the World Impoverished Children), I have thought of doing it my self but, my ministry is the apocalypse and I believe and preach the soon coming of the Lord which make me not indulgent in reliance on money or wealth in any form. I also do not have the money that as accrued on the service and safe deposit of the company that holds the fund, I will be lad if you have any interest in the direction of maybe managing or transmitting the fund as you prefer in your capacity and understanding.

Will be glad to get a response from you ASAP via my email address. Treat As Very Urgent.

Regards

Rev. Narcisse Wolo

Well, I could hardly resist such a request from someone who was an obviously sincere servant of the Lord and I was about to reply to Reverend Woho when I got another e-mail letter. This one was also from Nigeria:

Hello,
I need your help. I am the wife of VLAJKO STOJILJKOVIC, one of the people indicted at the Hague War Crimes Tribunal in Hague. The indictment is politically motivated. … my husband had kept some funds, in cash to enable them take care of rebel problems. However, now the country they protected has turned against them. We need to transfer the money out to safety. The funds are in excess of 200 million US. They can be shipped under diplomatic immunity. They will then have to be paid into off shore accounts. They are not in Yugoslav. Can you help? Are you capable of handling funds? Are you trustworthy?

I have been asked to offer you 15%. Will that be ok? Please reply to me.

I am grateful.
Glorja.

Well, this was getting interesting. I realized that, unbelievably as it may sound, I had within my grasp two sources of immense funds. I was about to answer Glorja, when I got another e-mail. Amazing as it may sound, it was also from Nigeria:

Sir,
I am Hajia Maryam Abacha, widow of the Late Gen. Sani Abacha former Nigerian Military Head of State who died as a result of cardiac arrest. The name of your company appeared in one of our directories as one of the companies my late husband wanted to do business with before he died. I therefore decided to contact you in confidence so that I can be able to move out the sum of US$35,760,000.00 which was secretly defaced and sealed in big metal-box with a security company in Europe…

When I received this latest I felt faint with joy. It seemed incredible that the General had me personally in his files and that his widow would come across that particular file. What a strange and wonderful stroke of luck!! I began to look more closely at the marvelous catalogues that for years have been coming to us in the mail. To think that before this I had been throwing them away.

But in the middle of all this, I began to fret. How in the world would I be able to manage all those funds? I found myself worrying, unable to sleep at night. However, I managed to keep it all a secret, saying nothing to Stella, and making clandestine trips to Pascagoula to look at large pieces of property when she was at work.

Then I got another e-mail:

Dear sir
I request permission to remit $30 million US into your company or private account. It is my pleasure to write and inform you of a transaction involving the transfer of thirty million dollars into your account for safekeeping pending my arrival with my colleagues for the sharing with you as the account owner into which the money is remitted. I am an accountant with the National Petroleum Corporation, Lagos and this money originated from over-invoiced contract executed for the corporation some years back. …

This was too much. Without waiting another minute, I e-mailed the following to this wonderfully generous person:

Sir, I will be glad to assist you in your endeavor. I wish to assure you I am perfectly honest and a respectable person. However, as a mere formality to show your sincerity, please be so kind as to send $250,000 US in small denomination, unmarked bills to the Post Office address I have given below. I assure you that this is only a formality and will but make a strong bond in what I hope will be a mutually happy relationship.

So there it all is. I am not greedy and have chosen the last of my e-mail letters to reply to. The others are still unanswered and you are welcome to answer them if you wish to get your share of the millions on millions of dollars involved. However, as for myself, as soon as I receive the money, I will leave for Pascagoula.

Please do not tell anyone where I have gone.

(Reprinted from Internet ScamBusters Issue #11 November 11, 1996
The Nigerian Advance Fee Scam has been around for quite awhile, but despite many warnings, continues to draw in many victims. In fact, the Financial Crimes Division of the Secret Service receives approximately 100 telephone calls from victims/ potential victims and 300-500 pieces of related correspondence per day about this scam! Indications are that the advance fee fraud grosses hundreds of millions of dollars annually and the losses are continuing to escalate. The Nigerian Advance Fee Scheme (also known internationally as "4-1-9" fraud after the section of the Nigerian penal code which addresses fraud schemes) is generally targeted at small and medium sized businesses, as well as charities.)

...Paul

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