Reply As Soon As Possible! (A Not-So-Clever-Variation-on-the-419-Nigerian Scam)

Lust and greed are more gullible than innocence.

--Mason Cooley

I opened up this morning's email, only to find this breathless missive from the "State Department":

U.S. Department of State
Office of Designation
Compliance Unit
ECA/EC/ECC - SA-5, Floor C2
2200 C Street, NW
Washington, DC 20037
Phone/Fax Number: [Blanked Out]E-mail: [Blanked Out]

Listen Attentively!

This message is sent to you from the US Department of State in Washington, D.C, United States of America, please there is a strong report we got about you through our Diplomatic Cable in West Africa and in the Middle East stating that you are having communications with some individuals from Ghana, Niger, Guinea Bissau, Cфte d’Ivoire, Gambia, Benin, Guinea, Cape Verde, Liberia, Mali, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Sгo Tomй, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo claiming to represent Central Bank Governors and other Bank interests and Government Institutions in these West African countries, and from the report we got you are paying them enormously but could not see anything till now, while they keep tricking you into paying them more and more funds, please we want to tell you that the reason they keep tricking you into paying them more and more funds is because they are hoax and do not have any funds to transfer to you, and we urge you to quit all communications with them immediately before they end up ruining your entire wealth, why we are complaining about this is because we had 2 day meeting with the finance ministers from the Middle East and West Africa in Dubai, United Arab Emirates which just ended today and we were told by the West African finance ministers that why you were being scammed severely by these Nigerians and other Africans is because you refused to listen to their advise and they further made it clear that since scam has been on rampage in the Sub-Region, then in 2005 they stopped paying beneficiaries their inheritances, compensations, award winnings and contract payments through African Banks once it's obvious that the government can no longer protect the interest of the ordinary foreign workers/beneficiaries anymore by wide range of corruption in the Debt Management System, rather they choose some Banks in America, Europe and Middle East in order to achieve their objectives, and to make sure that the beneficiaries do get their payments in due time, therefore, your inheritance funds (valued USD$25,000,000.00 million dollars total) has been shifted to be paid in the Middle East through the HSBC Bank Middle East Limited in Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain, thus Bahrain Kingdom is a tiny country located in the Island of the Persian Gulf in the Middle East, therefore, we urged it to be shifted there because of the insecurity generated by these Nigerian scammers in order to protect the identity of the payment so that nobody would ever deceive you that he/she is in possession of your inheritance funds and we praised the ministers for their gigantic effort to minimize and stop scam activities in the African Sub-Region, especially in Nigeria. [If this guy could actually write English well, one might think he's competing with Henry James for the world's longest sentence in the English language, LOL]

Please you should get back to us with the following details to enable us confirm through our Embassy and Diplomats in the Bahrain Kingdom if this 26 year lady named (Barbara Barker) from Georgia State in the USA, claiming to be your daughter, who is currently serving as a nurse in Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain has any legitimacy to claim this funds on your behalf, because the information available to us stated that she has submitted a letter to the CEO HSBC Bank Middle East Limited in Manama stating you sent her to represent your interest in the Bank in Manama, Bahrain Kingdom, please you are to confirm this?

Please these are the information's required:

1) Your Full names:

2) Your Residential Address:

3) Your Country of Residence:

4) Your Country of Origin:

5) Your Mobile and Telephone Numbers:

6) Your Newly Private Email Address: (please it's very vital you setup a new email account for security of this funds)

7) Your Age:

8) Your Occupation:

9) Your Zip Code

10) Your Sex:

11)Your mini passport photo:

Thanks.

Dr. Burns [419'er]
Deputy Secretary of State.
US Department of State.
Sent from my iPhone

"Sent from my iPhone?"

Seriously?

I can see it now: some government drone tapping out, on his iPhone, his dire warning to unsuspecting U.S. citizens.

Makes me want to get right on that...

My question:

Do people still fall for these scams?

As scams go, this one is executed poorly, and I feel confident that 99% of the population will see through this ruse, but some letters are very sophisticated.

And expect, over time, this scam to evolve into a very realistic format.

A piece of sage advice:

Never, ever hand over your personal information to a stranger, either via email or on the phone. Period. No matter how enticing (or fearful), be sure to do your research. In this case, go directly to the U.S. State Department Website.

So please beware, and don't allow greed and/or fear to trump your common sense.