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| Aid Worker retrieving a Syrian child from debris following a Syrian Air Force attack - Scammers are cashing in on the plight of innocents! |
For many years now, we
have become accustomed to being seduced by what have become known as Nigerian
Scams. The writer first became so acquainted with these in about 1990 via
the medium of a fax (remember faxes?) and more closely so when actually in Lagos, probably the most
hostile city ever encountered by this columnist during an excess of 30 years
travelling experience. Since then, as communications technology has advanced,
such solicitations are transmitted via email, SMS, Skype and a whole variety
of online media. In November 2013, this column produced an article
entitled “Nigerian Scams from Iran?”
which has been extensively read in many parts of the world subsequently. The
latest such attempt has been made via Facebook but this time, perhaps topically
it comes from someone claiming to be in a military establishment in Syria. This is
what the ‘poor widow’ has to say after much preliminary platitudes:
“I am so happy being your friend after so much
talks today I came to a conclusion to open up to you because I understand you
are someone with a good heart and may not betray me. So i have to have the
confidence in you and i want to tell you everything and all the secrets that i
have here. My dear before my husband was killed he was a wealthy man because he
served as a top military with his Rank up to (فريق أول Feriq awwal) before he died, on that
day he was bleeding to death he revealed to me that he had hid some 1.3 million
Dollars in a security box with Red Cross Diplomatic Agency in Michigan city
Indiana State 46360 USA and wants me to start a new life with our kids with it
outside Syria."
"The attack on that fateful day destroy everything
we had and I lost my husband, family members and valuables. I have written to
Red Cross Diplomat and they have confirmed box with them and they do not have
idea on the content. Here, we do not have money to run the expenses on our
travel, and our lives so much depend on the box of money. "
"I have so much confidence in you and I want to send
the money (box) to you through a diplomat so that you will receive the box
and i tell you the security code to open the box. You will collect your
delivery expenses money and send us some money through the Red Cross agency to
plan our travel arrangement to your place. On our arrival, we plan for
establishment and settlement. I know you will not regret helping a poor widow
in a war center gain freedom and peace with her two kids. In reciprocating for
your kind human gesture on securing the box, we will release to you 30% of
the total money. Please write me in confirmation." (SIC)
Needless to say one has not exactly rushed to the aid of our Syrian ‘war-widow’ whose given name and email address do not appear to have much connection with that troubled land! “Leslie Biggs” with the initial part of his/her email address being ‘erickbiselela’ does not give the impression of originating in Raqqa, Alleppo or Damascus but is more likely to arise from some flea-pit internet café in Lagos, where historically so many of these vile scams have originated from, milking as they do upon the genuine concerns the real victims of situations that we have witnessed in Syria these past five years.
These types of scams, as they are known, are really the work of criminal gangs
and let us be in no doubt as to this reality as there have been a number of
cases where people who have been so duped, they have been enticed to fly to
Lagos or wherever, ostensibly to sign documentation and have found themselves
taken hostage or worse; but irritating though it is to have ones intelligence
impugned by such approaches, the writer believes it to be more than deplorable
to indulge in the use of sacred religious text in an attempt to add weight to
their solicitation, deeply insulting you would have to think, to those who
might be offended in this way. Equally, to come up with a spin involving the
loss of a loved one is as nauseous as the former tactic.
Just as the scam mail received by this column arrived via the internet,
this article will be similarly transmitted around the world and throughout the
various networks in an attempt to highlight this type of crime and to urge all
due caution in internet transactions. Beware of scams, wheresoever they derive
from!
By
Chris Green
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| Beşparmak Media Services |
