the SCAM is alive and well

©06 The Media Desk
http://themediadesk.com
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with credit to the Desk, is hereby given.

The Desk got a DEATH THREAT in reply to its telling the scammer that the tables had been turned on them! See Below email exchange!
[NOTE: the threatening letter has been forwarded to law enforcement as well as the scammers ISPs]

      Below this article is a series of emails the Desk got from something calling itself Zik Atiku with a phone number in Togo in West Africa. The later letters are written in reasonably good English and with a dose of sincerity seldom seen in these things. Evidently once the victim makes contact with the scammers, they kick the responses up to somebody who is a little more literate than their initial letter writers. Which also means that the African Scammers practice better customer service than most US Companies and Government Agencies.

[NOTE: "Mr Atiku" got NO personal information from the Desk other than a Yahoo email address. He doesn't even know the Desk's real name. As we are sure that we do not know the scammer's real name, turnabout is indeed fair play. ]

      But the thing of interest here is the "Letter of Application Form". And it is this form that makes the Desk wonder if this was a true 419 Advance Fee Scam or just an attempt at Identity Theft.
      In a 419 or other direct financial crime the scammer will be up front about asking for banking information. They want your bank routing number and account number and any other information needed to access your account.
      The application from Mr. Atiku which is supposed to go to the Commerce Bank of Lome in Togo does not ask for any banking information. Instead, it is seeking only personal information such as name, age, occupation and home phone number. Enough specific information that a crook would be about halfway home in procuring your identity and beginning to do their dirty work, running up thousands of dollars in bills in your name, or perhaps worse, scamming others and committing other crimes in your name.
      There does appear to be a real 'Commerce Bank' in Lome, Togo. However, it has been such a frequent target of scammers that it may have changed its name recently. Up to date Internet directories for the Togolese Republic are quite scarce.

      It is also fascinating to note that somehow the Desk's "pen name" is related to some poor soul named Phillip Innocent Leftover. As that is an odd combination of words indeed, you would expect at least one of the better search engines to come up with something on them. Especially if the late gentleman was a person holding half a billion dollars. Wouldn't you?
      However google.com, ask.com and www.ixquick.com (the international metasearch) came back more or less empty. There was a smattering of popes, a book by some guy named Phillip with the word 'innocent' in the title, and somebody that plays the mandolin.
      Just on a whim the Desk bounced the name off woyaa.com, the African search engine. It came back with about the same results as the others, with the added bonus of some personal ads for dating sites. If Mr. Phillip is deceased, it seems he is missing out on a good time.
      Evidently the wealthy gentleman who has assumed room temperature... never lived in the first place.
      Which means there is no fortune to which the Desk can lay partial claim.
      Which means this exchange will most likely involve some sort of advance fee to transfer the funds, which puts it right smack dab in the middle of the 419 file.

      In the end, all this scammer got was trouble for his efforts. As of this writing his scheme is being reported to both of the ISP's listed in the email- myway.com and excite.com with full email headers intact.
      Of course, this will only be a minor inconvenience as they probably have multiple email addresses and accounts under a wide range of names. Which is only fair as the Desk has the same, which attract scams and spams, which the Desk reports, which makes the scammers change their accounts to send more, which the Desk reports..... etc.

And now the usual advice-

[end death threat]

Also: 419 Coalition website http://home.rica.net/alphae/419coal/news2006.htm