weird email.......

Johnny_the_fox

Subject: bless you

DEAR FRIEND,

I AM MRS. SESE-SEKO WIDOW OF LATE PRESIDENT MOBUTU
SESE-SEKO OF ZAIRE? NOW KNOWN AS DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC
OF CONGO (DRC). I AM MOVED TO WRITE YOU THIS LETTER,
THIS WAS IN CONFIDENCE CONSIDERING MY PRESENT
CIRCUMSTANCE AND SITUATION.

I ESCAPED ALONG WITH MY HUSBAND AND TWO OF OUR SONS
PAUL AND BASHER OUT OF DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF
CONGO (DRC) TO ABIDJAN, COTE D'IVOIRE WHERE MY FAMILY
AND I SETTLED, WHILE WE LATER MOVED TO SETTLED IN
MORROCO WHERE MY HUSBAND LATER DIED OF CANCER
DISEASE. HOWEVER DUE TO THIS SITUATION WE DECIDED TO
CHANGED MOST OF MY HUSBAND'S BILLIONS OF DOLLARS
DEPOSITED IN SWISS BANK AND OTHER COUNTRIES INTO OTHER
FORMS OF MONEY CODED FOR SAFE PURPOSE BECAUSE THE NEW
HEAD OF STATE OF (DR) MR LAURENT KABILA HAS MADE
ARRANGEMENT WITH THE SWISS GOVERNMENT AND OTHER
EUROPEAN COUNTRIES TO FREEZE ALL MY LATE HUSBAND'S
TREASURES DEPOSITED IN SOME EUROPEAN COUNTRIES.

HENCE MY CHILDREN AND I DECIDED LAYING LOW IN AFRICA
TO STUDY THE
SITUATION TILL WHEN THINGS GETS BETTER,
LIKE NOW THAT PRESIDENT KABILA IS DEAD AND THE SON
TAKING OVER (JOSEPH KABILA). ONE OF MY LATE HUSBAND'S
CHATEAUX IN SOUTHERN FRANCE WAS CONFISCATED BY THE
FRENCH GOVERNMENT, AND AS SUCH I HAD TO CHANGE MY
IDENTITY SO THAT MY INVESTMENT WILL NOT BE TRACED AND
CONFISCATED. I HAVE DEPOSITED THE SUM OF EIHGTEEN
MLLION UNITED STATE DOLLARS(US$18,000,000,00.) WITH A
SECURITY COMPANY , FOR SAFEKEEPING. THE FUNDS ARE
SECURITY CODED TO PREVENT THEM FROM KNOWING THE
CONTENT. WHAT I WANT YOU TO DO IS TO INDICATE YOUR
INTEREST THAT YOU WILL ASSIST US BY RECEIVING THE
MONEY ON OUR BEHALF.ACKNOWLEDGE THIS MESSAGE, SO THAT
I CAN INTRODUCE YOU TO MY SON (PAUL) WHO HAS THE
OUT MODALITIES FOR THE CLAIM OF THE SAID FUNDS. I WANT
YOU TO ASSIST IN INVESTING THIS MONEY, BUT I WILL NOT
WANT MY IDENTITY REVEALED. I WILL ALSO WANT TO BUY
PROPERTIES AND STOCK IN MULTI-NATIONAL COMPANIES AND
TO ENGAGE IN OTHER SAFE AND NON-SPECULATIVE
INVESTMENTS. MAY I AT THIS POINT EMPHASISE THE HIGH
LEVEL OF CONFIDENTIALITY, WHICH THIS BUSINESS
DEMANDS, AND HOPE YOU WILL NOT BETRAY THE TRUST AND
CONFIDENCE, WHICH I REPOSE IN YOU. IN CONCLUSION, IF
YOU WANT TO ASSIST US , MY SON SHALL PUT YOU IN THE
PICTURE OF THE BUSINESS, TELL YOU WHERE THE FUNDS ARE
CURRENTLY BEING MAINTAINED AND ALSO DISCUSS OTHER
MODALITIES INCLUDING REMUNERATION FOR YOUR SERVICES.

FOR THIS REASON KINDLY FURNISH US YOUR CONTACT
INFORMATION, THAT IS YOUR PERSONAL TELEPHONE AND FAX
NUMBER FOR CONFIDENTIAL PURPOSE AND ACKNOWLEDGE
RECEIPT OF THIS MAIL USING THE ABOVE EMAIL ADDRESS.

BEST REGARDS,

MRS M. SESE SEKO

Did any other person get one of theses..... its a Fraud


if It was true and would assist them by taking the money and run .........

and go for a years drinkin session

what would u do?

Redshift

Hi M8
This a complete scam it's a variation on the nigerian cash scam.
If you value your life you should not get involved and just delete it . I have had emails like this before I think most people have .

It's just another D1ckh@ad stealing your bandwidth to further his own aims.

Cheers

Dustaz

anyone who believes this kinda deserves to be ripped off

phobos

The reason I say "I think" is because I don't even read them anymore. TBH I just read the first two lines of the mail you posted above, and decided I wasn't going to waste any more of my time.

I recommend you do the same. Actually I'm so stubborn, I don't even like receiving funny mails from my friends, because I class them as being non-productive, and a waste of bandwidth (because they are generally based on some sort of multimedia content, which take ages to download). But try & tell this to a friend that doesn't even know what the term bandwidth means (God bless 'em), and you'll soon realise that people in general don't consider how much damage they are actually doing to the internet, by trafficing nonsensical materials.

In your case, it wasn't MM content, but rather some sort of scam. I have seen some really terrible mails like this before. One of the worst I've ever seen was a family that needed money for a child's critical operation. They couldn't afford to fund it by themselves, so "apparently", company X, approached them and suggested that they will donate 1 cent for every time their email is circulated, and a link within the email is clicked (link to corporate web site). When I read this, and I rarely do, I actually got caught up in the story, feeling sympathetic for the child. But when I got to the end, I refused to believe that the story was true at all, and it was just a sick marketing scheme to get me to visit some web site. :eek:

Not only did that email waste my time, but it played with my emotions to a degree. As fair as I'm concerned it was all in the name of promotion. :mad:

;-phobos-)

sceptre

Even if it were true, would you honestly think about helping Mobutu's wife get at millions (or hehe, "billions) salted away in foreign banks, essentially stolen from the people of the Congo?

yellum

Originally posted by sceptre
Even if it were true, would you honestly think about helping Mobutu's wife get at millions (or hehe, "billions) salted away in foreign banks, essentially stolen from the people of the Congo?

Absolutely, it if was true.

sleepwalker

don't even like receiving funny mails from my friends, because I class them as being non-productive

wow you sound like a real fun person

EvilGeorge

Well guess what I happend to get that mail too - straight to the trash can like all the other rubish!!!

phobos

Originally posted by sleepwalker
wow you sound like a real fun person

I expected someone to say something like that. So this is my reply:

Well the fact that you know nothing about me, would only add to how wrong you actually are. I have been known to bring joy to others on many occasions through the use of humour. But having said that I can see how you were motivated to reply with such a statement given the words I chose to use in my original post. So here is what I mean (using different words )

You are not classed as a funny or fun person to be with just because you follow the crowd, and forward rubbish around mail servers. If you are funny (IMO) you will come up with something original when out with friends. But TBH I am going waay off topic here. What I'm really getting at is how much people have reduced the internet to what it is today. Every day I get something new that has been forwarded to probably 20-30 other people, and then I often come on Humour boards here, and find the same rubbish posted by someone else who obviously just received it too (but was more welcoming than I). Now I say it's not a good thing, and this is my opinion. There are many others out there (all my non-computer friends) that think the internet is a medium for forwarding jokes around and don't see any other use for it. I feel sorry for them, but they're happy, so that's what's important.

Do people not remember the times when you used to get mail from friends that started with "Hi, how are you?, I am doing well and...", but instead we get something like

"Message forwarded

[about 20 email addresses, of people you don't even know]
some SMTP or POP server messages
and somewhere deep in the middle of all that, you will find some hard to read text that turns out to be a joke.

What's the enjoyment gotten out of that. I've just wasted the last 30 seconds trying to find something I didn't want to read. It doesn't tell me crap about the person that just sent it to me. Or better yet, someone working for a company that has a phat pipe in their office sends you some mail with 2MB of image attachments. I personally find it frustrating, and a waste of time. Why don't people just send links to the content, instead of making copies of it all over the place. If you simply sent a link in your mail, I could then decided if I want to see it or not. **THINK**

Anyway rant over!!, have a nice day

;-phobos-)

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

*agrees 100% with phobos*

sceptre

phobos could have added "waste of bandwidth in general" to that. Links=much better in general. me=56kuser who sometimes doesn't want to receive the same 600k video clip 10 times when a link would mean I only had to go get it once.

Nice chapter in Andy Oram's "Peer to Peer: unleashing the power of disruptive technologies" that makes this very point.

Meant to add: what's the point in just forwarding every piece of joke crap you get, regardless of quality. I generally don't forward much (unless I find it really funny). I do send funny news articles etc that I find on the web to a few friends. If they want to forward it on to everyone with an @cisco.com mail address that's up to them.

(notable exception: that clip with yer man beating the crap out of the paperclip - funniest video clip I've received in the past two years. Couldn't post a link to that one as I didn't want half a million people downloading it a day)

deco

Ah come on that's half the fun!

Jim

i got 1 like tat a few years ago from a nigerian company sayin tat they needed a bank account to put 100,000 dollers into for a year. in exchange for my account no. etc... they wud let me keep the interest gained on the 100,000.

i heard a couple of plp actually fell for it.

Johnny_the_fox

its feckin mental....... u know

sceptre

Originally posted by Jimeatsmenu
i heard a couple of plp actually fell for it.

One guy not only fell for it - when he wandered out to Nigeria he was killed by the people who had contacted him.

It's partly a passport scam.

PC Plus mentioned it last month (tiny article - didn't explain much about it). They did mention though, that on average the person who falls for it has been scammed out of $8000 (presumably this is based on the people who report it and don't wind up dead)

The Congo thing is a new departure - it was originally a Nigerian scam

Googly search:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF8&q=%2Bnigerian+%2Bemail+%2Bscam

Or a site that tells you all about it (just found - first on the google list)
http://www.crimes-of-persuasion.com/Nigerian/nigerian_victims.htm

sceptre

Originally posted by phobos

Not only did that email waste my time, but it played with my emotions to a degree. As fair as I'm concerned it was all in the name of promotion.

Should have sent something like this back:


Next time someone sends you a crap chain letter... Send them this. If they don't get it as a non-too-subtle pisstake, they have failed the "can I be your email buddy, buddy?" test


Hello, my name is Basmati Kasaar. I am suffering from rare and deadly diseases, poor scores on final exams, extreme virginity, fear of being kidnapped and executed by anal electrocution, and guilt for not forwarding 50 bilion ****ing chain letters sent to me by people who actually believe that if you send them on, then that poor six-year-old girl in Arkansas wih a breast on her forehead will be able to raise enough money to have it removed before her redneck parents sell her off to the travelling freak show.

Do you honestly believe that Bill Gates is going to give $1000 to you and everyone else you send 'his' email to? How stupid are you? Ooooh, lookyhere! If i scroll down this page and make a wish, I'll get laid be every PLAYBOY model in the magazine! What a bunch of bull****.

So basically, this message is a big **** YOU to all the people out there who have nothing better to do then to send me stupid chain mail forwards.

Maybe the evil chain-letter leprechauns will come into my apartment and rape me in my sleep for not continuing the chain which was started by Moses and was brought to this country by midget botanists on the Endeavour and if it makes it to the year 01, it'll be in the Guinness Book of World Records for the longest continuous streak of blatant stupidity.

If you're going to forward something, at least send me something mildly amusing. I've seen all the 'send this to 50 of your closest friends, and this poor, wretched excuse for a human being will somehow recieve a nickel from some omniscient being' forwards about 90 times. I don't ****ing care. Show some intelligence and think about what you're actually contributing to by sending out forwards.

Chances are it's your own unpopularity.



THE BASIC TYPES OF CHAIN LETTERS:>>>

Chain Letter Type 1:

Make a wish!!!



No, really, go on and make one!!!



Oh please, they'll never go out with you!!!



Wish something else!!!



Not that, you pervert!!!



Wasn't that fun?

Hope you made a great wish.

Now, to make you feel guilty, here's what i'll do. First of all, if you don't send this to 5096 people in the next five seconds, you will be raped by a mad goat and thrown off a high building into a pile of manure. It's true! Because, This letter isn't like all those fake ones: This one is True!!!

Really! Here's how it goes:

Send this to one person: one person will be pissed off at you for sending them a stupid chain letter.

Send this to two to five people: two to five people will be pissed off at you for sending them a stupid chain letter.

Send this to five to 10 people: five to 10 people will be pissed off at you for sending them a stupid chain letter, and may for a plot on your life.

Send this to 10 or more people: 10 or more people will be pissed off at you for sending them a stupid chain letter and will napalm your house.

Thanks! Good Luck!



Chain Letter Type 2:

Hello, and thank you for reading this letter. You see, there is a starving little boy in Baklaliviatatlaglooshen who has no arms, no legs, no parents, and no goats. this little boy's life could be saved, because for every time you pass this on, a dollar will be donated to the Little Starving Legless, Armless Goatless Parentless Boy from Baklaliviatatlaglooshen Fund. Oh, and remember, we have absolutely no way of counting the emails sent and this is all a complete load of bull****.

So go on, reach out. Send this to five people in the next 47 seconds. Oh, and remember, if you accidentally send this to four or six people, you will die instantly.

Thanks again!!

Chain Letter Type 3:

Hi there!! This chain letter has been in existence since 1897. This is absolutely incredible because there was no email then and probably not as many sad pricks with nothing better to do. So this is how it works: pass this on to 15,067 people in the next seven minutes or something horrible will happen to you like:

Bizarre Horror Story#1:

Miranda Pinsley was walking home from school on Saturday. She had recently received this letter and ignored it. She then tripped in a crack in the pavement, fell into the sewer, was gushed down a drainpipe in a flood of poopie, and went flying out over a waterfall.

Not only did she smell nasty, she died.

This Could Happen To You!

Bizarre Horror Story #2:

Dexter Bip, a 13-year-old boy, got a chain letter in his mail and ignored it. Later that day, he was hit by a car and so was his boyfriend. They both died and went to hell and were cursed to eat adorable kittens every day for eternity. This Could Happen To You Too!

Remember, you could end up like Pinsley and Bip. Just send this letter to all of your loser friends, and everything will be okay.



The point being? If you get some chain letter that's threatening to leave you shagless or luckless for the rest of your life, delete it. If it's funny, send it on. Don't piss people off by making them feel guilty about a leper in Botswana with no teeth, who's been tied to a dead elephant for 27 years, whose only saviour is the five cents per letter he'll receive if you forward this mail. Now forward this to everyone you know, otherwise you'll find all your knickers missing tomorrow morning.

Bard

Brilliant sceptre, brilliant!!!...

Waitasec... where are my knickers?!

ykt0di9url7bc3

i thought chain letters were an experiment in american society, some professor thought that if one person in the united states sent the mail to five random people and those 5 send it on to another 5 people they knew and they sent it to five others they knew.....from the 5 random people the professor predicted that after 5 sendings of the mail one of the reciepients would know the original sendor.....

superition me arse!

beardedchicken

i think you may be thinking of the concept of "six degrees of separation" which did originally start out as an experiment by some unnamed american professor.

chain letters, on the other hand, are just a pain in the tits.

Clintons Cat

chainletters are the bastard grandfathers of "all your bases".

As for the chain letter in the opening post it sounds like the Nigerian bank scam that was doing the rounds approximately two years ago,That one went along the same lines as the text to the congo one.Respondants were then persuaded to open a joint account with a flat £1000 in this country that the "overseas money" could be transfered into the scam worked along the lines that for every subsequent £1000 you put into the account the overseas money man would put in an equal ammount of money,your financial imput was deemed necessary to "hide" the ammount of money being filtered from overseas.
If i recall peoples suspicions were diverted by the first £1000 being payed in reletivly promptly,most likely with the stake from another investor then the investor was encouraged to increase his stake by putting in x number of thousands.At which point the account was emptied from the other end and the line of communication went dead.
So for a £1000 risk the scamers recoup between £5 and £20 thousand pounds depending upon the greed or culpibility of the mark.