Music and the Nigerian 419 scam

[simonparker]

Who thought music sites would get infected from this? You've all probably are aware of the Nigerian "419" scam - somebody has access to a ton of money, all you have to do is help them pull off an illegal act, show goodwill by sending this person money as a deposit for the millions you're going to get... well it hit one of the music sites I use to generate business all with an initial harmless e-mail that felt like an inquiry.... here's their follow-up e-mail to me and my response...initially, this individual reached out to me to ask for some "production" help with their music...I wrote back and this is the follow-up and my response....hope you get a good laugh out of this one.... and beware!"Thank you very much for your mail. My name is Rita Cisse and I’m 27rys old from Côte d’Ivoire in West Africa but I was born in New York City USA for some circumstance I’m presently staying here in Dakar Senegal as a result of the civil war occurred in my country that took away my parents.My late father Dr. Tijan Kaba Cisse a politician under the government of Late Gen. Robert Gue the former head of state before the rebels attacked our house one early morning killed my mother and my father. I am a good singer but due to the death of my parents I loss the track. Now I am looking for the opportunity to get myself on the track again and I know you are in good position to do so that was my aim of contacting you after going through your profile at bandmix.com to seek for good directions and the best way. And I believe you are in good position to put me through, please just tell me what it will take me, and then I will be pleased to follow your advice.I want to come back to the States and so I have a lot of things I would want you to assist me of, because I am the only child of my parents. Please email me at; ricisse@yahoo.com there I will tell you more about myself.Rita.---------------Hi Rita - again - as I said in my previous post - I only work with artists that are ready for a record deal and can pay me up front.From your post, I am quite sure you are part of a Nigerian 419 scam and no where close to getting a record deal. You are probably a male (instead of the hot female pic you've posted on this website) from Nigeria who has wasted my time thinking you'll get me romantically involved with you and then convince me to come to Nigeria so you can kidnap me for ransom.If you're serious about being in the music business, you can give me US $25,000 cash. Come to New York alone with the cash and I'll tell you where you can meet me.

[ibanez468]

I get these things everyday, all day! They're all different, but with the same intent. I just send 'em to the trash. Delete, delete, delete. ibanez468

[toddt]

A reasonable response ibanez but etiquette says you should really toy with them first, as per Simon's example. Google scam-baiting for ideas. And laughs.

[wings]

Jul 27, 2009, 2:58pm, toddt wrote:A reasonable response ibanez but etiquette says you should really toy with them first, as per Simon's example. Google scam-baiting for ideas. And laughs. +1 Absolutely. LOL

[ibanez468]

Ahhhh...I see. I guess I'll hafta' jump on the bandwagon and play the game, huh? I did check out the site. Very amusing.

[aldicicco]

Now here's a scam where they sent money in advance. It's true...My wife used to work in guest relations at THE amusement park in southern California. Over time, a number of cards and letters from Polish kids arrived but were never answered because no one on staff spoke, read or wrote the language. Before they were round filed, my wife gathered them up and we brought them to Chicago to my late, Polish-fluent Mom. She read many of them to us. This was at the time of Solidarity and many of the letters were so touching and dear. Many of these kids explained their dire situation and were only hoping for a letter or picture from "the mouse". My mom corresponded with a number of these kids and became pen pals with quite a few of them. It was a wonderful goodwill mission and she had a great time doing it. One day, a letter arrived from a Polish boy she had written to. He explained how much he loved America, even though he knew he would never be able to visit here. He enclosed a 100-Zloty bill in his note and told my mom that this was the currency they used in Poland. He asked my mom to send him a 100 dollar American note so he could see what one looked like. In other words, he sent her about fifty cents and was asking for a Benjamin in return!Mom sent him a buck, rewarding his ingenuity and guile. I guess he got his money back plus the cost of postage!He broke even. Waiting for my first placement so I can say the same. Anyone accept Zloty here?Al