Stringing Along an Estonian Scam Artist Vol. II
As promised, here's the second installment in our exchange with an Estonian scam artist, Andreas Olev. As we mentioned in our first post, we thought it might prove instructive and amusing to actually follow up on an obvious 419 fraud offer and see where it lead.
Now that we've taken his bait, Andreas (or whatever his real name is) lays out a typical 419 fraud scenario—a huge amount of unclaimed money along with a "once in a lifetime" offer to share it with us, provided we're willing to "partner" with him. Because of his position as a finance officer with the Hansa Bank in Tallinn, Estonia, Andreas says he's managed to secure the control of $30 million in unclaimed funds. Sounds too good to be true, doesn't it?
Here's his latest e-mail (along with our reply), which he sent from a new e-mail address (Note the discrepancy between his e-mail name and signed name):
--- Original Message -----
From: ANDRES OLEV (olevandres@hotmail.com)
To: consumerwebwatch@cu.consumer.org
Sent: Tuesday, March 31, 2009 4:36 AM
Subject: Re: How are you
Hello,
Thank you for your reply to my first email. I really appreciate your kind attention and interest. I needed to be very sure of you before I disclose my identity for confidentiality purpose.
I could not give you full details in my first email because I wanted to be sure before disclosing further information to you. I am a finance officer in a finance and brokerage house in Tallinn Estonia,Hansa Bank. we handle hedge funds among other services for our clients which include the South African government. We also have their mandate to carry out certain funds disbursement processing to contractors that they direct us to make such payment to.
For some time now we were instructed to make payment of US$30mn to a Mr K.P Abarca who is based in England. After trying to make contact with him,I have been reliably informed that he is dead. I hired a private investigator who found out that there is no next of kin that we can make the payment to. This is where I want to use this rare opportunity to benefit both myself and a partner in collecting the funds. I can easily without and legal complication facilitate that you are made the new beneficiary for the money and see to it that it is processed and released to you.
The question is can you receive this huge sum of money for both our benefits? This is a once in a lifetime chance,with no risk whatsoever involved,with my position everything can be worked out within the shortest possible time to make you the bona fide owner of the funds.I could not use anyone with the remotest relationship to me as this would jeopardize the transaction.
I will be waiting to hear from you if you are willing and capable of partnering with me for us to mutually benefit from this deal.The highest level of confidentiality will be appreciated.
Yours sincerely,
Andreas Olev
Here's how we replied:
Hello Andreas,
Thank you for your prompt response.
I understand your concerns completely. I also appreciate your kindness in offering me this unique and lucrative opportunity, and can assure you that I am both willing and able to facilitate this transaction with the utmost confidentiality.
How do we proceed from here?
I anxiously await your reply.
Yours Sincerely,
Alan Smithee
To be continued. . .