Stringing Along an Estonian Scam Artist Vol. V
Here's the latest chapter in the ongoing saga of Andreas Olev, humanitarian, banker, cancer victim and scam artist.
As we mentioned in our first post, we thought it might be interesting to follow up on an obvious fraud e-mail and see where it lead. In our second post, we learned that Andreas is a finance officer with the Hansa Bank in Tallinn, Estonia, and has come into possession of $30 million. In our third post we discovered Andreas has been diagnosed with terminal cancer, and wants our help to set up a foundation for terminally ill children—for which we would receive $6 million. In our fourth post, Andreas sent us some pictures of himself, and informed us we'd have to travel (presumably to Estonia) in order to cash in on our share of the money.
But after five increasingly outrageous and maudlin e-mails, we've finally arrived at the moment of truth: the catch.
For it turns out that we'll have fork over "some amount" to the "paying bank" in order to complete the transaction and claim our 20% of the $30 million. Although he claims he's already shelled out $37,000 to make us the beneficiary of the funds, he assures us it's "more higher" than the amount we're expected to cough up. Regardless of the amount, we're now firmly in advance-fee fraud territory.
Finally, although we haven't called attention to it before (partly because it's so obvious), Andreas' laughable command of English is a big, fat, red flag in and of itself. Even if he really is Estonian (which we doubt), a high-ranking bank officer with access to $30 million would posses an excellent education with a far firmer grasp of English than our hapless friend.
But he's clearly no fool, and realizes we've tried to fob him off with a work address and general phone number, which he called last weekend, according to a brief e-mail he sent us before we had a chance to reply to his previous one: "Happy easter celebration, How are you enjoying the holiday? i tried the number you gave me and it was a customer care line, please i will want you to send me your personer cell phone number and email address. I need your urgent response." As you'll see below, he's persistent.
Finally, each of his e-mails contains classic nuggets of 419-speak, and the latest is no exception, with gems like "I will not be able to cove your travelling expensece, as i have spend a lots of money getting the lawyer to act legally and pay for all legal documents to beck you as the beneficiary to the funds, amounting to $37,000.00 " and "Sequels to question, i would also care for the children suffering from sickle cell anemia and leukemia."
Here's his latest e-mail, followed by our reply:
----- Original Message -----
From: Andreas Olev (olevandreas@googlemail.com)
To: consumerwebwatch@cu.consumer.org
Sent: Wednesday, April 15, 2009 7:00 PM
Subject: Re: How are you
Hello Alan,
I will not be able to cove your travelling expensece, as i have spend a lots of money getting the lawyer to act legally and pay for all legal documents to beck you as the beneficiary to the funds, amounting to $37,000.00. So i will want you to encure your travelling feee, and note. the paying bank will be demanding some amount of fee to regularise your inheritance funds to enable them get the authority to transfer the funds to you.
I have not started the process properly, due to your lack of communication i told the lawyer to hold on. I want you to assure me that you will foot your travelling fee and the authorization fee, while i will handle the legal fee which is more higher. And send me your personal cell phone number and home address not your office.
Sequels to question, i would also care for the children suffering from sickle cell anemia and leukemia. Pleace let me know your mind as i need a partner who will join me in footing the bill.
I wait to hearing from you soon.
Andreas
Here's our reply:
Hello Andreas,
Thanks for your prompt reply.
I appreciate the fact that you’ve had to absorb a number of costs in order to establish me as the beneficiary of the funds, and $37,000 is certainly no small amount of money.
I can assure you I will cover the expense for my travel and accommodations. I assume we are talking about Tallinn, Estonia, correct? As I mentioned before, I will need to give my employer a good deal of advance warning for a trip that will likely take a week to complete all the necessary transactions. Is this enough time?
However, you now say the paying bank will be demanding “some amount” to finalize the transfer of funds. I assume you are talking about your employer, the Hansa Bank, correct? Can you please give me an indication as to the size of the authorization fee the bank will require of me? Also, will they accept U.S. dollars, or do they prefer Estonian Kroons?
As I’ve mentioned, my funds are limited, so I’ll need to know exactly how much money I’m expected to raise. Finally, I'm glad to hear that the foundation will help children suffering from sickle cell anemia as well as leukemia.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Yours Sincerely,
Alan
To be continued. . .
Comments
I'm very curious to see where this goes, it's good work you're doing exposing these scammers and wasting their time stringing them along, hopefully the get caught.
Posted by: Diana DeAngelo | April 16, 2009 08:05 PM