Stringing Along an Estonian Scam Artist Vol. VI
Welcome to the sixth—and possibly final—installment in the entertaining saga of Andreas Olev, humanitarian, banker, cancer victim and scam artist.
As we mentioned in our first post, we thought it would 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. In our fifth post, Andreas finally divulged that our $6 million cut would cost us some upfront money, a classic 419 fraud tactic.
Andreas has since written us back with a ballpark figure (several thousand dollars) for our "Authorizition fee" and more or less demanded that we send him our cellphone number, since he's apparently called WebWatch's general line more than once to his increasing frustration.
In the meantime, we decided to do a little due diligence on the Hansa Bank (Hansapank in Estonian), and learned that it ceased operating under that name on March 17. The bank is now officially known as Swedbank, a (you guessed it) Swedish banking group that acquired Hansapank's pan-Baltic operations in 2005.
We then we decided to write Swedbank to inquire about our generous new friend. We quickly received an auto-response (in English and Estonian) assuring us they would contact us as soon as possible. After almost a week and no reply (they could learn from Andreas), we go tired of waiting and called Swedbank in Tallinn this morning.
You can read what we learned below in our reply. But first, here's Andreas' reply to our last e-mail, as well as the follow-up e-mail:
----- Original Message -----
From: Andreas Olev (olevandreas@googlemail.com)
To: consumerwebwatch@cu.consumer.org
Sent: Thursday, April 16, 2009 5:26 PM
Subject: Re: How are you
Hello Alan,
A week will be enough for you travel and endours the funds. but you will have to wait till all legal document has been put in place. As for the Authorizition fee, i am not too certain about it but i assume i would be more than ($3,000.00 TO $5,000.00) and every payment has to be done internationally (US DOLLARS).
I want you to send me your personal cell phone number, not your office, as i have tried several time to get you on phone and it always customer care line its on voice mail.
I will be wait to hear from soon and receive your cell phone number.
Andreas
Here's a somewhat exasperated follow-up Andreas sent us on Sunday:
----- Original Message -----
From: Andreas Olev (olevandreas@googlemail.com)
To: consumerwebwatch@cu.consumer.org
Sent: Sunday, April 19, 2009 9:23 AM
Subject: Re: How are you
Hello Alan,
How are you? what is going on? why have you not replied to my mail? please do let me know you are willing to partner with me and send me you cell phone number.
I wait to hear from you soon.
Andreas
Here's our reply:
Hello Andreas,
Sorry for the delay. I have to confess that after your e-mail of Thursday, April 16, I asked a friend for advice, since as I have pointed out more than once, my funds are very limited. He said $3,000-$5000 is a lot of money (especially these days), and suggested I contact Hansa Bank to try and verify the transaction.
First off, I learned on the Internet that Hansa Bank no longer exists (at least officially), and changed its name to Swedbank earlier this year. This concerned me, and when I visited the bank's web site, I found a phone number and decided to call you at work.
However, when I reached customer service and asked for you, the lady said: "We have no Andreas Olev here."
What is going on, Andreas? I thought we were friends! Can imagine my surprise and shock when she said you do not work there! Is she mistaken or is there something you want to tell me?
Hoping for an explanation from you very soon.
Alan
To be continued?
Comments
Andreas Olev - very good artist, thank you for story
Posted by: oldy | May 29, 2009 06:20 AM