The Nigerien prince cozenage will never cash in one’s chips . It ’s lasted in various forms for decades now , but the a la mode loop is downright amazing . Ca n’t you give $ 3 million to assist a Nigerian astronaut get home from his secret space mission ?
You bang how these scams work by now : an e-mail say that someone is in prison house unjustly / kidnapped / exiled . They ’re rich , but they ca n’t get to their money right now . If you help them out , they ’ll pay back you once they ’re free . Of course , what in reality happens is they ladder off with the money and you ’re left feeling like a sucker .
This electronic mail , whichAnorakposted in full , is a true gem of the genre . The pathos ! The storytelling ! The use of areal government website ! Here ’s the setup :

REQUEST FOR ASSISTANCE - STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL
I am Dr. Bakare Tunde , the cousin of Nigerian Astronaut , Air Force Major Abacha Tunde . He was the first African in infinite when he made a secret trajectory to the Salyut 6 space post in 1979 . He was on a posterior Soviet spaceflight , Soyuz T-16Z to the secret Soviet military space post Salyut 8 deoxythymidine monophosphate in 1989 . He was strand there in 1990 when the Soviet Union was fade away . His other Soviet work party members pass to earth on the Soyuz T-16Z , but his shoes was taken up by retort cargo . There have been casual Progrez provision flying to keep him going since that time . He is in good humor , but want to come home .
The details are amazing . First of all , the secret nature of his commission explains why no one ’s ever try of the gentleman stranded in space for over a decade . 2d of all , he ’s been in “ good humour ” despite being left behind by the Russians in favor of cargo . decent play on people ’s misgiving on Russians , anonymous net scammer .

Here ’s the vital “ give us money ” part :
Consequently , my colleagues and I are willing to transfer the total amount to your account or subsequent spending , since we as civic servants are prohibited by the Code of Conduct Bureau ( Civil Service Laws ) from opening and/ or operating alien accounts in our public figure .
Needless to say , the trust recumb on you at this juncture is tremendous . In return , we have agreed to volunteer you 20 percent of the transferred sum , while 10 percent shall be prepare aside for incidental expense ( intragroup and outside ) between the parties in the course of the transaction . You will be mandate to remit the counterbalance 70 percent to other accounts in due course .

Leaving away the part where this is patently horseshit , does anyone believe the Nigerian government actually pay up enough this dude to have $ 15 million sitting around in a coin bank news report , even with sake ? There are a mint of numbers and names thrown about this section to lull you into believing them .
found on the timeline , this e-mail say he ’s been stick to on the station since 1990 for “ 14 - class . ” Which mean this solicitation , if real , would have to come from 2004 . We do n’t sleep together why it ’s just landing online now , but we desire it ’s real . It could be a very ingenious prank . Or a parody . It straddle that line brilliantly . Some parts are so outre I ca n’t believe anyone would try this , but then I remember that the original Nigerian prince version of this scam was equally silly . And so was its 18th 100 harbinger , theSpanish prisonerscam .
Never flow for it when someone offer you something for the return of someone that you ’ve never heard of . Especially in this day and years , when a simple net search should help you out .

Regardless , I ’ve got a nosepiece on Mars I need to go buy .
[ AnorakviaBoing Boing ]
Image : Retro Lego Spacemen by IQRemix / flickr / CC BY - SA 2.0

touch the writer at[email protected ] .
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