Adventures with an African scammer - Part 2

My story with my new flend starts with an email that I received out of the blue, about a so-called package that was due to arrive soon.

Mr Chester Williams (even though the original email was not even addressed to him), was very happy to oblige, and contacted Mr Kamwe.

"Kelvin" responded as follows:

Global Courier Service Company
(Federal Government of Ghana Approved Diplomatic Courier Co.)
Corporate Office: Plot 62, D13 Manetville East Airport, Accra Ghana.
Tel: +233 249 141364.

*AIR FREIGHT *OCEAN CARGO *CARGO MOVEMENT*REPACKAGING
*CONTAINERIZATION *WAREHOUSING *CONSOLIDATION
__________________________________________________

ATTN; Chester Williams

WE WISH TO ACKNOWLEDGE THAT WE HAVE YOUR BOX IN OUR CUSTODY.OUR DIPLOMAT AGENT IN CHARGE OF THE NEXT DELIVERY TASK WILL BE LEAVING GHANA. YOU WILL BE REQUIRED TO SEND THE FOLLOWING REQUIREMENT BEFORE YOUR PARCEL CAN BE INCLUDED IN THE NEXT BERGE OF DIPLOMATIC DELIVERY THAT WILL BE LEAVING, ALSO I WANT YOU TO KNOW THAT YOU HAVE TO PAY FOR THE SECURITY KEEPING FEES BEFORE OUR DIPLOMATIC AGENT CAN CARRY ON WITH YOUR BOX TO YOUR ADDRESS.

BELOW ARE THE REQUIREMENT:
SECURITY KEEPING FEE: $150.00
TOTAL: $150.00
BEAR IT IN MIND THAT WITHOUT OUR SECURITY KEEPING FEE YOUR BOX WILL NOT BE DELIVERED AS SCHEDULED.

YOU CAN SEND THE ABOVE MENTIONED CHARGES VIA WESTERN UNION MONEY TRANSFER WITH THE NAME OF OUR PROTOCAL OFFICER BELOW;
NAME: EMEKA JOHN PAUL
ADDRESS: 34 NEW ACHIMOTA PLAZER,
STATE: ACCRA
COUNTRY: GHANA
TEXT QUESTION: WHAT FOR?
ANSWER: DELIVERY.

WE WAIT YOUR URGENT RESPONSE
YOURS FAITHFULLY,

Mr. Kelvin Kwame
+233 249 142364
Global Courier Service Company

1. YOUR FULL NAME:
Chester williams

2.YOUR HOME OR COMPANY ADDRESS:
P.O. Box 274, Ventersdorp, 2710 [The AWB would be very happy to receive some junk mail from Ghana...]

3. YOUR TELEPHONE NUMBER:
+27 082 897 1018 [Eugene Terreblanche’s secretary would be glad to answer the call]

Apparently a string of capital letters makes your email look more authentic? I swiftly sent my uninformed reply to Kelvin:

I don't know what western union transfer is all about. How do I pay the money? Are these Ghana Dollars?

Regards,
chester

I have no idea what currency they use in Ghana, but I am sure that "Ghana dollars" (if that was what they called it) would be worthless in comparison to the trusty old greenback.

I had done my research before I started out on this adventurous journey of discovery. One thing that all these scammers love to use, is Western Union Money Transfer. I wouldn’t know from experience, but apparently it is much easier to disappear with someone’s money if you use WU, compared to using Paypal or credit cards.

Of course, "Chester" immediately claimed to be totally unaware of Western Union or any such fancy stuff. He was a very unexperienced internet user, and extremely gullible, of course.

Kelvin was very quick with his feedback, and he attempted to help poor uninformed Chester with these complex financial matters:

What i mean by western union money transfer is the means you will send the money in the Bank just go to Bank and tell them you want to send money to Ghana through western union and the dollar i mean is United State of America dollar and bellow is the information the will ask you to provide before the can send the money for you

NAME: EMEKA JOHN PAUL
ADDRESS: 34 NEW ACHIMOTA PLAZER,
STATE: ACCRA
COUNTRY: GHANA
TEXT QUESTION: WHAT FOR?
ANSWER: DELIVERY

Thanks and i am waiting to here from you
Mr. Kelvin Kwame

Finally, a small amount of professionalism is being displayed here. Too bad about all those horrific grammar and spelling errors.

It is obvious that this guy is a professional person who can be trusted with international money transfers. Someone who never uses any punctuation marks is sure to be a good reliable businessman - especially if he is from a great place like Ghana...

Chester was extremely happy about this whole proposal, and immediately went to the bank to initiate the transfer of 150 “united state of america dollar”:

Hi Kelvin,

Ive been to the bank, but they wanted more information from me.

They say delivery - delivery of what? I cannot just say delivery.

They also want passport number or ID document of the reciever of the funds, John Paul Emeka

What do I do now? The bank is not very understanding. It also costs me additional fees of $22.50 to use Union bank transfer.

Maybe Paypal is better to use? Or I can mail you a cheque?
Maybe you can give me a call at +27 082 897 1018

Thank you

Regards,Chester

Unfortunately the Big Great White Leader of the AWB did not receive a personal phone call from Ghana, even though I provided Kelvin with this number again - free of charge. This is a total surprise to me, of course...

Kelvin was extremely resourceful, and came up with another great idea:

Dear Chester

Thanks for your mail to me and i was very surprise for the question you said that bank are asking you before the can send the money for you

All i want you to do as soon as you receive this mail is to take the money and go to another bank with this information bellow

NAME: EMEKA JOHN PAUL
ADDRESS: 34 NEW ACHIMOTA PLAZER,
STATE: ACCRA
COUNTRY: GHANA
QUESTION ; GOD
ANSWER; LORD

Go to another Bank with this information and if the ask you tell them you are sending it to a Church do not tell them what you are sending the money for so that they will not try to find out what you are receiving [by the way, what am I "receiving" for my $150?]

Thanks and i am waiting to for the payment information as soon as you send the money [yeah right - keep on waitin, mate]

Regards
Mr. Kelvin

This guy had suddenly turned out to be a very spiritual person with good moral values. “God, “Lord”, and “the church” had now been made part of this great international transaction. I was just waiting for the Holy Mother Mary, Maria Magdalene, Moses and the seven dwarfs to also become part of this scam.

Poor Chester was doing the crucifix-thing in front of his breast while he was thinking about the Holy transaction he was contemplating.

This guy is sharp, isn’t he?

I wonder how much integrity you can build up with a complete stranger if you bring in spiritual aspects, and then tell your new potential “business partner” to use the name of the church in vain? Not good thinking, Mr. Kelvin...

Chester, however, was really in a corner now, and took another sip of the bottle of Holy water on the desk next to his PC. This is serious business, and old Chester needs to prayerfully consider his next move.

Chester is a bit of an idiot with all these fancy international payments. He really wants to pay “Mr Kelvin”, but the banks these days are very careful about shifting funds, what with this whole global recession and all that.

You can read all about what Chester did in the next exciting delivery of this awesome true story...