Scam Baiting and Scam Boatin Saga Part. 1

Most of us by now are familar with the many evil and annoying 419 Nigerian money scams bombarding inboxes around the world and wisely take the necessary precautions to avoid any contact with these types of criminals.
However, some of you may not be aware of an internet sport/hobby growing in popularity called Scam Baiting. Like all sports it has its own rules and code of ethics, and comes with inherent dangers attached. Like a hobby, it involves the investment of time, practice and problem solving. It's unlike mosts sports and hobbies in that it's free to participate in and doesn't require anything more than a creative mind.
I have decided to post some my own adventures and dabbles, novice as I am, knowing that for some it is more than a growing internet fad/sport/hobby. For some it has become an artform in its own right.

For me, my only goals are simple and plain:
1. To waste as much of the scammers time as possible.
2. To frustrate, anger and confuse said scammer.
3. To partake in generous portions of laughter at scammer's expense.

So with that in mind let's begin with the 1st email I received.

From: "nana boatin To: nana_boatin1@hotmail.com Subject: VERY URGENT Date: Tue, 28 Feb 2006 11:27:06 +0000
From: The Manager,Brokerage and InvestmentsBanc Guarantee LtdAccra, Ghana.

Dear Partner,
Please pardon me if you are offended upon receiving this proposal sincewe have no formal contact. is my name and I am the manager, Brokerage and Investments Department of the Banc Guarantee Ltd A Stock Broking Company .I write to solicit your kind assistance in a fund transfer deal of US$ 3,950.000.00. This fund is the excess of the profit made by this Department duringthe year 2004. As the manager, I have already submitted an approved End ofthe Year report for the year 2004 to my Head Office and they will neverknow of this Excess. As an officer of this firm, I cannot be directly connected to this fund thus I am impelled to request for your assistance to receive this money intoyour bank account. I intend to part with 30% of this fund to you while 70%shall be for me.
All I need from you is to stand claim as the original depositor of this fund. The process is very simple. If you accept this offer, I will appreciateyour timely response. In your response please include your FULL CONTACT DETAILS such asNAME, PHYSCIAL, ADDRESS, AGE, SEX, OCCUPATION, PHONE, FAX, EMAILWith these details I will submit to the bank in custody of the fund as the depositor and beneficiary of the fund once I do this they will issue you with the deposit document technically making you the OWNER of the fund and with this document you will order for the transfer of the fund to your designated account
With Kind regards,

Mr. Nana Boatin

Hmm? I don’t know about you but I’m left feeling disappointed by the slack effort put forth by this/these individual(s). I was hoping my 1st 419 letter would look more believable than that.
I hoped someone in this crimainal sydicate would atleast spend some checking spelling and grammar before the email is sent to at least try to look and sound Legit.
Mr. Nana Boatin’s or who ever you really are I hope like me, this is also your 1st attempt to scam someone because you really need to step your game up fella. 2/10 points for this email.

Date: Wed, 1 Mar 2006 00:46:49 -0800 (PST) From: "erueti _welly" Subject: Re: VERY URGENT
To: Nana_boatin
Hi Baby. You sound hot. Wanna cyber? Whats your ASL?? Any chance of a picture?

Sure, I realise this is a cheap start but still a start no less. For anyone familiar with yahoo messenger or internet chatting at all for that matter I hope will find this amusing.
But will nana_boatin?
I wait for a reply from Nana but nothing. Apparently our manager of Brokerage and Investment is strictly above board. It's all about the business deal and not the busines of a possible cyber hookup with a possible future client. I guess I could wait for a
couple of days before I reply to give Nana a bit of time to forget my last transgression. This time I wanted to sound interested and naive to the 419 scam artist game hoping to reel Nana in with a fresh opportunity to scam someone hapless imbecile.

Date: Fri, 3 Mar 2006 02:32:25 -0800 (PST) From: "erueti_welly" Subject: Re: VERY URGENT
To: nana_boatin
Hello Nana. Thankyou very much for you email. Is this true?

Will Nana bite this time and come out to play?

Date: Sat, 11 Mar 2006 11:32:39 -0800 (PST) From: "nana_boatin boatin Subject: Yes To: "erueti brown"
Dear partner yes very true . all you ahev to do is send me your conatct details as i have requested in my initial mail and I will ghuiode you step by step until the fund hits your account. I await your details.
Regards
Nana

Success! Nana has taken the bait and replied with an absolutely wonderful gem of spelling, punctuation and grammar. Fantastic! 4/10 (special points awarded for "I will ghuiode you...")
Remember, I am trying to waste as much of Nana's time as possible. I want to frustrate him throughly by giving him everything but his requests for details. I figure as long as I have his attention there will hopefully be one complete idiot out there left spared.
I'm pretty certain that English isn't his Nana's first language. So of course I'll have to Fuck with him. Maybe I should subject him to countless long winded emails filled with the rantings of a well meaning, overly familiar simpleton? Will Nana understand any of it?
Or will it go right over his head?

Date: Sun, 12 Mar 2006 14:53:58 -0800 (PST) From: "erueti brown"
Subject: Re: Yes To: "nana_boatin boatin"
Hello again nana. I have been looking on the internet for your Organisation and cannot seem to find any information. Is this because of a miscommunication? Im not very good with computers and this is all pretty new to me. I'm only wondering because I noticed you forgot to tell me your name in the first email you sent me and maybe this is a similar mistake. How are you? I would like to know your name to get more comfortable in our relationship. You know there are alot of bad people out there trying to take advantage of others so I would like to know abit about you to see if you are indeed a good person with a good heart. I also have a good heart and look forward to doing good work with you. Cant wait to hear from you.
God Bless you. xxx

I'm not entirely sure where I was going with this email for the first half to be honest. The second half flowed out easier but I feel the email as a whole still reflected the mindset of an overly trusting simpleton. What will Nana think? Do you like what you see so far Nana?

Date: Mon, 13 Mar 2006 00:03:49 -0800 (PST) From: "nana_boatin boatin"
Subject: More about me To: "erueti brown"
Dear partner,
Thanks for your mail, Well My full name is Nana Samson Boatin Like I said in my earlier mail
I am working with a brokerage company and I am married with kids.
I am 49 years old and am looking forward to round out this transaction with you I will send to you a copy of my passport and I will please like you to do same, with all the details that I requested of you so that we can go on with this transaction. I thank you very much and may God bless you too.

Regards Samson

What a heart warming friendly email Samson. His English shows a remarkable improvement from his eariler efforts. I'm begining to ask myself if I am dealing with the same person everytime or perhaps an entire cottage industry of Samsons'. Keep up the good work Partner! 6/10 for this email.

That concludes todays Adventure. Be on the lookout after my birthday. I'll be posting "Scam Boatin Saga" part 2 which promises to be full to the brim with more exciting stuff from Samson Nana Boatin.

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By Erueti Brown with No comments