Sunday, December 20, 2009

World's Lamest Scam Email

Why do I get the feeling that "Elena" is some guy sitting in front of a computer at an Internet cafe somewhere in Nigeria?
From: Elena Chan
Sent: Sunday, December 20, 2009 7:22 AM
Subject: My Predicament

Hello,

I am in a hurry writing this mail to you, I had to traveled to London, UK for an urgent function and unfortunately for me all cash and credit cards including my phone were stolen at the hotel where I lodged. I am so confused right now, I don't know what to do or where to go. The hotel telephone lines were disconnected during the robbery incident. So I have access to only emails. I am just wondering if you could loan me 1000 Pounds to pay up my bills and to and to get a taxi down to the airport. I'll definitely refund it back to you when i return home today. My return flight leaves in about 3hrs and i don't want to miss my return flight.

Please I need your fast response to my mail as i am having difficulties in paying my hotel bills.

I have nothing left on me and I'm grateful to God that i still have my life and my passport cos it would have been worst if they made had made away with my passport.

I don't really know where i am now but i just have to settle the hotel bills and head to the airport, i have 4hrs before my flight leaves, i need a quick loan from you and i think you can have it wired to my name through western union money transfer.

All I need is just 1000 pounds and you can have it wired to me via Western Union and i promise to refund it as soon as we get back home, here's my info below.

Elena Chan
272, Coriander Avenue, Docklands, E14 2AA,
London United Kingdom

As soon as it is done, kindly get back to me with the confirmation number and the full senders name. Let me know if you are heading to the WU outlet now???

I'm looking forward to hearing from you.
+++
Elena Chan
MSSW Candidate, May 2010
Columbia University School of Social Work
ELC2131@columbia.edu
(949)-439-5330

I receive a lot of these scam messages along with phishing emails but this has to be the lamest one yet. At least offer me 20% of $10 million or something for making me run down to a Western Union on Sunday morning.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

she has a OC area code.

Anonymous said...

Funny thing is I saw Elena day before the email was sent out. Later she told everyone that her gmail got hacked. hahaha

Anonymous said...

I got hit by this, sent from an email address I knew. Same story. Same "Coriander" address. I replied to tell him to check his computer, and "he" replied, "Oh dear, It's not a junk or fake..."

Very slick!

Anonymous said...

Just found your blog post after receiving the same message from a friend's (obviously hacked) email address and then googling the address.

However I resent the 'Nigeria' comment, as I think its been proven that most of these scams now originate from Cameroun and Pakistan- sometimes using typically Nigerian names. (NOW. Am not denying that Nigeria used to be the world leader in internet scams. Lol)

--
Fed-up Nigerian

Anonymous said...

someone even tried using this scam via facebook, how retarded..

Unknown said...

I almost fell for this crap, being a nice guy that I am, posed as one of my favorite art teachers, who I would do anything for, Thank God that He made me feel real uneasy before sending money and told me to check credentials

Anonymous said...

Hey, "Fed-up Nigerian" I got one of these today from a friend whose Yahoo account was hacked. Running the headers gives:

inetnum: 41.155.54.0 - 41.155.54.255
netname: STARCOMMS-20081218
descr: Dial pool subnet for Lagos subscribers
country: NG
admin-c: CM9-AFRINIC
tech-c: CM9-AFRINIC
status: ASSIGNED PA
mnt-by: STARCOMMS-MNT
source: AFRINIC # Filtered
parent: 41.155.0.0 - 41.155.127.255

Sorry, but it *IS* a Nigerian scam.

Anonymous said...

I just received this email "from" my ex-wife. I've seen a lot of these scam emails, but this is the first I've gotten via a hack. What are they going to do next, bastards!