Expert: Cassandra - 2/2/2009

Question
Hey there, Cassandra!
I recently recieved this email into my personal school email address about this lady, Marty Kone. As i saw a current affairs program relating to this, I did not reply. Here it is:
FROM  MS MARTHY KONE
RUE 6 BP 01COCODY ABIDJAN
COTE D IVOIRE.


DEAR FRIEND,

I KNOW MY MESSAGE WILL COME TO YOU AS A SURPRISE
SINCE I DONT KNOW YOU IN PERSON OR MET WITH YOU BEFORE
BUT AM OF THE BELIVE THAT YOU WOULD BE OBLIGED TO COME
TO MY ASSISTANCE AFTER HEARING ABOUT MY SITUATION. I
AM MARTHY KONE I AM ALSO 18 YEARS OLD,

I WAS FORMELY A MEDICAL STUDENT  OF  UNIVERSITY OF
ABIDJAN,IVORY COAST WEST AFRICA.LATE LAST TWO YEAR'S
OCTOBER 2006,THE REBELS IN MY COUNTRY STRUCK OUR
TOWNSHIP AND KILL MY PARENTS AND MY  ONLY BROTHER
BECAUSE MY FATHER  WAS AN OPPOSITION LEADER TO THE
PRESIDENT OF MY COUNTRY  IVORY COAST .

BEFORE HIS DEATH HE HAS  $9.5 M USD (Nine Million ,
Five Hundred Thousand dollars.)IN A DOMICILIARY
ACCOUNT WITH A BANK IN COTE D IVOIRE WHICH I AM THE
NEXT OF KIN. PLEASE I NEED YOUR ASSISTANCE IN THE
FOLLOWING WAYS.

1)TO SERVE AS THE GUARDIAN OF THIS FUND,
2)TO PROVIDE A BANK ACCOUNT WHERE THIS MONEY WOULD
BETRANSFERRED .
3)TO MAKE ARRANGEMENT FOR ME TO COME OVER AFTER THIS
MONEY IS TRANSFERRED TO COMPLETE MY STUDIES AND ALSO
LOOK FOR A GOOD VENTURE WHERE THIS  MONEY WILL BE
INVESTED,I AM WILLING TO OFFER YOU 20% OF TH TOTAL
SUM AS COMPENSATION OF YOUR EFFORT AND 5% FOR ANY
OTHER EXPENCE YOU MIGHT  MADE AFTER A SUCCESFUL
TRANSFER.

THANKS AND GOD BLESS YOU
SINCERELY
MS MARTHY KONE

Found it really weird, and i wanted to ask if you've ever heard of her.

Thanks, Ray


Answer
Ray,

You were quite right not to reply.  This letter/email is a very old type of scam, commonly known as 'the Nigerian Scam' because the original scammers tended to operate out of Nigeria.

Before the internet, these fraudsters used traditional letters to perpetrate their scams.

I would be very surprised to find that there exists an 18 year old medical student named Marthy Kone, but there might be someone on the other end of the e-mail/phone playing the part.

These scams are very common, and all fraudulent.

For more information, here are a few websites you may find interesting.

http://www.snopes.com/crime/fraud/nigeria.asp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advance_fee_fraud
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,453125,00.html
http://fraudgallery.com/

Thanks for writing!

Cassandra