With police hot on the trail of Nigerian 419 scammers, fraudsters are changing tack. A new scam e-mail claims to be from the secretary of the Commercial Farmers` Union (CFU) of Zimbabwe looking to "redistribute" $46 million that has been saved from "black looters".
In the e-mail, someone identifying himself as CFU secretary Max Crawford, writes that the CFU`s Harare head office was attacked and burnt down. Fortunately, however, the $46 million cash stockpiled in the strongroom was saved by the CFU secretariat who took the liberty of storing the money on the union`s property rather than risk it being seized by the government if it was deposited into a bank account.
Now Crawford claims to be looking for "a viable business venture" in Europe. "Once I can get your commitment and sincerity of investing this fund on our behalf then I would proceed to get the funds freighted to Europe, where you would be required to pick it up for investment for us," he writes.
Typical of the 419 scam, the letter assures that the process is 100% legal and risk-free. It promises that those who assist with the transfer of funds will be "adequately compensated".
But Crawford warns that all correspondence will have to be via e-mail "as most phone lines of white farmers are bugged by the government". To reply, however, victims are requested to mail not Crawford himself, but rather William Hamilton ESQ, who has two e-mail addresses, one at eircom.net and one at lycos.com.
"I expect 100% confidentiality and your prompt response to this mail so as to proceed," concludes Crawford.
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