The perpetrators of Advance Fee Fraud (AFF), known internationally as "4-1-9" fraud after the section of the Nigerian penal code which addresses fraud schemes, are often very creative and innovative.


http://www.419eater.com/html/bigman.htm


TITLE: Busted!
SCAMMER NAME: Ony Obo
SCAMMER LOCATION: Lagos, Nigeria
SCAMBAITER: Shiver Metimbers


For a slight change, we have a scammer trying to ply his trade via a different routine. This time it's a repentant dying man, wanting to distribute his millions to charity. Of course, were someone to reply to this email wanting to help, the victim would have course pay fictitious "fees" to a fake barrister that the scammer would hire to handle the cash transfer.

We've had carvings and artwork from scammers on quite a few occasions now, and I think it's time to move on to other ways to cause misery for these thieves, so for my final attempt at getting artwork out of a scammer I'll try for something a little different.



It all starts way back near the end of July 2006...



From: Ony Obo
To: Brian Anthony
Date: July 23rd 2006
Subject: HELP ME TO SPREAD GOODNESS

Hello my friend,

Hope this day finds you well?, I am Ony Obo a merchant in Nigeria, I have been diagnosed with Esophageal cancer, It has defiled all forms of medical treatment, and right now I have only about a few months to live, according to medical experts.

I have not particularly lived my life so well, as I never really cared for anyone (not even myself) but my business. Though I am very rich, I was never generous,I was always hostile to people and only focused on my business as that was the only thing I cared for. But now I regret all this as I now know that there is more to life than just wanting to have or make all the money in the world.

Now that God is about to call me, I have willed and given most of my property and assets to my immediate and extended family members as well as a few close friends. I want God to be merciful to me and accept my souL. I have decided to give also to charity organizations, as I want this to be one of the last good deeds I do on earth. So far, I have distributed money to some charity organizations in the U.A.E, Algeria, Sudan, Europe and Kenya. Now that my health has deteriorated so badly, I
cannot do this myself anymore.

I once asked members of my family to close one of my accounts and distribute the money which I have there to charity organization in Bulgaria and Pakistan, they refused and kept the money to themselves. Hence, I do not trust them anymore, as they seem not to be contended with what I have left for them. I will want you to help me collect my last deposit and dispatched it to charity organizations which I deposited in security/finance house abroad,

which no one knows of is the huge cash deposit of (Twelve Million Eight Hundred Thousand U.S dollars) I have set aside 25% for you, then 5% for any expenses incured.

If you are interested, please send your prompt reply to my private email address below which you will have to reply to if you will be kind enough to assist;
Email: bigiXXX@yahoo.co.uk

God bless you

Ony Obo

Things to note:

This guy is a grade 'A' P.O.S. Along with this email - which scambaiters have seen many dozens of times in many variations - he sent quite disturbing photographs of a poor guy obviously at death's door in a hospital bed. The images are too depressing and private to publish here, and also, they are not of the scammer himself (obviously). Many scambaiters will be familiar with the photographs as they have been sent by many hundreds of scammers all over the Internet. We now know who the real patient is, and sadly he passed away in May of 2005. This hasn't of course stopped this particular lowlife from spreading his photographs over the net to try to shock people into helping him.

Unfortunately the real patient's wife has became aware that scammers have been passing her husband's photographs all over the Internet, and in fact she contacted 419eater.com about it. One can only imagine the pain and suffering this is causing her. Not only does she have to cope with the loss of her husband, but also the fact that thousands of scammers out there are passing her husband's photos all over the Internet in an attempt to scam people.

Time to teach this worm a lesson.



NOTE: Some names have been changed to protect this in-progress scambait, mainly the scammer's real name.







OK. On with the old faithful "art company" introduction.

From: Brian Anthony
To: Ony Obo

Dear Mr. Obo,

Thank you very much for your very interesting email, however I am afraid that I will be unable to help you at this time. These next three months are by far the busiest and most profitable period for my company and I cannot give any time to anything other than finding new artwork for our galleries especially wooden carvings.

You may already know of me since it was you that contacted me. My name is Brian Anthony and I am the director of Brian Anthony Fine Arts & Artist Scholarships. We are dealers in fine art and ethnic art from all over the world. We run eight art galleries and two scholarship centres here in the UK. We also offer scholarship donations to aid up and coming new artists who may otherwise not have the financial means to be able to produce or improve upon their work. Our scholarship payments range from between $25,000 and $150,000 depending on the potential of the artist.

I am sorry but I am unable to enter into your business proposition at this time, however if you have any contacts in your part of the world who may be artists that you think may benefit from our financial help then I would be very interested to be put in touch with them. We are especially very keen on promoting new artists with experience in wood carving and will be happy to offer a very generous $25,000 to $150,000 scholarship package to young or old artists with good potential who may benefit from our help.

You may see some of our latest recipients and awards on our website (just click on the "visit this page" link on our homepage).

If you know of an artist who could benefit from our financial help and who would be prepared to produce work for us to sell or promote then please do let me know.

Again I am sorry that I am unable to help with your proposition at this time but I wish you luck in finding somebody to help you.

Sincerely,

Brian Anthony
Director
Brian Anthony Fine Arts