The View from Nongkhai

Part 31

Published

21 March 2006

Scambaiting

The story so far. A bank manager in Singapore has contacted me and wants to split $15.75 million dollars with me. I offered to meet him in Singapore, either at the airport, or at his bank. He ignores my offer, so I keep repeating it while stalling completion of the form he sent. He finally replied

Hello Tony Brading,
how are you doing i will advice we dont meet,not for now for security reasons hope you understand and ill contact you, my office lines are not secured for this issue is very confidential and as the attachments ill send them again.all so fill up the form so can apply for the release of the funds ok.
Regards  Pascal

Hi Pascal, 
Yes I do understand what you say about security, so I wasn't going to say anything confidential over unsecured lines. In fact the issue of security is why I suggested meeting you in Singapore, where we should be completely secure in a face to face meeting. 
It does worry me that we continue to communicate by email when everybody knows that the CIA, NSA and FBI all routinely monitor all email traffic. As the deceased was an American citizen, it is quite likely that at least one of these agencies would have jurisdiction. I certainly don't want to spend the rest of my life in Guantanamo Bay. It worries me that you are very much at risk, as you have given your address and passport details out over the internet, so they could have a file on you. This worries me because if something happens to you, I will get nothing. So please take care my friend. 
Tres cordialement ton ami Tony
Hello Tony Brading,
 how are you doing hope is well amd this mail meets in good faith.please check the last mail i sent you its there but not as attachment just fill it then scan is and send it back ok.give your number so i can call you.
pascal
Cher Pascal, 
I am sorry for the delay in replying, but I am still in Indonesia, and don't have access to a secure computer. I am presently in an internet cafe, checking my mail, but I don't have the facilities here to process the application. 
The good news is that I will be back home next week, so I will be able to process the application and forward it to you. Should I send it to you at the bank, or should I continue to use this address. I ask, because if I am making an official application, should I send it to you officially? Please let me know. 
Tres cordialement ton ami Tony
Hello Tony Brading,
The good news is that you will be back home next week,so you can hasten the process of the application and forward it to me.and please do not  send it to me at the bank, but to this address.
Pascal

I waited two weeks then sent this......

Cher Pascal, 
I am sorry for the delay in replying, but you will remember that I went to Indonesia last month and got back just this week. 
Unfortunately my girlfriend and I were involved in a motorcycle accident the same day that I got back, and were in hospital for several days, in fact she is still in hospital in a coma. Because I wasn't able to work, I have lost my job at the school. As I have no job at the school, I cannot stay there any more, so I have no job, nowhere to live, no money and my girlfriend (who is also pregnant) is in a coma in hospital, and the bills are getting bigger. 
Pascal, I am desperate, and have no one else to turn to. Is there some way you can lend me some money? You can charge me whatever interest you like as I will of course be able to pay you anything you want once the funds are released to my account. 
Please help me Pascal. 
Tres cordialement ton ami Tony 
I thought he would know I was baiting him, but no......
Tony Brading I am sorry about the situation of things and how is your girlfriend hope she is gettig better well i called a friend of mine in the UK who ready to send you a loan for the transaction and yourself but he said you must provide an USA acccount and the amount invovled the rest i will handle ok and its that easy you must also fill the application text too before any other thing ok.
Hello Pascal,
That is great news about the loan, thank you for your help. As a bank manager yourself, do you recommend any particular American bank? How should I go about opening an account? Do I have to go to America or can I open an
account on the internet? How will I get the money to my bank account here in Thailand? Please reply urgently.
Thank you for asking, my girlfriend is now out of the coma, but she has lost the baby, well babies actually, it would have been twins, and the hospital are pressing me to pay their bill which is 15,000 baht so far, that is nearly $400, and they are holding my passport as security, please reply urgently.
Tres cordialement Tony
P S I will send the form separately
His reply was brief:-  i just called him he said barclays or wells fargo ok
Then I received this:-
Dear Monsieur Tony Brading,
My name is Rafael Smith a loan facilitator cum financier.
I have been contacted by Mr. Pascal Dufrasne in respect of a loan needed by you to finish an urgnet transaction .Please confirm this.
Before we proceed you will have to verify the following to me
1.That the above statement is true
2.That you reconfirm your address where the check will be sent and the names to be on it.
3.State your phone numbers so that I or my partners may speak with you.
4.Verify If it will be easier to have the money wired then you will have to provide me with bank account details and wiring transfer details and also the bank address.(USA BASED BANK ONLY)
5.State the amounts required .
Following this The issue is not raising the money but the fact that in the past we have had to make money available to individual's accounts and it turns out that the names are dummies and we have had money lost in the past and that is why verifications are made before money is released.
In this business of making money available we are discrete but careful all the same.
The following is the process we will follow on this matter.
1.You will make available to me aform of ID to prove who you are .
2.What is the nature of your job?
3.To facilitate the speed of making the money available you will have to settle administrative and consulting charges to the sum of 956 GB pounds (1,661.39 USD) .This is for me to arrange all the paper work for the loan and not allow for delays.(Bear in mind that verifications can take long but as long as you come through me the lenders will be willing to take my word on the paper work I will present). 
I have related this to me Mr Dufrasne and he says that should not be a problem.I suppose that should also be ok with you.

My associates who are in the USA and Canada will be handling this transfers as soon as we are good to go.

In the case of a wire trasfer being the choice then proceed to send the required charges for documentation and charges to the following information via wetern union money transfer 
Name:Patrick Daniels
Location.London U.K
 
After you have done this you are to send by way of attachment or fax the  transfer details being in the form of the transfer receipt along with other required information stated above to this email or fax number
Fax no:+44-7005-982-625 
I will require your account details and will give wiring instructions soon as we are ready to deal.
Get back to me and have a nice day. 
Once I have heard back from you then we can proceed.
Sincerely,
Rafael Smith
I replied to him with a copy to Pascal as follows:-
Hello Rafael, 
Thank you very much for your kind offer to lend me $500, for the modest arrangement fee of $1661.39. 
After so much bad luck, I have had some good luck. Yesterday my girlfriend came out of her coma, and has not suffered any brain damage. Naturally we didn't tell her about losing the babies until she is a little stronger. But last night I went to a bar in Udonthani to celebrate her recovery, and got chatting to an American there. Over the course of a couple of beers I told him about all the recent bad luck. He by contrast had had a run of amazingly good luck, and was feeling that he should share it, so he had no hesitation in loaning me the $500 dollars I needed to pay the hospital bill. The interest rate is not cheap, but at least I have the money. Magic!
Then today I went to the school to see if there was any post for me, and they offered me my job back with a raise (only a small one, but it was a raise!). Plus I can go back to living at the school, and they will let my girlfriend stay when she comes out of hospital. 
So things are looking a lot brighter, than they did a week ago, and I won't be needing a loan from you after all. 
I have copied this to Pascal, and want to thank him for putting us in touch. I will be contacting Pascal separately on a matter of mutual interest. 
Best Regards Tony
I am still waiting to hear from them again. If you want to read two good scambaiting tales, go to
http://www.wendywillcox.50megs.com/
 
http://www.whatsthebloodypoint.com/scam.php?scamno=3