Turning down $1.2 Million

Just when I thought all the oil millionaires and wealthy parliament leaders had managed to escape Nigeria without my help…

I recently received an email from Dr. Johnson L. King, the “Chief accountant and a member of the Contract Board (CB) of the Petroleum, Oil & Gas Corporation of South Africa”.

To sum it up, he wanted to transfer $4 million to my bank account and give me 30% for my troubles (about $1.2 million).

I’ve received many scam emails from Africa over the years, and so I decided to compare Dr. Johnson L. King’s offer with some of the others I’d received.

I then replied to his message. Here’s the email I sent back to him (I haven’t received a counter-offer yet…)

—————

Dear Mr. King,

I am sorry, but I cannot accept your offer as it stands.

At this time I have a Contract Tender Board member in Johannesburg offering me $7 million in exchange for my services, a Head of State from the Republic of Cote D’Ivore needing a safe place to transfer money in exchange for $5.5 million, and the son of the late Liberian Mineral and Energy Resources Minister offering me 30% of 10 million in a risk-free transaction. I’m going to have a hard time keeping track of all this money to begin with, and I’m afraid your $1.2 million offer is not enough to bother with right now.

You’ll either have to boost the reward money or you’re going to have to wait in line.

Sincerely,
Jarom

————–

Yes, I am a savvy businessman.

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The original letter is below, in case you want to read it (as if you haven’t received plenty of these emails yourself). I will have to ask my new South African friend what a “suspense account” is though…

——– Original Message ——–
Subject: Dr. Johnson L. King.
From: “loeuro int12?
Date: Sat, July 31, 2006 9:24 am
To: loeuroint12@expn.com

Attention,

I am Chief. accountant and a member of the Contract Board (CB) of the Petroleum, Oil & Gas Corporation of South Africa (PTY) Ltd also known as PetroSA. I am presently on a special diplomatic duty in the South Africa foreign office in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. I got your contact through discreet inquiries in my search for a reliable individual or company who can handle a strictly confidential transaction that involves the transfer of a reasonable sum of money to a foreign account. I have no doubt in your ability to handle a financial business of considerable amount, which will form the bedrock of an extensive business partnership in due course. In unfolding this proposal, I want to count on your status that you will handle this transaction with all maturity and confidentiality it deserves.

The money we want to transfer to you amount to a total of US$4.000,000.00 (Four Million United States Dollars) only. It was extracted from various over-invoiced contracts, masterminded by myself and some of my colleagues for our mutual benefit when the contracts was awarded by the Contracts Tender Board (CTB) of the Petroleum, Oil & Gas Corporation of South Africa (PTY) Ltd. The above over-invoiced sum has been drafted and short-listed for final payment to a foreign bank account and it has been reflected as an amount to be paid to a foreign contractor for contract that has been executed for the Petroleum, Oil & Gas Corporation of South Africa (PTY) Ltd. The money is currently floating in the suspense account of the South Africa Reserve Bank (SARB) awaiting claim by a foreign partner, which status we absolutely want you to assume. The code of conduct bureau in South Africa has made it an offence for civil servants like us to (A) operate a foreign account (B) own a foreign company and(C) take up contract while still in active service. This is why we need your assistance.

Now is the optimum period to realize this fund following the recent directive given to all-federal parastatals and corporations to pay off all foreign debts? I therefore seek your assistance to allow the remittance of this fund to be made to your personal or company’s bank account. We have agreed that 30% of the total sum will be given to you and 70% will be for my colleagues and me after the successful transference of the fund to your bank account.

I want to assure you that all modalities for the successful transfer of this money to your account has been perfectly worked out and as such, there is no fear of failure. However, I would want to believe that you are honest enough and will not raise any misgiving attitude in any aspect of the transaction. Most importantly, you will keep this transaction very confidential so as not to tarnish the confidence reposed on these officials by the nation’s financial house. If this proposal interests you, kindly indicate your willingness to me through email Address:( lancerkingjr@netscape.net ) for immediate commencement of the transaction.

To enable this fund to be successfully transferred to your account, you will also have to provide the following information:
1. Your company name and address that you wish to use as the beneficiary to claim the fund.
2. Your private telephone, fax Numbers.
3. Your Bank name, address and account number where you would want the money remitted.
More information about the remittance of the fund to your account will be sent to you when I receive your response. Meanwhile, your swift response will help us to meet the ultimatum given to all foreign contractors in this payment quarter to ensure that funds are claimed. We also wish to discuss investment strategy with you. We have the plan of investing part of our fund in real estate with your assistance in your country. Please treat this information as confidential.

Yours faithfully,

Dr. Johnson L. King.