419 Scam takes another new turn

The basic Nigerian Scam is no longer related only to Nigeria: letters have for many years made reference to whatever political and economic crisis, real or imagined, afflict economies. In 1997, for example, there was a rash of letters claiming to come from people trying to expatriate funds from Hong Kong in advance of the hand-over, even though there was no reason for there to be any difficulty in anyone moving funds out of the (then) British territory.

Of late, Sierra Leone and the Ivory Coast have been examples of situations that have been exploited by the scam artists.

And, of course, the famed letters claiming to come from the Marcos family and even the families of various former political leaders from Africa and Eastern Europe have made many smile.

Another new twist has come about with the claims of a letter now being distributed by internet: that the money is in the hands of those related to former Philippines president Estrada.

Estrada is facing trial on various charges ranging up to plunder, for which the death penalty is the maximum sentence. He denies any improper obtaining of funds.

So the letters are not helping his case.

Purportedly originating from "estrada_304@epatra.com" or " estrada_309@epatra.com, " the letters claim to be from "LOI C.ESTRADA,The wife of Mr. JOSEPH ESTRADA, the former President of Philippines located in the South East Asia."

It claims that she made some money from various deals and "I secretly siphoned the sum of $30,000,000 million USD (Thirty million United states dollars) out of Philippines and deposited the money with a security firm that transports valuable goods and consignments through diplomatic means. I also declared that the consignment was solid gold and my foreign business partner owned it."

The letter invites e-mail contact because telephones are not secure and says that Estrada is not aware of the actions she is taking. She wants someone to go to the security company to collect the money.

If it were true, then the security company should now be on notice of the shipment and should take steps to consider whether to have suspicions with regard to the money!