Dearest One,
I am Mrs Deborah Makkanah.I am a widow,being that i lost my husband.My husband was a serving director of the Cocoa Exporting Board until his death.He was assasinated by the rebels following the political uprising,Before his death he made a deposit of Eight Million Dollars.($8,000,000.00) here in one of the leading bank here in cote d'Ivoire.He intended to buy a cocoa processing machines with the fund.
I want you to help me for us to retreive this fund and transfer it to your account in your country or any safer place as you will be the beneficiary and recipient of the fund which we will use for joint invesment in your country.I have plans to do investment in your country,Like real estate and industrial productions.
This is my reason for writing to you.Please if you are willing to assist me and my only son Boureima,Indicate your intrest by replying urgently.
Thanks and best regards,
Mrs Deborah Makkanah.

I was waiting for one of these to show up eventually. I think I like the idea of replying urgently. It suggests importance. Considering Mr. Makkanah was assasinated by the rebels following the political uprising, he must have been important, right? Since it's not coming from a Nigerian prince, I guess this one should be believed, especially since she bothers to mention her only son (whos' name only comes up as a surname... go fig?)...

I find it amazing how many people continue to get lured into silly scams like this. My ex & I watched in horror as a relatively level-headed friend just narrowly avoided losing everything he had in an attempt to collect his "canadian lotto" cash... he was so hopeful and happy to play phone tag and drop bits of money here and there to speed up the process. In the end, he stopped, though whether it was due to insight or lack of funds I couldn't say. He did end up losing quite a bit besides finances, most painfully his gf of nearly ten years. He is still a charming, happy-go-lucky sort of guy, the kind of friend who always knows how to make you smile, even when all you feel like doing is crying into a pint of ice cream. It's sad & frustrating to see friends do stupid things; even more so when you realize that nothing on your end with help stop it. It's shamefully easily to dupe someone when hope is tapped. With the changes in our world of late, perhaps appealing to whatever semblance of honor is left will help us overcome. I spent the better part of my life believing that hope was pointless and self-serving, and could never get me where I needed to be. Perhaps it's the sucker in me that hopes that Mrs. Makkanah and her son get the help they are looking for that made me that way.