SCAM #3: TOUR SHABAN M ISSA

Those other offers were interesting, but what I was yearning for was something exciting, like, oh, someone with close ties to an internationally-known tyrant:

Dear Friend,
My Name is ..Tour Shaban m Issa I am one of the cabinet members of Col Gaddafi
in , Libya As you must be aware of the present invasion in my country.
we are all moving our money out of Libya
I want you to quickly help me receive and keep the sum of
15,8million . U S D in your country , I have agreed to
give you 25% of the said money for your assistance. It is very urgent
Please reply me urgently on my
private email: tourshanban@aol.com
I will be waiting .
Regards

Come on -- just 25% of blood money? I decided to play it cool:

I'm flattered you got in touch with me, but how could I help? 

  
Get comfortable -- Mr. Issa has quite a tale to tell:

I want to thank you most sincerely for your prompt response to my request email letter with which you have showed a true sense of partnership and understanding and if you can give me your maximum cooperation and support we can complete the transfer of the funds to your custody within 7days. 

 I am a former cabinet member of Gaddafi former ruling Arab Socialist Union Party where I rose to the post of the organizing secretary; I also served as diplomat and ambassador to the countries of Seychelles, Malawi, Central Africa Republic, Mauritius, Somalia, Lesotho and South Africa between 1986 -1999 before retirement. 

I decided to contact you because of the need of reliable, competent and trustworthy person that could assist and help receive my funds for safekeeping and proper and profitable investments in your country.

Before we proceed it is very important that i inform you about my present situations and my plans of how to successfully transfer the funds to your custody because I believe that your proper understanding of my present problems and the type of assistance required from your esteemed self will go a long way to determine your trust and commitment to the funds transfer proposal.

For your information please take note that the funds cannot be transferred through the banks in Libya because I am presently in hiding and running for my dear life and my bank account has been confiscated while any financial dealings or bank transaction on my side will alert a red flag as there is lots of control by the monetary regulatory authorities at the moment.

To bypass this problems/bottleneck I have perfected plans to secretly ship the funds in cash out of the Libyan territory to your location and as i write to you the funds has already been packed and compressed into trunk boxes in $100 bill denominations and deposited into storage custody at the custom bonded warehouse in Tripoli where it has been declared as diplomatic cargo.

The movement and shipment of the funds will be carried out with the assistance and connections of a trusted UN diplomat who will be using his diplomatic identity and immunity to ship the funds out of Libya as diplomatic cargo.

Be rest assured that the process is 100% secured and guaranteed and will be executed in a manner that will protect you from the breach of any local or international law what will just be required from your side is to cooperate and work together with the diplomat who will make the delivery of the cargo to your custody.

As mentioned in my initial letter I have agreed to give you 25% of the funds for your assistance and you could take out your share immediately the box is delivered to your custody and safe-guide the rest in the vaults pending my arrival in your country.

If you will go ahead to assist and work with me to receive this funds into safe custody for our mutual benefits do get back to me as per return mail so that we can further our discussions and negotiations on how we shall proceed to make the funds transfer a success.

Awaiting your urgent response. 

Best Regards

Trunk boxes filled with C-notes... a trusted diplomat -- this guy thinks of everything! But before I had a chance to reply, he followed up with another email with further details:

Thanks for your prompt reply and I am most glad for your acceptance to move ahead and assist me to receive the funds into safe custody which has given me more confidence and assurance about your capability to handle this operation and I believe you will not betray the trust I will be reposing on you.

Be rest assured that if you can act with all honesty and sincerity in handling this transaction to successful completion there are lot of other benefits and business opportunities which can be derived from our mutual cooperation, but what is most important at this point in time is to work together to make sure the funds are delivered successfully to your safe custody thereafter all other investments modalities will be discussed upon my arrival in your country.

As mentioned in my initial letter I have agreed to give you 25% of the funds for your assistance and you could take out your share immediately the box is delivered to your custody and safe-guide the rest in the vaults pending my arrival in your country.

Before we proceed further it is very important that i inform you that the diplomat who will be making delivery of the consignment cargo to your location does not know the actual true contents of the box, this information was hidden from him because of security reasons so that he does not get greedy and divert the box for his selfish purpose being fully aware of my present predicament.

The document covering the cargo indicates that it was declared as family valuables and documents so as to disguise and conceal the actual contents of the box.

My next plan will now be to contact the diplomat and inform him to begin plans for the immediate shipment of the consignment to your location as you are ready to receive it.

As at my last contact with the diplomat he was in UN headquarters in New York involved in operation logistic for transportation of humanitarian aids to Egypt, Libya and other war torn area in Africa and Middle East and I will try my possible best to reach him as soon as possible.

Please take note that if I do not get back to you or reply your mail as quickly as possible it is because of my present difficult situation as I have to disguise myself when going to public centers to access the internet because there is no internet connections in the locality were I am presently hiding.

Please forward to me as per return mail your address location and the nearest airport to your location so that I can pass across this information to the diplomat to enable him put in place necessary logistics for the shipment and delivery of the cargo.

Awaiting your reply.

Best Regards

Your friend and partner

 
Man, talk about intrigue! I felt like I was starring in a remake of "Casablanca." But there was one little thing I needed clarified:

Before we proceed further, I have to make sure of one thing, just to make sure you are telling the truth. You are a Sunni, aren't you?

Totally legitimate question in deals like this, right?  His reply was swift:

I am a shiites muslim.

Whew. That was a close one. Now we could proceed:

  

That's good. Because if you had been a Sunni, forget it. I couldn't work with you.

Having got religion out of the way, it was time for Mr. Issa to get down to business:

Please forward to me as per return mail your address location and the nearest airport to your location so that I can pass across this information to the diplomat to enable him put in place necessary logistics for the shipment and delivery of the cargo.i will soon be putting off my internet connection.I will be waiting for the details.

Hmm... what if I was the victim of a scam from the Great Satan?:

While I want to trust a brother Shiite, you have to be aware there are many untruthful people in the world. Do you swear that this offer is on the level?

 He must have been salivating by this point:

Yes this offer is true and on the level.

If only I was a more trusting person. As a good faith move, I decided to attach a photo -- but this time I was determined not to use the same one that scared away the others:

I have prayed, and received an answer. If I could look at you in the eyes, I would agree to your offer this second because I would be able to see the truth inside you. I have sent you a photograph of me -- it was taken during a family celebration and is, I admit, a little silly -- and in return I would like to see a picture of you with your eyes open. Even though you won't be in person, I will still be able to see the truth.

It is all I ask for. Then, I will give you the information you request.

 

 

I honestly thought the beard would make me look more authentic. But I guess even he knew that was a photo of John Lennon taken on the set of "Help!" As John once sang, "No reply."