Grandpa says: Wow! I never suspected that The Voice reached all the way to Africa. The following is an actual letter that Grandpa received by E-mail. I cut and pasted it exactly as it presented. See if you can find all the clues that this is a scam. Look closely. Grandpa is taking a straw poll; how many of our readers would fall for this scam?
Good day my dear….
We have programmed an ATM MASTER CARD with your name and uploaded your total fund of (US$4.5Million) in the Card so that you will be withdrawing with it in any ATM MACHINE. The ATM MASTER CARD works worldwide and the daily amount WITHDRAW according to our programming system is(US$15,000.00) Fifteen Thousand Dollars only.
I Mr.Tony Elumelu, have made the delivery arrangement with DHL DELIVERY COMPANY NIGERIA that will carry on the delivery to your given address and the Director told me that Delivery of the ATM MASTER CARD to your house will be smooth with out delay.
He assured me that their Company takes a good four days to complete any delivery registered with accurate address. So you are advised to send your full address such as: Full Name:_ Home Address: Country:_ State:_
City:_ Zip code: Telephone Number:_ Bank routing number _ Bank account number
Please, your urgent reply will be appreciated for immediate registering of your ATM CARD.
Mr. Tony Elumelu
United Bank For Africa
Grandpa says: Look for some telltale signs of a scam, such as improper grammar, misspelled words, requests for personal information. An example, why ask for your banking information if they are sending out an ATM card? The biggest clue is that nobody ever will send you large sums of money for any legitimate reason. Nothing coming to you in the way of monetary gain ever will come from a foreign country. Not to any working or retired person whose work does not include international trading. Remember, the scammers depend on your greed to feed theirs. See Proverbs 1:19. Be vigilant, be wise, be safe. Yes, Grandpa did send the original on to authorities for investigation.
Beloved Reader! Do Not Respond to any such E-mail you might get. Not only will you be exposing your entire life to foreign nationals whose intent is to steal your money and identification, but you will risk destroying your computer. Embedded in the E-mail is a worm, or a virus, or whatever the techno-junkies call it. That will cause your computer to self-destruct. My IT guy compared it to the tape recorder on the old Mission Impossible TV show. The virus is activated when you reply to the E-mail. It allows your reply to be delivered, then destroys your devise so that law enforcement cannot trace the source or the perpetrators. Hence the delivery delay of four days. Does anyone within the readership area of The Voice really believe that some stranger is willing to just hand you four and a half million dollars? I like to think that we have some of the most intelligent readers. Please don’t prove me wrong. Peace and Love from Grandpa and staff members.
Got something stuck in your craw? Ask Grandpa. Address your letters to Ask Grandpa c/o The Voice, PO Box 123,
Aurora, IL 60507 or send an E-mail to askgrandpa@thevoice.us.