I want to find out if "Donald Ashley" is really an attache to the
United Nations and a member of a "continuous assessment rescue team"
in Africa, and, if so, what is his country of origin.  His daughter's
name is Julia Ashley.

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Request for Question Clarification by juggler-ga on 11 Jun 2003 13:14 PDT

Did you by any chance receive an email from (or about) this "Donald Ashley"?

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Clarification of Question by dwald-ga on 11 Jun 2003 14:01 PDT

Yes.  I believe it is a scam.

Hello.

Yes, as you've correctly guessed, it is a scam.  

I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that the email claims that
"Donald Ashley" and "Julia Ashley" are in some sort of trouble. 
Perhaps one of them has been kidnapped by rebels. Perhaps their bank
accounts have been frozen. In any case, some sort of misfortune has
happened, and your help is needed, right?  And perhaps a large sum of
money is involved, as well.

This is fraud.  And it's a huge problem.

See:

Nigerian Letter Scams
http://www1.ifccfbi.gov/strategy/nls.asp

US Secret Service: 419 Advance Fee Fraud Schemes
http://www.treas.gov/usss/alert419.shtml

West African Advance Fee Fraud
http://www.met.police.uk/fraudalert/419.htm

Nigerian Money Offers
http://www.fraud.org/tips/internet/nigerian.htm

Typical Nigerian scam letter
http://www.fraudaid.com/ScamSpeak/Nigerian/analysis01.htm

search strategy: african scam spam

I hope this helps.

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Request for Answer Clarification by dwald-ga on 11 Jun 2003 14:15 PDT

Thank you.  That's just the clarification I needed.  In case anyone
else asks you, this email from "Julia" about "her father, Donald"
promised a ridiculously large sum of money to a nonprofit
organization.  We did not fall for it, but I wanted some evidence to
pass along to others.  Very useful!

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Clarification of Answer by juggler-ga on 11 Jun 2003 14:37 PDT

You're welcome.

You might consider sending a copy of the email to the Secret Service
Task Force for their database on these scam letters:

email:  419fcd@usss.treas.gov  
regular mail:
 United States Secret Service, Financial Crimes Division, 419 Task
Force, 950 H Street, Washington, DC, 20001-4518, USA.
fax: (202) 406-5031.

Mark the documents "No Financial Loss - For Your Database."  

source: fraudaid.com
http://www.fraudaid.com/ScamSpeak/Nigerian/I'veReceivedaNigerianLetter-WhatDo-I-Do.htm
& U.S. Secret Service:
http://www.treas.gov/usss/alert419.shtml
csmonitor.com
http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/1206/p11s02-coop.html

Thank you.

I was contacted by this Donald Ashley person as well. But first I was
contacted by his daughter through an address called
azinvestments@financier.com. They said that they required a 'statement
of need' and that they were going to obtain a donation for the charity
I work for from this Ashley person. The initial contact was named
Robert Duke. Eventually, they said that I should pay a $100 fee in
order to facilitate the bank in Nigeria to send the donation from this
Donald Ashley to my charity. Beware Robert Duke, Donald Asheley and
azinvestments@financier.com.