Hello.
After an extensive search, I must conclude that there is no such
person as Dr William Adimon.
"Dr Adimon" is fictional and the business proposition that you were
offered is indeed a scam. Such emails and letters are extremely
common and are known as "Nigerian letter scams." Actually they
originate from many West African countries including Cote d Ivoire and
Sierra-Leone.
From the FBI's Internet Fraud Complaint Center:
"# The preferred method of response in Nigerian Letter Scams is via
e-mail. The subjects often request that the intended victim include
their telephone/fax number, complete address, and bank account
information in their response.
# Most Nigerian Letters Scams originate in Lagos or Lome-Togo,
Nigeria. Other African cities where they originate include
Congo-Zaire, Sadton, Cote d Ivoire, Accra Ghana, Eleme, Festac Town,
Ivory Coast, and Seirra-Leone. Also, Canada and the United Kingdom
have been identified as originating countries for this scam.
# Nigerian Letter Scams involve numerous African Banks to include
African Development Bank (ADB), Union Bank of Nigeria, Apex Bank,
Togolaise Bank, Standard Trust Bank Limited (Lagos), Eco Bank Nigeria
Plc, United Bank for Africa, and the International Bank of Africa.
# Many Nigerian Letter Scam perpetrators present themselves as bank
chief auditors, chief security officers, remittance department
officials, directors of finance, director of bank, contract award
department employees etc.
# Most Nigerian Letter Scam perpetrators claim to have discovered
inactive or delinquent accounts that hold vast amounts of money ready
to be claimed. One common variation includes the over-invoicing of
contracts (Contract Awards Department or company). They inform you
that they have received millions of dollars through this practice and
need help transferring the money to an overseas account.
# All Nigerian Letter Scams claim to involve millions of dollars that
need to be moved out of the country.
# According to available data, the IFCC has only received two
complaints wherein the intended victim had lost money. One of the
complaints was for $30,000 and the other for $1000.
# The bulk of the Nigerian Letter Scam complaints received at the IFCC
are from concerned citizens wanting to alert the public.
# Most Nigerian Letter Scams offer the victim a 30 percent cut for
their help. A 30-60-10 split is the most common whereas the 10 percent
is supposed to cover any expenses incurred during the transfer."
source:
Federal Bureau of Investigation: Internet Fraud Complaint Center
http://www1.ifccfbi.gov/strategy/nls.asp
You may report Internet Fraud to the FBI via this web page:
http://www1.ifccfbi.gov/cf1.asp
Also see:
HOW TO REPORT A NIGERIAN SCAM LETTER
What to do if you receive a Nigerian Scam Letter
http://www.fraudaid.com/ScamSpeak/Nigerian/I'veReceivedaNigerianLetter-WhatDo-I-Do.htm
If that link doesn't parse correctly, try:
http://tinyurl.com/731x
Additional information:
"... you open your e-mail. What's this? Someone claiming to be a
Nigerian prince or a diplomat from a war-torn country is offering you
15 per cent of $30 million to open a bank account for him? Don't
reply. It's a scam."
source: Hubcanada
http://www.hubcanada.com/story_10734_5
That the solicitation that you received claimed to involve a
"diplomat" using the title "dr" is quite typical.
Here are some examples:
"My name is DR ANTHONY ALLI of the Democratic Republic of Congo and One of the
close aides to the former President of the Democratic Republic of Congo..."
http://www.g6csy.net/spam/419-congo.html
"MY NAME IS DR. FAROUK SANNI..."
http://www.quatloos.com/cm-niger/sanni1.htm
" My name is Dr John Tarawarlly ..."
http://www.fraudaid.com/ScamSpeak/Nigerian/419/N-Z/tarawarlly.htm
"I AM DR. MUGU WETAEGO..."
http://www.fraudaid.com/ScamSpeak/Nigerian/419/N-Z/wetaego.htm
"My name is Dr. Jegede Balogun..."
http://www.dcmsoft.com/zuba/zuba/gallery1.htm#Balogun
------------
More information:
PUBLIC AWARENESS ADVISORY REGARDING "4-1-9" OR "ADVANCE FEE FRAUD" SCHEMES
http://www.treas.gov/usss/alert419.shtml
Nigerian Money Offers
http://www.fraud.org/tips/internet/nigerian.htm
"Meet the Nigerian E-Mail Grifters "
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,53818,00.html
------------
search strategy:
"william adimon", etc
nigerian scam
419 letter scam
----------------
Finally, thank you for your question. I hope that the information
above, while possibly disappointing, will be helpful to you. I
strongly urge you to report the scam letter/email that you received to
the appropriate authorities as outlined above. If you have any
additional questions or anything needs clarification, please let me
know via the "request clarification" feature. Thanks. |
