Has any of you ever received a letter or email like the one below, in the days of no email (no internet), they used to be just letters sent to business men, and they came from Nigeria (late 80's toearly 90's), but later this has spread to several countries from Africa... They even have connections in several European countries from where people get letters with Banks letter Headings as to make anyone feel this is a trustworthy transaction...

From: johnlife
To: Any fool out there. (Mine)

Good Day,

With warm heart I offer my friendship,greetings,and I hope this mail meets you in good time. However strange or surprising this contact might seem to you,as we have not met personally or had any dealings in the past, I humble ask that you take due consideration of its importance and immense benefit. I also sincerely seek your confidence in this transaction,which I propose to you as a person of integrity.

First and foremost I wish to introduce myself properly to you.I am Prince John Dikko, son of the late rebel leader Milson Dikko of cote d'ivoire who was killed on the 22nd of February 2004.

I managed to get your contact details through the internet,myself largely due to time essence and I was desperately looking for a person to assist me in this confidential business.

In brief, I have the sum of eight million five hundred thousand united states dollars only(us$8.5M) which I want to invest in your country. This money was
deposited by my late father in a security vault for safe keeping, of which I was made the sole next of kin as the first son of my mother the third wife to my father,It happened that my mother is in possession of the depositional documents of this deposit.Because of the present situation in my country cote d'ivoire, my mother advised me to leave the country immediately for security reasons, and also to look for a trust worthy foreign partner who can assist me to transfer the money out of sengal to his private or company’s account for investment.

I highly need your assistance both in transferring the money to your country and also investing it in a profitable venture with your kind advice ,as I confide in you hoping you will never betray me at last. My mother and I have proposed (15%) percent of the total sum of the money for you as your own comission, so as for you to give us all necessary assistance and protection we may need in your Country.

Please treat as highly confidential because our future depends on this money,all the vital! documents covering the deposit of the fund in a security company are with me here and will be used to effect change of ownership in your favour for susequent transfer to any account you may wish us to use abroad .

The identity of the finance company where the fund is deposited, will be revealed to you as soon as I recieve confirmation from you on your willingness to proceed, as seeing is believing.reach me through this mail box to discuss modalities on how to proceed.

Looking forward to hearing from you urgent.
Yours Faithfully,

john dikko

(johndikko_017@yahoo.co.in)

Yeah, these show up every now & then. Generally they're from some lawyer in Nigeria. Best thing to do is not respond in any way, but to delete it as junk or spam.

Letters like these are what this woman (http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/08/09/minister.slain/index.html) contributed to the death of her husband.
" ... In addition, she told Tennessee officers details about the murder and about becoming involved in a Nigerian check scam, in which she lost $17,000, Ballin said. ..."

He should have shot her for falling for that nonsense...:-P