MoMusings

Whoopee! I’ve won a car from Honda and a pile of money, must be my lucky day…. I’ve already won about 12 Million US Dollars according to the various e-mails I’ve so far received today*.

Let’s look at this latest e-mail informing me that I’ve won a car and £150,000 [UK Pounds, about 260,000 US Dollars]; which claims it comes from Honda.

Here are a series of screenshots of the actual e-mail:

Looks very convincing, yes?

Well, as you may have already guessed, this e-mail isn’t from Honda, there is no car or money…..it is a scam!

I blogged about what 419s are [aka Nigerian scam and Advance Fee Frauds] a few months ago as this form of fraud is widespread and new variants appear from time to time as the boys from Lagos try out new ways to hook new victims.

This [Honda] one is a new twist on the lottery version which I also blogged about recently, this one ties to get suckers, er…..I mean willing, naive victims to give away personal details, and probably a fair bit of money to boot; such as handling fees for the non-existent money…..in other words the only ones who come out of this richer are those that run the scam.

In this case the claim is that you have won a car from Honda [NOT], and a pile of money [NOT].

Whatever you do don’t fall for this scam [or any of it’s relations], it relies on what the Lagos boys call Wad [rich, greedy people]. They also use a less polite name for the people they dupe; Mgbada**.

Oh by the way, just in case you didn’t get it, like all the other multitudinous versions, this latest one is nothing more than a scam, there is no car, [money or other valuables, such as Oil, Gold, Diamonds, etc.]. To the boys from Lagos [the 419ers that run these scams] it is a business, some say it should be considered an African cottage industry, however they want to try and justify it, it is still a crime, no more, no less.

Bigger versions of the pictures can be found here:

• Top of the Honda 419
• Middle of the Honda 419
• Foot of the Honda 419

I tried to see if Honda had a warning on their site about this, but at the time of writing this, no warning could be found. I have now forwarded a copy onto them.

* Of course I haven’t really got any of the money or the car, it is just the total of all the 419 scams, that if the money really existed and it wasn’t a scam, I would have collected in a single day. In other words, I’m not rich, so don’t come asking me for a loan or a handout
** I would be interested in what this translates to in English; anyone who knows please send me an e-mail, rather than posting a comment.