My Cash For You

May I crave your indulgence to open this business discussion by a formal letter of this sort. It is pertinent that a business of this magnitude should have commenced properly with a formal meeting of you and us to enable us know ourselves, have a fore knowledge of the nature of the business, discuss and acquaint ourselves with the responsibilities and functions of parties concerned, and appropriate sharesaccordingly. However, for time factor, confidentiality and personality of people involved here in Nigeria, we choose this approach for the remittance of this Ten Million, Five Hundred Thousand, U.S. Dollars (US$10.5M). Please bear with us for making the initial contact through e-mail. But my partners are insisting for a meeting in order not to fall into a wrong hand again. I am Mr.F. Williams Smith, we are members of the special committee for Budget and Planning of the Ministry of Petroleum. This committee is principally concerned with contract appraisal and the approval of the contracts in order of priorities as regards capital projects of the past military government of Nigeria.With our positions, we have successfully secured for ourselves this sum of Ten Million, Five Hundred Thousand U.S. Dollars (US$10.5M). This amount was accumulated through undeclared windfall sales of crude oil during the gulf war. Hence together with two of our top officials at the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), we plan to transfer this amount of money into a secure verseasaccount by awarding a sort of contract from the NNPC.To this effect I have been given the mandate by my colleagues to contact you and ask foryour assistance.What we need from you is to provide a nice account inwhich the funds will be transferred. Everything about me is nice Mr. Smith, so you've hit the jackpot here. My colleagues and I have agreed to compensate you or the owner of the account used for this transaction with 25% of thetotal amount remitted. We shall have 70% and the remaining 5% reserved for taxes and other miscellaneous expenses in your country. It may interest you to know that last two years a similar transaction was carried out with one Mr.RogerWilliams, the President of Craine International Trading Corporation at number 135 East 57th Street, 28th Floor, New York, NY 10022 with telephone number (212)308-7xxx and telex number 6731xxx. After the agreement between both partners in which he was to take 20% of the money while the remaining 80% for us. With all the required documents signed, the money was duly transferred into this account only to be disappointed on our arrival in New York, and we wereeliably informed that Mr. Patrice Miller was no longer on that address while his telephone and telex numbers have been reallocated to somebody else. That was how we lost US$9 Million to Mr. Roger Williams. Roger, if you're reading this I hope you're feeling guilty! This time around we need a more reliable and trustworthy person or a reputable company to do business with hence this letter to you. Yes, I'm your man for reliability Mr. Smith. So if you can prove yourself to be trusted and interested in this deal then we are prepared to do business with you. What we want from you is the assurance that you will let us have our share if this amount (US$10.5M) is transferred into your account. If this proposal is okay by you, then reply through my email urgently so that we can set the ball rolling and negotiate the modalities involved. Kindly, treat as very important and strictly confidential, I honestly assure you that this transaction is 100% risk-free. I look forward to your response and expected co-operation and God bless you. Regards. Mr. Williams Smith

Lets open up with a familiar routine to regular readers... From: Derek Trotter To: Williams Smith Date: January 6, 2006

Dear Mr. Smith, Thank you so much for your very interesting email, however I am afraid that I will be unable to help you at this time. These next three months are by far the busiest and most profitable period for my company and I cannot give any time to anything other than the procurement of artwork especially wooden carvings. You may already know of me since it was you that contacted me. My name is Derek Trotter and I am the director of Trotter Fine Arts Dealer and Art Scholarships. We are dealers in fine art and ethnic art from all over the world and we supply many business and private customers. We own eight art galleries and two scholarship centres here in the UK. We also offer scholarship donations to aid up and coming new artists who may otherwise not have the financial means to be able to produce or improve their work. Our scholarship payments range from between $25,000 and $150,000 depending on the potential of the artist. I am sorry Mr. Smith but I am unable to enter into your business proposition at this time, however if you have any contacts in your part of the world who have artists who you think may benefit from our financial help then I would be very interested to be put in touch with them. We are especially very keen on promoting new artists with experience in small wood carvings and will be happy to offer a very generous $25,000 to $150,000 scholarship package to young or old artists with good potential. If you know of an artist who could benefit from our financial help and who would be prepared to produce work for us to sell or promote then please do let me know. I wish you luck in finding somebody to help you. Sincerely, Derek Trotter - Director Trotters Fine Arts www.deltrotter.co.uk

It takes a few days for Williams to reply, and it doesn't look promising. From: Williams Smith To: Derek Trotter Date: January 11, 2006 Subject: Re: Investment/Urgent

Dear Mr. Derek Trotter, Your crosspondence letter dated 5/1/2006, was received and the contents there in was dully noted. I am sorry for late response,due to christmas holiday. However, i will like to inform you that we can still transact this business while doing the art business as we will invest the fund into the art business, I assured you free and fair transaction, all I require from you is your honest cooperation to enable us see this transaction through and i guarantee that this will be executed under legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law. This is how the first step will go, We will submit your name as the company and you as the managing director, making you the benefiaciary of the contract sum. The moment we are able to conclude and have the registration certificate, we will apply for the release of the money to you as contract payment for contract perceived to have been executed by you.Once we have the approvals, the contract payment will either be released to you through the governments paying bank or direct wire transfer to your nominated account. Just say you can do it, then we can set the ball rolling. I anticipate a timely response from you now. I wish you and your family a delighted and prosperious new year. Yours Faithfully. Williams.

From: Derek Trotter To: Williams Smith Date: January 11, 2006

Dear Mr. Smith, Thank you for your reply however as I have already told you in my previous email, I have no interest in your proposition at this time. Sincerely, Derek Trotter - Director Trotters Fine Arts www.deltrotter.co.uk

Williams doesn't get the message. From: Williams Smith To: Derek Trotter Date: January 11, 2006 Subject: Re: Investment/Urgent Mr. Derek,

Thanks for your urgent mail wich is well understood. Note, Because of the trust and confidentiality in this business, that is i have contacted you for us to be partnership in business. However, i would like you to look for a trustworthy and honest person like you, i can transact this business with. I await your urgent response. Thanking you for your usual understanding. Remain Bless, Mr. Williams.

From: Derek Trotter To: Williams Smith Date: January 11, 2006

Dear Mr. Smith, I repeat again; I cannot help you with your business proposition and I do not know anybody who can. Sincerely, Derek Trotter - Director Trotters Fine Arts www.deltrotter.co.uk

He doesn't give up easily and sends me a repeat of his email of Jan 11. From: Williams Smith To: Derek Trotter Date: January 12, 2006 Subject: Re: Investment/Urgent Dear Mr. Derek Trotter, Your crosspondence letter dated 5/1/2006, was received and the contents there in was dully noted. I am sorry for late response,due to christmas holiday. However, i will like to inform you that we can still transact this business while doing the art business as we will invest the fund into the art business, I assured you free and fair transaction, all I require from you is your honest cooperation to enable us see this transaction through and i guarantee that this will be executed under legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law. This is how the first step will go, We will submit your name as the company and you as the managing director, making you the benefiaciary of the contract sum. The moment we are able to conclude and have the registration certificate, we will

apply for the release of the money to you as contract payment for contract perceived to have been executed by you.Once we have the approvals, the contract payment will either be released to you through the governments paying bank or direct wire transfer to your nominated account. Just say you can do it, then we can set the ball rolling. I anticipate a timely response from you now. I wish you and your family a delighted and prosperious new year. Yours Faithfully. Williams.

Time to issue a mild slap. From: Derek Trotter To: Williams Smith Date: January 12, 2006

Dear Mr. Smith, Despite me telling you THREE times now that I have no interest in your proposition you still keep trying to change my mind. THIS WILL NOT HAPPEN. You tell me the contents of my letters are "duly noted" however you are NOT duly noting them, you are in fact ignoring them. For the very last time; I am NOT interested in your proposition. I do NOT want to be your partner. I do NOT have the time. I do NOT want any of your money. I will NEVER be interested in your proposition even if you ask me a million times. I am sorry to appear rude to you Mr. Williams but you need to understand that I am EXTREMELY busy and do not have time to waste sending emails backwards and forwards for no reason at all. PLEASE seek out somebody else to help you. I am not interested in making more money. I am already a very wealthy man and I do not seek more wealth. Notice how I dangle the "carrot of wealth" here! Sincerely, Derek Trotter - Director Trotters Fine Arts www.deltrotter.co.uk

Williams decides he can supply artwork after all. Surprise surprise! From: Williams Smith To: Derek Trotter Date: January 13, 2006

Subject: Sorry/Reply now Dear Mr.Derek, Thanks for your email dated 11/1/2006, I am not trying to change your mind for what your spirit did not want, rather i want you to believe that i am for real and this is not junk mail. Anyway, since your spirit have told you not to assist, there is no problem, and i am sorry if my note dated 10/1/2006 annoyed you. Regards to your email dated 5/1/2006, i want to tell you that i will like to be one of your representative in the arts business here in Nigeria and i also got two clients for you for inrespect of the scholarship award, A male and female of age between 15 and 17 years, The female is an Orphan. Please, i will like to know the procedures, So that you can communicate with them. Thanking you for your esteemed understanding. Yours Faithfully, Mr. Williams.

From: Derek Trotter To: Williams Smith Date: January 13, 2006

Dear Mr. Williams, It is not a case of whether I think your email is "junk" mail or not. As I explained in my first email to you, you have unfortunately contacted me in the very busiest period of the financial year for my company. If you had contacted me just a few months previously or maybe even in a few months time then yes, I may well be interested in your offer, however at the moment I can allow nothing to interfere with my business presently. Over 70% of our business is conducted over these next three months and is worth many millions of dollars to us, so I hope you can appreciate that I cannot allow myself to be involved in anything else at the moment. I have many employees who depend on me to keep things running smoothly. You say you have two artists who wish to apply for our donation/scholarship payments? Well that is good news, and if they agree to our terms then I am sure that we can be of great help to them. The way our programme works is that we seek out new or up and coming artists all over the world who may not otherwise be financially able to promote or sell their work and then we help them to realise their full potential. We aid them by presenting them with a scholarship payment ranging from $25,000 to $150,000 which again is entirely dependent on their potential, but the minimum payment we award any artist willing to supply work for us is $25,000. Presently we are seeking artists who specialise in wooden sculptures. HOW OUR DONATION/SCHOLARSHIP PROCEDURE WORKS: 1. Before we could make any kind of monetary payment to any artist we would of

course require proof of their abilities. We do not ask artists to send in prepared samples of their work because of course there is no way for our foundation to know if the artwork is indeed the artists own work, therefore we would require your artists to provide a brand new sample for us to evaluate their abilities. 2. My company will submit to you (by email attachment) a sample photograph or photographs. This may be of a person, a animal, a building or other such item. Your artist would then be required to carve a small representation of the image we send to you. Once your have completed the work it is to be sent to us for evaluation and then a donation amount would be awarded according to your artists skill or potential. Our donation payments range from between a minimum of $25,000 up to $150,000. 3. On receipt of a satisfactory piece of artwork my four board members will then gauge the quality and therefore the size of the donation/scholarship amount to send to you. The payment is sent by whatever means suits you best and is made within 24 hours of receiving your work. IMPORTANT: Please note that no payments whatsoever can be given in advance of receiving the artwork. It is very important that you understand this completely. You will be responsible for shipping the sample to us. Your shipping expenses WILL be refunded but only AFTER we receive the sample. Please not also that we can only process one application from one artist at a time. Although you state you have TWO artists willing to submit work only one at a time will be able to submit a sample. Once your first artist has been paid by us in full for their sample then we can accept the second submission. I hope that is clear to you, and if you are in agreement to the terms above please let me know as soon as possible and I will arrange for a sample picture to be sent to you by email attachment. Kind regards, Derek Trotter - Director Trotters Fine Arts www.deltrotter.co.uk

From: Williams Smith To: Derek Trotter Date: January 14, 2006 Subject: Representative Dear Mr. Derek, Your crosspondence letter dated 13/1/2006 meets me in good spirit and have gone through the contents and the contents there in have been take note of, Actully i have more than two artistan who are really interested, But i want to start up with two first to see how the business will work. Again i will like to pin point the issue of Shipment, Is there no way your company will be of any assistance atleast half of the cost of the Shipment? Anyway, Let me have the sample of the carved woodens, then after my client has done the art work, Then i will know how much for the Shipment, But i think that will not be much problems.

I look forward for a good business relationship with you, While expecting the sample of Photograph or Photographs of what you want via email, But is it not possible you send via DHL, For a clear copy picture? Nope! Remain Bless, Yours Faithfully, Mr. Williams.

I sense that this particular scammer is desperate to stick with me. Time to start nailing this one down. From: Derek Trotter To: Williams Smith Date: January 14, 2006

Dear Mr. Williams, No, we will 100% most definitely NOT be paying any shipping in advance. I have decided that I no longer wish to work with you on this project. Please seek somebody else to help you. Kind regards, Derek Trotter - Director Trotters Fine Arts www.deltrotter.co.uk

From: Williams Smith To: Derek Trotter Date: January 14, 2006 Subject: Re: Representative My Brother Derek, This is a question i asked ,Based on the mail you sent to me dated 13/1/2006, Beside you are the one who said your company will not be responsible for the Shipment, So i need to ask, If your company will be responsible for half payment of the Shipment, Simple No, Than to get upset. You dont need to get angry, if you are a real business man, After all the question i asked is what i think is right to ask. Well, Let us not be draging for something like this, if you feel that you are no longer interested to deal with me, No problem, After all we are trying to help each-other. Have a nice day.

Rgds, Williams.

From: Derek Trotter To: Williams Smith Date: January 14, 2006

Dear Mr. Williams,

You seem to be under the mistaken impression that I am angry? I am not. It was made quite obvious in my previous emails that my company WOULD be responsible for reimbursing your entire shipment costs, but only AFTER we have received the sample, I quote: "IMPORTANT: Please note that no payments whatsoever can be given in advance of receiving the artwork. It is very important that you understand this completely. You will be responsible for shipping the sample to us. Your shipping expenses WILL be refunded but only AFTER we receive the sample." You will notice also that the text was printed in bold so as to ensure you took careful notice of it. I am sorry if you are unable to read correctly. As a Barrister I assumed you would have been a well educated man. It seems I was mistaken. Sincerely, Derek Trotter - Director Trotters Fine Arts www.deltrotter.co.uk

As I'd hoped, he caves in. From: Williams Smith To: Derek Trotter Date: January 15, 2006 Subject: Re: Representative Dear Mr. Derek, Good day. Your mail dated 14/1/2006, was received and have understood all the contents. I

look forward for the sample of the art your Company want. God Bless, Mr. Williams.

I give him another negative email. Lets see if he comes back more pliable. From: Derek Trotter To: Williams Smith Date: January 16, 2006

Dear Mr. Williams, You don't seem to be reading my emails. You asked me to change our rules about shipping fees and I told you I would not do that, so as far as I am concerned we have no further business together. Sincerely, Derek Trotter - Director Trotters Fine Arts www.deltrotter.co.uk

From: Williams Smith To: Derek Trotter Date: January 18, 2006 Subject: Re: Representative Attn: Mr. Derek, Please refer to my mail to you dated 15/1/2006, I agreed for the rules of your Company that i will take care of the shipment, and have been waiting for the sample of the art work on your company want it, You If you are ready to deal with me, Send the sample of the art work , So that we can set the ball rolling. Thank and God bless, Williams.

OK. Lets give him some hope! From: Derek Trotter

To: Williams Smith Date: January 19, 2006

Dear Mr. Williams, Instructions for your or your artist can be found below. Please let me know if you have any questions. INSTRUCTIONS FOR ARTISTS: As mentioned on my previous email to you, before we can send you the donation/scholarship payment, you will have to submit a piece of work to our requirements. This serves to ensure the work is indeed your own artists work, and also so that we can gauge the quality of your artists workmanship. Please find attached to this email the sample images. We have taken great care to photograph the sample images from various angles so that you know exactly the layout of the object, which in this case is a dog and a cat sitting on chair. The artist will be required to make a carving of this piece in the wood of his/her choice. The sample we send has been specially selected to show off various skills. Please note the following rules: 1. The carving can be any size you choose. Obviously you will need to take into consideration the weight of the carving so that the shipping cost is not to great for you, however, remember that we will of course reimburse your shipping costs in full on receipt of the artwork. As an example to you, the normal LENGTH of this particular carving along the longest length is 10 inches. You may make your submission larger or smaller but no larger than 15 inches along the longest length. 2. The carving can be in any type of wood that you choose, and must NOT be painted. Obviously the quality of the wood, and if possible a polished smooth finish will increase the chances of your donation payment being larger. Attention to detail is important and will help my board members to judge the skill of the artist. You will see that the attached photographs have many small details. Try to capture as much detail as possible. NOTE: An exact duplicate of the sample is not required as we are presently uncertain of your artists skills, however the closer your artists work is to the supplied sample then the higher the donation payment is likely to be. We realise of course that to exactly duplicate the carving would take an artist of exceptional skill, so we do not expect the carving to be of such detail and quality, however the closer to the original artwork that your artist can reproduce the sample in wood, the larger the donation amount will be. Please bear in mind again that the artwork will have to be shipped to us for inspection before the donation payment is given, so obviously you must take into consideration the weight of the artwork so that the shipping cost is not too high for you. You will need to ship the completed sample to us by a courier such as FedEx or DHL etc. All your shipping fees will be refunded in full but your fees will only be

refunded AFTER we receive the completed sample. It is not our company policy to pay for work that we have not yet received. On receipt of satisfactory artwork we will then judge the skill level of the artist submission and will reward you with a monetary donation depending on the quality of your work As mentioned previously, the minimum donation amount per artist is $25,000 but this can rise up to $150,000 per artist. Note that my board member will usually pay higher amounts for carvings which have obviously taken great skill and time to produce. Donation payment are usually given within 24 hours of us receiving the sample artwork. Should your artists be some skill we would then like to make arrangements to have some more work produced by you after we have received your sample. If this is the case we will of course pay your full fees in advance. As a guideline for good quality carvings we tend to pay between $8,000 - $15,000 per item, so as you can see if your artists work is of sufficient quality then you could benefit greatly from our partnership. I hope that is of help to you and I look forward to hearing from you soon. If you have any further questions please do not hesitate to ask. Please note that once you receive this email and agree to our terms your artist must have the carving ready to submit to us within 4 weeks. Also, please let me know when you expect to have the artwork ready for shipping. In the meantime, please can you tell me what your preferred method of payment is? Sincerely, Derek Trotter - Director Trotters Fine Arts www.deltrotter.co.uk I attach 10 sample pictures of the item I want carving. Three small example images are below though the pictures I sent to Mr. Smith were very large and detailed. Hey, I go out of my way to help people! UK readers will probably recognise the pictures as the animals from the UK TV series "Creature Comforts". Meet Trixie and Captain Cuddlepuss. I'm sure you can work out which is which! This particular piece is from my personal collection of Creature Comforts collectibles

A few days later my personal art agent informs me work is underway. From: Williams Smith To: Derek Trotter Date: January 25, 2006 Subject: the job is in progress Dear Mr. Derek, Good day. I want to inform you that the job is in progress, Hopefully to finish the work soonest. Have a nice day and God bless,

Mr. Williams.

From: Derek Trotter To: Williams Smith Date: January 25, 2006

Dear Mr. Williams, Thank you very much for your update, it is very much appreciated. If you need any more information or have questions then please do not hesitate to telephone me. Sincerely, Derek Trotter - Director Trotters Fine Arts www.deltrotter.co.uk

It seems Williams is a perfectionist... From: Williams Smith To: Derek Trotter Date: January 30, 2006 Subject: update Dear Mr. Derek, Good day to you and the entire family. Today i inspected the job, But was not perfect enough to my liking and have to do 4-5 samples before they will get the best. Hopefully to get the best and get it done soonest. I get intouch to you through phone later today or tomorrow. Thanks and God bless, Yours Sincerelly, Williams.

I get a call from Williams but it was a very bad line so no point posting it here as it's almost impossible to hear what he is saying. From: Derek Trotter

To: Williams Smith Date: January 30, 2006

Dear Mr. Williams, Thank you for your telephone call this morning, it was nice to speak with you even though the line was quite bad. As you have requested, the address of our head office is below. Please mark the package for the attention of my secretary Miss. Paula Jervis. Miss Jervis is of course my non-existent secretary. I am usually out of the office most of the say so Miss Jervis will advise me the moment your package arrives to that I can see to your case immediately. Note that we have several different departments in our building so it is very important that you address the shipment exactly as below: Miss Paula Jervis D.T.F.A. 16 Xxxxxxxxxx Street xxxx xxxxxxx England United Kingdom Please advise me of the tracking number and carrier so that I will know when to expect the delivery of the package. Payments usually require 24 hours notice to process, however if I am aware of the expected date of arrival I can ensure that your payment is processed as soon as possible. Sincerely, Derek Trotter - Director Trotters Fine Arts www.deltrotter.co.uk

From: Williams Smith To: Derek Trotter Date: February 1, 2006 Subject: Re: update Dear Mr. Derek, Good day to you and your crews, Your email of today 1/2/2006. The job will reach to your destination on or before friday 10th febraury 2006, All is in progress. I will be reaching you on your line today, for more information. Thanks and God bless, you and your family. Sincerelly Yours, Williams.

From: Derek Trotter To: Williams Smith Date: February 1, 2006

Dear Mr. Williams, Thank you for your email and I shall look forward to inspecting your artists work. Please ensure that you give me the tracking details as soon as possible. Also, when you ship the package put the value as US $30 and mark it as a gift. This will cut down on the duty charges to be paid and will also stop any possible delay whilst waiting for duty charges to be processed. Advise me also of the cost of the shipping so that I can arrange for the full amount to be reimbursed to you the moment we receive the package. Sincerely, Derek Trotter - Director Trotters Fine Arts www.deltrotter.co.uk

Just over a week goes by and I hear nothing. I was beginning to suspect Williams had given up on me, but then I receive a telephone call. Note that parts of the tracking code have been beeped out so as not to give away the location of my safe drop-box. From: Williams Smith To: Derek Trotter Date: February 8, 2006 Telephone call: Williams Smith to Derek Trotter (470k MP3) I had a bit of a cold today so apologies over my voice, but notice that Williams said "I love you" at the end of the call. I doubt very much that this will be a long lasting romance. Nearly $350 for shipping? How annoyed is he going to be?! Just as he promised, an email with the shipping details comes through a short while later: DEAR MR. DEREK, GOOD DAY TO YOU. BASED ON OUR TELEPHONE DISCUSSION THIS AFTERNOON, I WANT TO INFORM YOU THAT THE ITEM HAVE BEEN SHIPPED TO LONDON TODAY 9/2/2006, NOTE, THE VALUE IS $20 DOLLARS INSTEAD OF $30 DOLLARS YOU STATED, ACCORDING TO THE MANAGEMENT FEDEX EXPRESS, THAT YOU CAN NOT PAY MUCH DUTY ETC, WHEN IT IS $20 DOLLARS, THAT IF IT IS $30 DOLLARS, YOU ARE GOING TO PAY MUCH. THE ITEM WILL ARRIVE LONDON ON SATURDAY AND WILL BE DELIVER TO YOU ON MONDAY. SENDER'S NAME: MR.FRANCIS WILLIAMS SMITH,

NO: 12 OMOBOLA STREET,LAWANSON ROAD. SURU-LERE LAGOS, NIGERIA. TO, MISS PAULA JERVIS D.T.F.A. 16 Xxxxxxxxxx STREET xxxx xxxxxxx ENGLAND UNITED KINGDOM TRACKING NUMBER: 8564XX4776XX. SHIPMENT COST: $450 DOLLARS. Notice how the shipping cost has increased from $350 on the phone to $450 in his email! PAY IN THE NAME OF THE RECEIVER: MR. STANLEY NNAMDI AKAGBUSI WESTERN UNION MONEY TRANSFER, LAGOS. THANKS AND GOD BLESS. YOURS PARTNERSHIP, Later that evening, a check on the FedEx website confirms that a package is indeed on the way, due to arrive on Monday the 14th Feb.