Feb. 2 (GIN) – The email scam that begins “I’m in jail and I need your help” put the SaharaReporters website out of commission for almost 24 hours yesterday as a new virtual server we recently rented went offline. Server4All took down our server without warning, upon concluding that we were blacklisted in connection with the email scam..
Feb. 2 (GIN) – The email scam that begins “I’m in jail and I need your help” put the SaharaReporters website out of commission for almost 24 hours yesterday as a new virtual server we recently rented went offline. Server4All took down our server without warning, upon concluding that we were blacklisted in connection with the email scam..
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The scam email was purportedly written by one-time governor “James Ibori”.
“It was a classic Nigerian Oil scam in which the person claims to be ‘JAMES IBORI ex-governor of DELTA STATE oil city,’" observed SaharaReporters publisher Sowore Omoyele. “The scammer notes the custodial status of Mr. Ibori (he is in preventative detention in a UK Jail), and promises lots of cash to the person who can help him out. In an effort to boost his credibility, the scammer included a link to a Sahara Reporters article about the real James Ibori.
"And that, friends, was enough to have one of the most prominent independent African news organization taken offline."
"Ironically, this action could have been taken by any of the corrupt ideologues hell-bent on shutting down our free speech website through any mean necessary. We are concerned, however, that our hosting provider precipitously took our site offline upon receiving a complaint before asking questions. "
Ibori, a leading Governor in the Niger Delta who bankrolled the election of Umaru Yar'Adua, inflated contracts for state services, operated fraudulent companies to launder the money in a British tax haven and bought property in London, has been in custody since being extradited from Dubai in April. The wife, mistress and lawyer of the former lynchpin of the People's Democratic Party were convicted of money laundering and fraud in two previous, linked, trials.
In December, a court denied Ibori’s appeal to have the case tossed out and also dismissed the claim that a British court lacks jurisdiction to try the accused.
The trial will resume on February 13, 2012, on the eve of Valentine’s Day; Mr. Ibori’s wife, Theresa Nkoyo, is already serving five years in jail.
“SaharaReporters should feel singled out. They exist to illuminate news from Africa. They were taken offline because a series of individuals don't know the difference between a prominent independent African news service and a criminal scammer. To most of the Internet, Nigeria and email scams are synonymous. That has to change” says Jamie McClelland of Mayfirst/People Link, a New York-based techie group that supports independent media outfits including Saharareporters.
Last month Google Adsense took down its ads from SaharaReporters webpages as we refused to remove images of police brutality meted out to #Occupy protesters in Nigeria.
Scam Email Below:
From [email protected] Wed Feb 1 07:21:42 2012
Return-Path: <[email protected]>
Received: from now.nowdeliveryservice.com (www.nowdeliveryservice.com [173.8.136.205] Port:53778)
by gintonic.woody.ch (8.14.3/8.14.3/blacklist.woody.ch Spamtrap) with ESMTP id q116LdNB007937
for <[email protected]>; Wed, 1 Feb 2012 07:21:41 +0100
Message-Id: <[email protected]>
Received: from User ([84.246.129.34])
(authenticated user [email protected])
by now.nowdeliveryservice.com (Kerio MailServer 6.0.3);
Tue, 10 Jan 2012 15:52:21 -0800
Reply-To: <[email protected]>
From: "Barrister Benjamin Aina"<[email protected]>
Subject: Requestingfor Your Urgent Assistance
Date: Wed, 11 Jan 2012 00:55:57 +0100
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain;
charset="Windows-1251"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
X-Priority: 3
X-MSMail-Priority: Normal
X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2600.0000
X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2600.0000
BODY
From: Barrister Benjamin Aina
Old Bailey Chambers
15 Old Bailey
London EC4M 7EF
Please see the below message, the ex-governor of Delta State currently in detained in United-Kingdom requested me to forward it to you
Regards,
Bar. Benjamin Aina
Attn: Sir,
My name is JAMES IBORI ex-governor of DELTA STATE oil city; I wish to contact you for this assistance. I was arrested in Dubai now detained in United Kingdom due to some charges/allegation leveled against me by the government of my country. Meanwhile it's my pleasure to inform you that I have huge amount of fund (US$60,000,000.00) deposited with Security Company in ISTANBUL-TURKEY and I will like to move this fund into foreign account before it’s too late because that is the only thing I have left. Please I am not allowed to make much communication except this little time i have to contact you.
In addition, I will like you to stand as my Partner/Next of Kin and receive this fund from the Security Company in Brazil on my behalf. I will offer you 30% of the (US$60.M), 10% for Charity Homes and 10% will be set aside for any expenses that may occur on the process of you receiving the fund. Note that as soon as I hear from you through my lawyer (Barrister Benjamin Aina), I will instruct him to forward the Security Company information across to you so that they can direct you on how to receive the fund because I am not allowed making much communication. Please, please and please do not disclose this matter to third party for security reason. On your side its 100% risk free, there is no danger attach to it when you are receiving the fund. I am very honest man and I really believe that you are also honest person who will not cheat on me when the fund gets to you.
But if you are not capable and trust worthy enough to handle this fund on my behalf till I finish with the little problem I found myself into with United Kingdom government, please do not contact me. You can see the full details on the BBC news and other web-links below. I came in contact with your email address through journal list, like I said I am an honest man and I would not want you to use my present situation as avenue to receive the fund and abscond. You can contact me through my lawyer, I believe you know "for security reasons" it is not wise to discuss such issue through phone or any other electronic communication since I am still in detention so advice all communication regarding this issue should be send to me through my lawyer private email address: [email protected]. he does visit me in prison often. Barrister Benjamin Aina is my defense team leader, he is reliable and honest.
http://saharareporters.com/news-page/uk-money-laundering-trial-james-ibori-suffers-various-reverses
http://www.naijafeed.com/naijafeed/2011/9/21/former-delta-governor-james-ibori-to-stay-in-prison-till-201.html
http://nationalmirroronline.net/news/21052.html
Thank you very much for your understanding I will be looking forward to hear from you soon.
James Ibori
Ex-Governor Delta State Oil City
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