Kenyan Investment Scam on Capital IQ

by User Submitted

Submitted by user JS

This is actual e-mail I got sent via Capital IQ, completely unsolicited. I work for a large public mutal fund company. The next note will be one asking me to cash a check for him for $1 million dolalrs…

Hi,

I am writing to enquire whether you’ve had a chance to look at our equity research notes uploaded on Capital IQ. If you’ve not, kindly take some time to look at it or, if you prefer, I could email then to you directly.

Our firm is an investment bank, member of the Nairobi Stock Exchange, in Kenya. We are among the leaders in corporate finance, research and brokerage.

We could work with you to identify and unlock value for your funds right here in our market. Our market currently has attractive bargain opportunities, and being a frontier/emerging capital markets presents portfolio maximization advantages as follows:

(i) Largely uncorrelated to developed world capital markets

(ii) Driven by the pace and momentum of economic development in the economy: which has a very long way to go.

(iii) Listed stocks are in the very strategic and high-growth sectors of the economy whose growth trajectories are much higher than general economic growth rates.

Kindly get in touch with me to explore how we could incept beneficial relationships between our two firms.

Kind regards,

———————————–

[Redacted]

[Redacted] Investment Bank Ltd

[Redacted]

Nairobi, Kenya

Tel: [Redacted]

Cell: [Redacted]



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Comments

  1. AMan
    September 22nd, 2008 | 11:37 am

    I work for a mid-market PE firm, and just received the exact same e-mail.

  2. Pleb
    September 22nd, 2008 | 11:40 am

    (i) Largely uncorrelated to developed world capital markets

    Who says Africa isn’t economically advanced? Starting from a premise that economic development need not be tied to actual markets, these guys could be central bank policy makers, or presidential economic advisors.

    I recommend you take a long position on Kenyan email scammers. Short Paulson, which operates similarly but is overpriced in comparison – though it bears noting that Paulson is also about to offer you a million dollar check in exchange for $10k earnest money, or comparable assets.

  3. September 22nd, 2008 | 5:09 pm

    “…all you’ll need to start our lasting and mutually-beneficial relationship is to provide your funds’ bank account number and PIN so that we can use it to establish your account…”

  4. jagorev
    September 22nd, 2008 | 11:28 pm

    How is this any different from the thousands of other emails you get from brokers and analysts trying to sell you something every day? Hell, it probably is a better investment opportunity than anything Goldman or Morgan could try to sell you right now.

  5. September 24th, 2008 | 12:44 pm

    Have you seen this one yet? I got it from the Houston Chronicle blog.

    Your Urgent Help Needed

    Dear American:

    I need to ask you to support an urgent secret business relationship with a transfer of funds of great magnitude. I am Ministry of the Treasury of the Republic of America. My country has had crisis that has caused the need for large transfer of funds of 800 billion dollars US. If you would assist me in this transfer, it would be most profitable to you.

    I am working with Mr. Phil Gram, lobbyist for UBS, who will be myreplacement as Ministry of the Treasury in January. As a Senator, you may know him as the leader of the American banking deregulation movement in the 1990s. This transaction is 100% safe.

    This is a matter of great urgency. We need a blank check. We need the funds as quickly as possible. We cannot directly transfer these funds in the names of our close friends because we are constantly under surveillance. My family lawyer advised me that I should look for a reliable and trustworthy person who will act as a next of kin so the funds can be transferred. Please reply with all of your bank account, IRA and college fund account numbers and those of your children and grandchildren to wallstreetbailout@treasury.gov so that we may transfer your commission for this transaction. After I receive that information, I will respond with detailed information about safeguards that will be used to protect the funds.

    Yours Faithfully,

    Minister of Treasury Paulson