09 April, 2007

South African Barrister Frustrated by Deceased Client's Fortune

CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA

Twenty-five years ago when Mikaiah Kamara accepted the job as personal barrister for Mr. Jean Atonne, a wealthy gold merchant from South Africa, it seemed like a dream job.

"It was the best and most ideal job any barrister could ever hope for." Said Kamara. "Mr. Atonne was a dear man, and was very generous towards me. He was not a hard man to work for, being a Christian, and he was constantly helping someone out in need."

Day after day Kamara managed the legal affairs of Mr. Atonne's gold mining business, ensuring that all taxes and paperwork had been taken care. But there was one small bit of paperwork that had not been taken care of that Kamara had been impressing upon his boss.

"Mr Atonne had no will, and no family." Said Kamara. "If he passed away the state would surely take control of his fortune of some $25 million."

Sadly, Mr. Kamara's worst fears for his client came true last week. As Atonne was inspecting one of mines in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, he suffered a heart attack and died, never having declared an heir to his fortune.

"When I heard the news," Said Kamara, "I was deeply saddened by the passing of my friend, but then I began to realize that I had to act fast or else his assets would be seized by the government."

Kamara had to find a way to quickly transfer the money out of the country, so he turned to the internet. Composing a tactful yet urgent email recounting the touching details of Mr. Attone's life, work, ministry and Christian testimony, he began to search various places for Christians living in other countries. After discovering a few in the United States he sent them the email offering to let them assist in the transfer process with a promise of at least a million dollars for their trouble.

"I sent out five emails at first to some Christian brothers in the United States with an offer of one million dollars if they would simply let me transfer five million to their bank account." Said Kamara. "All they simply had to do was contact me, give me their bank account number and routing number and I would deposit five million dollars in their account within 24 hours."

But, unfortunately for Kamara, his plan is not being well-received.

"I keep sending out emails, but no one is responding!" He Said. "I cannot understand what I'm doing wrong. Here I am offering people a million dollars, but no one is accepting the offer."

So the search continues for Kamara with hopes that he will find someone to accept his offer.

"I only have 72 hours left before the government takes control of Mr. Atonne's assets." Said Kamara. "If anyone would like to help all they simply have to do is email me at mikaiah.kamara@mail.sa.net with their bank account number, routing number and any passwords or pin codes, and I will be glad to help them out."

4 comments:

Chris said...

P.S. I know TomInTheBox's readers are smarter than your average Internet reader, but I would just like to state in no uncertain terms, that this is a joke. Furthermore, if you receive an e-mail like this, it's a scam from Nigerian scammers. Don't even reply. Sincerely, an IT Guy.

And Tom, it was some funny stuff. :)

Anonymous said...

I want that money, I mean, I need that money to support all the missionaries I know. I am going to write to him - maybe he'll transfer more than a million, so I can support more missionaries.

The Girl in Grey said...

Yeah, I get dozens of Nigerian scam e-mails every week. And unfortunately I'm way too busy to have the time to reverse-scam them.

irRational said...

I am so emailing that guy