Twist On A Old Theme

Here’s the text of an email that I got a few days ago. It somehow looks familiar, though I had not seen it before it turned up in my mailbox.


Dear Friend,

My name is Major,Amy Robinson. I am an American soldier with Swiss background,
serving in the military with the army 3rd infantry division.With a very
desperate need for assistance, I have summed up courage to contact you. I found
your contact particulars in an address journal. I am seeking your kind
assistance to move the sum of ( $ 3.2 million u.s.dollars )three million, two
hundred united states dollars to you, as far as  I can be assured that my share
will be safe in your care until I complete my service here, this is no stolen
money, and there are no danger involved. I am presently in a hospital
recovering from injuries sustained in a suicide bomb attack.

Source of money:

Some money in various currencies was discovered in barrels at a farmhouse near
one of Saddam's old palaces in Tikrit-Iraq during a rescue operation, and
it was agreed by staff Sgt Kenneth buff and I that some part of this money be
shared among both of us before informing anybody about  it since both of us saw
the money first. This was quite an illegal thing to do, but I tell you what? No
compensation can make up for the risk we have taken with our lives in this hell
hole. Of which my brother in-law was killed by a road side bomb last week.

Please view website for confirmation;

http://www.voanews.com/burmese/archive/2003-04/a-2003-04-20-1-1.cfm

The above figure was given to me as my share, and to conceal this kind of money
became a problem for me, so with the help of a British contact working here and
his office enjoy some immunity, I was able to move the money to a security
company in bangkok thailand as a diplomatic baggage. They are now waiting for
us to provide the name of beneficiary who they will transfer the funds to. The
reason i want you to claim the funds on my behalf is that as a soldier, i
cannot present a concrete evidence on how i made such a big amount of money
down here. Besides the US Government is trying their best to keep their eyes on
soldiers here inorder to effect a high level of discipline among us.The moment
i
am sure that you are willing to assist me, i will give you the information of
the security company and the security code of the baggage.I want
you to tell me how much you will take from this money for the assistance you
will give to me.

One passionate appeal I will make to you is not to discuss this matter with
anybody, should you have reasons to reject this offer, please and please
destroy this message as any leakage of this information will be too bad for us
soldiers here in Iraq. I do not know how long we will remain here, and i have
been shot, wounded and survived two suicide bomb attacks by the special grace
of God, this and other reasons i will mention later has prompted me to reach
out for help, i honestly want this matter to be resolved immediately, please
contact me as soon aspossible, my only way of communication is email.

Yours in Service.

Major Amy Robinson Camp MXP-512 Third Infantry Division Unit(T.I.D.U),
Abul Uruj,bagdad,irag

It sounds so familiar because I–as well as millions of others–have seen it before. If you recall an email from an African nation (generally Nigeria, but there have been others) then you have indeed seen this before, because it’s essentially the same sort of scam. There was an email from Nigeria with essentially the same text but this one is on another level in a sense that it plays with patriotism and our soldiers under fire in a distant nation–which is much closer to home than a disposed king, prince or whatever.

It’s actually somewhat fascinating in that if you look at it closely there are some interesting misspellings. ‘US’ as in ‘United States’ is spelled ‘us’; ‘Iraq’ is spelled ‘irag, and ‘Baghdad,’ is spelled ‘bagdad.’

What’s most interesting is that ‘Baghdad’ is phonetically speaking, spelled ‘bagdad.’

Which makes me think that the writer of this email is not an American, and like the Nigerian scam, this originates elsewhere, as in overseas.

I put my money on Russia, but that’s a guess.