Hi there!
I took the time to register an account on this website to share my story. I received exactly the same message, but on SketchFU. SketchFU is a website where you can draw pictures. After you submit your picture, other drawers can rate it and comment on your pictures.
There's a Private Messaging feature on that website, and I received a private message from Norah Mabar.
norah01 wrote (2 days ago)
[email protected]Hello.
My Name is norah I was impressed when i saw your profile at sketchfu.com and i will like you to email me back to my in box so that i can send you my picture for you to know who i am . i believe we can establish a long lasting relation ship with you. In addition,i will like you to reply me through my private email box
[email protected]).This is because i don't know the possibilities of remaining in forum for a long time.Thanks,waiting to hear from you soonest.
norah
I wasn't in for the 'long lasting relation ship' part (i'd rather have a relation ship with a girl next door than a girl who is AGES away from me...) but i'm not the kind of person who simply deletes private messages without answering them. Besides, having a penpal living at the other side of the globe is intriguing and fun, so why not reply?
I wrote that I was pleased with the compliment, and that i was in for being a penpal. A short while later, i received a message of Norah introducing herself and asking me about my hobbies, my likes, my dislikes. The stuff you can expect from a penpal. Here it is:
Hello Dear
I am more than happy in your reply to my mail.How is your day?.Mine was hot
over here in Dakar Senegal. My name is norah song mabar(23) single and never
married, i am from Libera in West Africa and presently i am residing in the
refugee camp here in Dakar Senegal as a result of the civil warthatwasfought in
my country. My late father Dr Leonard song mabar was chairman managing director
LEONARD'S INDUSTRIAL COMPANY LTD, in Monrovia and he is also the personal
advicer to the former head of state before the rebels attacked our house one
early morning killing my mother and my father.It was only me that is alive now
and i managed to make Myway to near by country Senegal where i am living now as a refugee.I would like to know more about you. Your likes and dislikes,your
hobbies and whatyou are doing presently. I will tell you more about myself in my
next mail. Attached here is my picture and i will like to see yours, Hoping to
hear from you soonest.
Yours.
norah
She included a few pictures of her.
I wrote a LONG message with everything about me, my likes, my dislikes, my hobbies, the country where i live, my age. Nothing confidential. I also was very impressed because of that tragic story, and i truly felt sorry for her, which i also mentioned in my reply to her.
I did not include a picture of myself (my unconscious mind was probably smelling something fishy thus disallowing me to send any confidential information) though she asked for it. I simply said that my camera was charging.
Everything seemed fine at this point. I too asked for her hobbies etc, i truly believed i found an interesting penpal. I then received this message:
Dearest,
I am more than happy in your reply to my mail this morning. How is your day?.
Mine is a little bit cold over here in Dakar Senegal.In this camp we are only
allowed to go out only on Mondays and Fridays of the weeks.It's just like
one staying in the prison and i hope by Gods grace i will come out here soon. I
don't have any brother,sister or relatives now whom i can go to all my
relatives ran away in the middle of the war the only person i have now is Rev
Martins Anthony who is the pastor of the (Christ The king Church) here in the
camp he has been very nice to me since i came here but i am not living with him
rather i am leaving in the women's hostel because the camp have two hostels
one for men the other for women.The Pastors Tel number is(00221-77-255- 7613)i want you to call me, if you call and tell him that you want to speak with me he
will send for me in the hostel. As a refugee here i don't have any right or
privilege to any thing be it money or whatever because it is against the law
of this country.I want to go back to my studies because i only attended my first year before the tragic incident that lead to my being in this situation now .Please listen to this,i have my late father's statement of account and death certificate here with me which i will send to you latter,because when he was alive he deposited some amount of money in a leading bank in Europe which he used my name as the next of kin,the amount in question is $7.5Million US Dollars.I have maped out 15% of the total sum for your
assistance and 5% for any expenses.
since i am too small to handle this and my present condition here in the camp cannot permit me to do the transfer on my own. So i will like you to help me transfer this money to your account and from it you can send some money for me to get my travelling documents and air ticket to come over to meet with you.I kept this secret to people in the camp here the only person that knows about it is the Rev Martins Anthony
because he is like a father to me. So in the light of above i will like you to
keep it to yourself very confidentail and don't tell it to anyone for i am afraid of loosing my life and the money if people gets to know about it. i will want you to promise me that you will not tell any person? I like honest and understanding people,truthful and a man of vision,truth and hardworking. My favorite language is English and very fluently.Meanwhile i will like you to call me like i said i have alto to tell you.i will like you to send me your picture Have a nice day and think about me.Awaiting to hear from you soonest .
norah
Getting $1.500.000 (20% of the mentioned $7.500.000) for free SURE smells EXTREMELY fishy. Only the sunlight is free, for everything else you'll need a good job and a stack of money.
I immediately added her e-mail address to my spam list and forgot about it. Today, I was checking my messages and i saw the e-mail again and just for the heck of it, I decided to google her name, which brought me to this website. I hope my contribution helps anyone, and I hope she didn't make any victims yet!
Other information:
IP AddressesFirst e-mail: Unknown (it was send through PM of SketchFU.com)
Second e-mail: 41.208.152.140
Third e-mail: 196.207.236.216
Pictures of the scammer:
The images in the e-mail link to Hi5 so they must be stolen from Hi5.
Profiles on the net (she's always using the nickname Norah01 and lives in Dakar, Senegal - 24 years old female):http://www.lulilab.com/norah01http://www.groony.com/norah01
