Here is an interesting Nigerian Mail Scam that uses BBC to substantiate it veracity.

The Mail received and the header information is given at the end of  this article. It  is interesting to note that the mail states ..

" please browse through the site below to acquire more details about me.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/news/asylumday/case3.shtml From the site above, you will note that this is not scam . "

When we actually browse through the news report, it does contain a news story of one Mohammed being tortured by Iraqis. If one were to stop thinking further, it appears like a genuine story, except that the story uses the name "Mohammed" as an imaginary name . (Please see here).

The fraudster has cleverly used a genuine article found on a respected news site to perpetrate the classic Nigerian Fraud. It is a pity that he also uses the name of Allah profusely through out the mail.

Readers are warned against falling prey to such frauds.

Naavi

December 13, 2004

The Mail:

May Allah the most merciful and compassionate be with
you.
My name is Mohammed, You can find out all about me, my profile, origin etc from the BBC website below stating all about me. All the happenings at Iraq has made me a public figure without privacy. please browse through the site below to acquire more details about me.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/news/asylumday/case3.shtml
 

From the site above, you will note that this is not scam . This is real. I have some funds in a financial institute in Europe and I need your help to assist my son to retrieve it.
The doctor has already told me that I have less days and as you receive this mail, it is possible that I am dead. All that matters to me now is that my only son Mohammed junior gets to inherit my belongings. Allah the most compassionate and merciful will guide you, please get to me so that we could discuss about the percentage and clear your mind, as you might initially want to be a doubting thomas to this venture which is intented with good.
Please note that I can not use my family because I am very sure that Iraq rebellions are monitoring them. I also can not go to Europe because I do not have travelling papers as an asylum seeker and my ill health.
If you are interested in assisting him, please send your contact information to my son (mohammedjunioraljafaer@yahoo.co.uk) for  further discussions and the transfer of necessary
documentations.

thanks
mohammed al-jafaer.

------------------------------
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The header information of the mail is as follows:

Return-path: <mohammed-aljafaer@ignazio.it>
Received: from mx2 ([172.16.28.188]) by pop1.vsnl.net (vsnl mail server)
with ESMTP id <0I8M00ICU2PYWA@pop1.vsnl.net> for naavi@vsnl.com; Sun,
12 Dec 2004 18:57:34 +0530 (IST)
Received: from ignazio.it ([212.177.115.178])by mx2.vsnl.net (vsnl mail server)
with SMTP id <0I8M00HZ42PWJ2@mx2.vsnl.net>for naavi@vsnl.com; Sun,
12 Dec 2004 18:57:34 +0530 (IST)
Received: (qmail 16359 invoked by uid 33); Sun, 12 Dec 2004 01:49:57 +0000
Received: from 80.88.150.188 ( [80.88.150.188])
as user mohammed-aljafaer@ignazio.it@ignazio.it by webmail.ignazio.it withHTTP;
Sun, 12 Dec 2004 02:49:53 +0100
Date: Sun, 12 Dec 2004 02:49:53 +0100
From: mohammed-aljafaer@ignazio.it
Subject: I need your urgent assistance
X-Originating-IP: 80.88.150.188
To: metenter@singnet.com.sg
Message-id: <1102816193.41bba3c154691@webmail.ignazio.it>
MIME-version: 1.0
Content-type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Content-transfer-encoding: 8bit
User-Agent: Internet Messaging Program (IMP) 3.1
X-imss-version: 2.000
X-imss-result: Passed
X-imss-scores: Clean:5.80043 C:20 M:1 S:5 R:5
X-imss-settings: Baseline:3 C:3 M:3 S:3 R:3 (0.5000 1.5000)
Original-recipient: rfc822;naavi@vsnl.com
 

Copy of the mail sent to  BBC.co.uk: yourlondon@bbc.co.uk <yourlondon@bbc.co.uk.readnotify.com>

To The Editor BBC.co.uk   Dear Sir, I would like to bring to your kind notice that a suspected fraudster appears to be using a news story published on your site as  a subnstantiation of his identity.   The details are given at http://www.naavi.org. in the following article:  

BBC Made to Endorse a Fraud

In a clever manipulation of a news story published in a website, a fraudster uses BBC to substantiate his Nigerian Fraud Mail. In the context of the discussions we have been having on the vicarious responsibilities of website owners, it would be considered necessary for BBC to post a disclaimer along with the above story as soon as they come to know of it. The incident is being reported by Naavi.org to BBC. We need to wait and see how they respond. Silence on their part would be contributing to many innocents being defrauded for which inaction from BBC would be held responsible... More

 

I suppose this is is fraud. If you agree, kindly post a disclaimer on the relevant page ...

  http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/news/asylumday/case3.shtml In case no rebuttal is issued by you, the information may be presumed as correct.   Regards,   Naavi
www.naavi.org
www.cyberlawcollege.com
www.cybersociety.org

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