(read beginning of prior message in order for the following to make sense. Or at least more sense than it otherwise would.)

SI Field Agent Delta:  

I think it would be great if we could discover the REAL reason behind the scam letters. Some insidious plot to corrupt our morals, or cleanse the world of non-believers, or a carefully-orchestrated and very patient plan whereby in twenty years or so Nigeria will rule the world.  Keep on it! 


SI Agent in Charge replies:

About the purpose of the messages : I seriously suspect that these messages are a clever way for Al Qaeda and the Chinese, Russian and Venezuelan governments, to correspond with their secret agents camouflaged in our western democracies.

What better way than to send a message, than to broadcast it worldwide, disguised as a nonsensical Nigerian or Burkina Fasso scam.

Everybody will just have it automatically filtered out, except of course the real recipients, who will collect them, decode them and combine them to get the real hidden message.

Really, think about it.  You can make the text as long or short as you want, use clear text words, make any speling mistake to fit the code, use fictitious bank account numbers to hide any numeric data, and so on.

It is even fun to write.

An example using the last of such messages :

Original message :

It is obvious that you have not received your fund which is to the tune of $5.5million due to past corrupt Government Officials who almost held the fund to themselves for their selfish reason and some individuals who have taken advantage of your fund all in an attempt to swindle your fund which has led to so many losses from your end and unnecessary delay in the receipt of your fund. The National Central Bureau of Interpol enhanced by the United Nations and Federal Bureau of Investigation have successfully passed a mandate to the current president of Nigeria his Excellency Dr. Goodluck E. Jonathan to boost the exercise of clearing all foreign debts owed to you and other individuals/contractors and organizations who have been found not to have receive their Contract/Lottery/Merit Fund/Inheritance and the likes.

Now your payment will be send to you by ATM card that will be coming alongside a custom pin which you will use to withdraw up to $10,000 per day from any ATM machine that has the Master Card Logo on it. Also with the ATM card you will be able to transfer your funds to your bank account, because the ATM card will be registered with Interswitch. The ATM card comes with a handbook or manual to enlighten you about how to use it. Your ATM card would be sent to you via UPS. Because we have signed a contract with UPS which should expired by feburary 10th 2011. Below are few list of tracking numbers you can track from UPS website to confirm people like you who have received their payment successfully.

Decoded Message (retaining only words corresponding to the decoding grid) :

received $5.5million to corrupt Government Officials and individuals.

clear other individuals/contractors and the likes.

use up to $10,000 per day. the Master comes, with a handbook to enlighten you.

card sent to you via UPS. have signed a contract.

confirm you have received payment successfully.

Scary, huh?