HOME
TOPICS
ABOUT ME
MAIL

 
If you get an e-mail from the "Crown Prince of Tonga" asking you to help manage his money, do the right thing. Stick it in the trash.
  technofile
Al Fasoldt's reviews and commentaries, continuously available online since 1983

Don't fall for the 'Tonga' scam


March 27, 2002


By Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2002, Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2002, The Post-Standard

   Some people will sink to depths the rest of us could never imagine. The latest scam to hit the Internet comes from Tonga, an island nation in the South Pacific. Or perhaps I should point out that it seems to come from Tonga. It might be coming from the sleaze ball down the street for all anyone knows.
   The scam is incredibly stupid, but people are innocently falling for it. The scam works this way: You get e-mail from someone who says he is the "Crown Prince of Tonga." The "Crown Prince" says he needs you (yes, YOU -- I know this seems crazy!) to manage the $40 million the "Crown Prince" has in U.S. dollars stashed away in Europe somewhere.
   The "Crown Prince" will give you 30 percent of his $40 million if you help him out. Nice guy, obviously. Don't you love opportunities like this? Isn't it great how people just love to spread the wealth?
   Except that the only wealth that will be spread is yours, if you fall for the next part of the scam. The "Crown Prince" needs your telephone number and your fax number, along with a written assurance that "you will invest wisely." After the "Crown Prince" gets that info, he will, of course, need your Social Security number, your bank books and the right to empty all of your retirement savings accounts -- that kind of thing.
   And how do you reach this guy? You call the Tonga Embassy in Washington, right? No, actually if you call the Tonga Embassy you will get your ears burned off. The Tonga government is hopping mad over this scam. But more on that in a bit.
   No, to get hold of the "Crown Prince" all you have to do is send him an e-mail. Not to crownprince@tonga.gov or anything like that. The "prince" has his own version of a Hotmail account. (Just like a guy with $40 million. He signs up for free e-mail.)
   As I was saying, the real Tonga prince and his government are in a stew over this scam. I checked the Tonga Star -- no, I'm not making this up -- and read an account of a raid on an opposition party office in Tonga in which police found copies of the scam letter. Here is what the Tonga Star said:
   "Members of the Tonga Police Force discovered three different copies of the much controversial letter, claiming His Majesty had US $350 million stashed in an overseas account, in the Tonga Human Rights and Democratic Movement Office on February 25th, 2002."
   "The police also found a piece of 'practice paper' with numerous signatures of Ofa Tuíiíonetoa (the actual Crown Price), as if someone had been practicing how to sign Ofa Tuíiíonetoaís name."
   In other words, if you get an e-mail from the "Crown Prince of Tonga" asking you to help manage his money, do the right thing. Stick it in the trash.