TITLE: Busted!
SCAMMER NAME: Ony Obo
SCAMMER LOCATION: Lagos, Nigeria
SCAMBAITER: Shiver Metimbers

PAGE TWO.

Looks like Obo swallowed my picture. Now he's after compensation.

From: Ony Obo
To: Klingon Shipping
Subject: Re: where is my shipment

Ranjit Burger .

i need a compesation for all that happen , the worth of the goods is $25000

i dont know how you are to do it , but i need i compesation.

ony

From: Ranjit Burger
To: Ony Obo

Dear Sir.

I can understand your concerns, however we are not the people responsible for putting the rodent in your packaging. Mr. Anthony has already confirmed to us that the rodent was in the package when he received it, so Klingon Shipping cannot be held responsible for the damage, consequently we shall not be paying any compensation. I suggest you contact Mr. Anthony or indeed the people that you originally shipped the package with.

Sincerely.

Ranjit Burger
Delivery Confirmation Dept.
Klingon Shipping

Obo comes begging to Brian Anthony for some kind of handout.

From: Ony Obo
To: Brian Anthony
Subject: help

am so delighted at your presenting the invoice with which you sent me the art work. but is unfortunate that i have not got my work, so i did write the company you used
to ship it down to me. but to my gratest amasement i saw that the work had been further devestated. what i seek now from you , which i know you a man of good spirit. is that you see to it that in your slitest way do compesate me ,cos i know you would not want me to loose out all through. i shall be glad to hear from you and to do a new
transaction with you.

even as i write you the kligon shipping company had said they will not sent it cos its a health harzard.

thanks

ony.

There's no way Obo is getting cash from Brian, but being the good samaritan he is, Brian has a possible solution to Obo's money problems.

From: Brian Anthony
To: Ony Obo

Dear Mr. Obo,

Thank you for your email, and I am glad at least that you have made contact with the shipping company to confirm the information that I had already given to you.

I am afraid that my company cannot compensate you in any way, even if we wanted to. We are governed by strict charity & tax laws which unfortunately leave my hands tied. All company funds have of course to be accounted for to the last penny, and we also have a company audit due at the end of this month, which means that we have to be even more careful when accounting for any company finances.

Your case is rather unfortunate, however what you need to clearly understand is that my company, or indeed the Klingon Shipping shipping company, is not responsible for the accident which befell your carving. I am quite convinced that you sent the carving in the best and safest manner that you could, and of course I realise that you have spent money and time on this project, however once again, my company cannot be held financially responsible for accidents which we did not cause.

I can only offer you one final suggestion to try to recoup some of your losses; we have a very important client who are a book publishing company. We have been hired as consultants to oversee the advertising artwork and marketing for three of their new books. As part of our client specification we are to create posters and paintings of the book covers in unusual or exciting places to raise awareness of the books. One of our project manager's ides is to have large copies of the book covers to be painted onto the sides of small buildings/houses. If you have access to artists who may be capable of painting large copies of book covers to large areas, such as the sides of houses, or even better, large signs or billboards then we would be willing to pay you a generous agent's fee for doing so. All that we would require is for your to hire an artist to complete the painting project, and then photograph the final image and send copies to us by email attachment. The advantage to you is of course that you need not worry about any artwork being damaged during shipping etc.

Please note that the minimum height requirement for the painting is 17 (seventeen) feet tall, so as you can see the work would require a very capable artist. Of course, for such work we are willing to compensate the artist very generously, and should he/she be able to complete such a project within the next 10 days we are willing to pay US $16,700. Also, as you will be representing us as an agent in this matter, we could also pay you an agent's fee of US $3,275.

Please let me know your decision as soon as possible as I do have other people that I am considering for this project, however because of the recent problems that you have been having I am willing to consider you before the other people, but please note that our client expects very fast results.

Sincerely,

Brian Anthony
Director
Brian Anthony Fine Arts

Will Obo go for such an insane request?

You bet he will!

From: Ony Obo
To: Brian Anthony
Subject: Re: help

Brian Anthony -

i am glad at your responce , i think i shall opt in for it. i mean i shall conseder the option. i shall be glad should you send me the works to be done , and lets get busy.

thanks.

ony

"lets get busy" I like your work ethos Obo!

OK. I was going to send Obo a copy of my very own book cover to paint in a huge size, however we've already seen that done, so I decided to knock up a non-existent cover featuring a favourite subject of mine, which is pirates of course!

From: Brian Anthony
To: Ony Obo

Dear Mr. Obo,

I must say that I am impressed that you feel you are able to organise the production of such a request. If you are successful in this particular venture then I must tell you that I would be very interested in working with you again on a regular basis. We only have two other people in your part of the world capable of handling similar project, so if you can complete this one to our satisfaction then you may become a very important contact for us, subsequently we would be prepared to pay highly for your work.

Please find attached to this email the image of one of the book covers from our publishing client. Just to remind you, our client has requested the following:

1. To find a house, apartment, billboard or sign with a side wall capable of having a painting applied no less than 17 feet in HEIGHT. In a good state for painting.
2. To paint an advertising image (the cover of a book attached to this email) onto the space. The image to be no less than 17 feet in height.
3. To then take MULTIPLE photographs from various angles of the advertising image to a high quality and then send scans of the image back to us by email attachment.

I spoke with our client a short time ago to inform them that we may have someone who can complete such a job, and they extremely excited about the prospect. Please note that you only have a maximum of 10 days to complete this project because it is needed urgently by our client. If you are unable to complete this project in the allotted time then please do let me know as soon as possible so that the work can be passed on to another agent.

Once you have completed the painting you will need to arrange to have high quality photographs taken of it, showing the painting in full from various angles. If possible please ask the artist or artists to pose with the picture in some of the shots so his identification can be added to our records.

You must then send by email attachment, high quality and large scans of the photographs. It is very important that the scans you attach are very large and very clear. We cannot accept small or unclear images, so please take care.

Payment for this project will be made in full upon receipt of acceptable scans of the photographs. Please note that payment will only be given upon receipt of the photographs, proving to us that the work has been completed. We do not send any advance payment for work which we have not received.

I wish you luck with this project, and again should you complete it successfully then you can look forward to a long and prosperous partnership with us.

Sincerely,

Brian Anthony
Director
Brian Anthony Fine Arts

I attach the "book cover" image:

From: Ony Obo
To: Brian Anthony
Subject: Re: client specification

Brian Anthony

am so glad that you did send your client specification, at the point i do have one or two questions / request. i want to know if would be shipping the work down to you on completion, or will i have to advertise it here in my country? how many of the work should be done within the space of time? (Here we go!) as the case be now i must be cincere with you, i do need some upfront to speedy the work here , aleast to hire the artist i would pay him to come down to start the work.

i believe by now you should have aleast an atom of trust in me giving to the resent transaction. i do need atleast $500 to commence work for you. cos i do want the work to be fast and i continue with other works with you.

thanks .

obo.

From: Brian Anthony
To: Ony Obo

Dear Mr. Obo,

I am not sure you understood my previous instructions completely.

There is no need to ship anything to us. Remember, if you are going to arrange for an artist to paint a 17 foot tall image onto the side of a wall, or a house, or some kind of large sign, then of course it would be impossible to ship such an item to us. What we require from you are just scans of photographs of the painted image once it is complete. Only ONE painting needs to be completed.

Regarding your request for an advance payment; I am afraid that once more I have to tell you that we do not pay money in advance for work that has not been completed. You will recall that this is now the third time that we have informed you of this. These rules are company policy and cannot be changed for any reason.

Please do let me know immediately if you are unable to proceed because our client is demanding this work to be completed very quickly, and if you are unable to do this work then I must swiftly pass it on to another of our agents who is ready right now to commence the work if you are unable to do so.

One final note: I need to impress upon you the need to try to reply to my emails more swiftly. Lately is has been taking more than 24 hours to receive your replies to my emails. If we are to work together in the future months it is vital that you keep in constant communication with me.

Sincerely,

Brian Anthony
Director
Brian Anthony Fine Arts

From: Ony Obo
To: Brian Anthony
Subject: Re: client specification

Brian Anthony

i understand your company is govern by strict laws. but i must be sincere and honest to you as i had always being. at the moment i am not financialy bouyant
to execute the act of hiring an artist now. it is incubent on me to do that but the artist has got to be paid some cash befor he starts up any thing.

please you can deduct it from my agent fees at the time of work completion.

i do wishfully hope that you may conseder my plight .

thanks

ono.

Time to try and force ony's hand.

From: Brian Anthony
To: Ony Obo

Dear Mr. ony,

Sorry, I cannot give you payment in advance. Please do not ask again because respectfully I have to tell you it will be a waste of your time. Thank you for your work over the last few weeks however time is now very short and I will have to pass on your work to another artist who is now ready to commence work.

I wish you good luck for the future, however we have no further business together.

Sincerely,

Brian Anthony
Director
Brian Anthony Fine Arts

Obo has a change of email address. Not sure why as his old one seems to be working. Not to worry, he's up for the job.

From: Ony Obo
To: Brian Anthony
Subject: i will do the work mr brian

Brian Anthony

i now understand your postion and even though, it is a great struggle for me i am confident that if i complete this work to your satisfaction that you will conseder me a serious person and treat me will.

i will commence work at the soonest possible time to be in touch very soon.

ony

From: Brian Anthony
To: Ony Obo

Dear Mr. Obo,

I am pleased as punch with your decision and I look forward to viewing the work. I am sure should you succeed with this project that we can do much business together.

Please keep me updated on your progress, and remember that this project requires completion within ten working days.

Sincerely,

Brian Anthony
Director
Brian Anthony Fine Arts

A week later, ony gives me some good news.

From: Ony Obo
To: Brian Anthony
Subject: in progress

mr. brians

i am writing to inform you that work has now started,, on your request and i pray that it will be ready by this week

Obo.

From: Brian Anthony
To: Ony Obo

Dear Mr. Obo,

Thank you for your update.

Brian Anthony
Director
Brian Anthony Fine Arts

The work is a few days overdue, but finally arrives. It's not quite what I expected though.

From: Ony Obo
To: Brian Anthony
Subject: Re: in progress

Brian Anthony

how are you today sir i hope fine? i am pleased to send photograph of the completed work for your inspection. i hope that it meets with your satisfaction, i await your further instruction soonest.

Obo.

Obo attaches the "painting":

I didn't know whether to be disappointed at this godawful pile of crap, or laugh at the thought that Obo would be dumb enough to think I would fall for it!

From: Brian Anthony
To: Ony Obo

Dear Mr. Obo,

Thank you for the picture that you sent me a short time ago. I'm sure you will be surprised to learn that your work has left me with a few niggling questions which I hope you are able to answer for me.

Firstly, I did not realise that there was such a substantial Indian population in Nigeria. It appears that your streets are indeed awash with the good people of the Asian continent. I for one applaud your great country for having such an admirable ethnic mixture, and indeed, my own father is a Romulan, so I know only too well the importance of tolerance and understanding. It seems clear to me that Nigeria leads the world in racial integration, and your country is to be rightly commended for that. Also, I must apologise; I was unaware that national currency of Nigeria is the Indian Rupee as is clearly demonstrated in the advertisement for the Nokia monyle phone. What a dumbass I am turning out to be. I hope you will forgive my ignorance?

I can't help but notice that the billboards in Lagos seem to have magical properties. How else could one explain how the street lamp appears to disappear behind the painting your created for me? Amazing.

Forgive me for asking, but are you perhaps trying to pull a fast one here? What I mean is, I have a sneaking suspicion that the photograph you sent me is not exactly real. Call me suspicious if you will, but it's just a feeling I get. Of course, I could be completely wrong, and I will be happy to apologise to you. To alleviate my concerns, please will you take another photograph of the sign, but this time from a different angle, and a little closer up? I know you will clearly recall my previous instructions whereby I requested multiple photographs from different angles. Once I receive the new photographs then we can move swiftly on to your payment.

Sincerely,

Brian Anthony
Director
Brian Anthony Fine Arts

Obo attempts the tried and tested (and often refused) scammer excuse of, "I need cash upfront".

From: Ony Obo
To: Brian Anthony
Subject: Re: in progress

Brian Anthony

i must be sincere and honest to you as i had always being. at the moment i am not financialy bouyant to execute the act of taking more pictures now. it is incubent on me to do that but the photographer has got to be paid some cash befor he starts up any thing. please you can deduct it from my agent fees at the time of work completion.

i do wishfully hope that you may conseder my plight .

thanks

ony.

From: Brian Anthony
To: Ony Obo

Dear Mr. Obo,

Sorry, I cannot give you payment in advance of receiving satisfactory work. As you will of course recall from my previous message to you, you were supposed to supply me with multiple photographs of the paining, from various angles. If you were unable to do that then perhaps it would have been wise to tell me before attempting the project in the first place. I bet you feel like a bit of a twit now, don't you?

Listen Obo, I really need to Thank you for your work over the last few weeks however time is now very short and I will have to pass on your work to another artist who is now ready to commence work.

I wish you good luck for the future, however we have no further business together.

Sincerely,

Brian Anthony
Director
Brian Anthony Fine Arts

Obo (who I needn't remind you all is after all, at death's door) pleads a little more.

From: Ony Obo
To: Brian Anthony
Subject: read this

Brian Anthony

my plight here is that since i send you the carved work ,GOD knows i had being broke, so geting cash to do your job seem so difficult bcos of no available fund now,
i have you at heart to do works fo you but giving to the plight am in now ,it seem some worth uneasy.

if you could be of help, you can send some amount and the work you want become a settled thing.

ony.

Lets try a slightly different proposition for Obo.

From: Brian Anthony
To: Ony Obo

Dear Mr. Obo,

Please tell me how many times I have to say "no" before you get the message? 10 times? 100 times? 1,000 times? I WANT to help you but I CANNOT send you money for NOTHING. It is against company law. My company can get into trouble with our Inland Revenue if I do so.

Now, this is my FINAL offer to you Mr. Ony, and I am only offering this to you because of your past efforts. Are you able to provide one of the following:

1. The painting, as outlined in my email sent to you in November.

or

2. Are you able to take VIDEO images of two people reading from one of our TV scripts? They do not need to be experienced, however will need to be able to read English clearly. The video then needs to be sent to us either by post or uploaded in a file?

If you are able to do any of the above, as a gesture of goodwill and as recompense for your past efforts I will then authorise my company to pay you a one off fee of US $21,000 plus your expenses (we will need receipts).

Note once more: I CANNOT pay you in advance, and I CANNOT give you any money for work not received.

This is my final offer to you. I am trying very hard to try to help you Mr. Obo, however you must also help yourself too.

Sincerely,

Brian Anthony
Director
Brian Anthony Fine Arts

Looks like we're back in business.

From: Ony Obo
To: Brian Anthony
Subject: forward me the instructions

Brian Anthony

ok i wank you to tell me how to go about making the video image of two people in your radio studio. do xplain.so that i could do the job.

Ony.

From: Brian Anthony
To: Ony Obo

Dear Mr Obo,

I will send you details later but I need to know if you are serious about being able to arrange to film two actors reading from our script. I need you to understand that I am only interested in serious business because we will be investing a lot of money into such projects, and it is vital that my time is not wasted.

I do not mean to be disrespectful to you Mr. Obo, however I need your assurance that you are capable of making arrangements. This is what will be required from you, so please read carefully, and if you are certain that you are able to manage such a project then I would be genuinely interested in working with you:

1. You will need to find two MALE actors. They do not need any previous acting experience, however they MUST be able to read English from a script that we send to you.

2. You must be able to film (video) both actors reading from the script. The script is approximately 5 (five) minutes long. The actors can be reading directly from the script on camera, or can try to memorise the lines (this would be preferred). The video may be edited by your people if you wish.

3. You must be able to provide a copy of the recorded video either in MPEG/divX format (uploaded to a site so that we are able to download it - we can explain the details to you if you wish) or to ship a copy of the recorded video in DVD format to our head offices here in the UK.

If you are able to answer positively to the points above then I would most definitely be interested in working with you.

All actors will be paid fees and expenses as outlines in my previous email. Any expenses that you personally incur during the project will also be paid in full, plus an additional agent's fee.

IMPORTANT:
Pease note that once again we CANNOT pay ANY fees before receiving the video sample. Unfortunately in the past we have lost money to unscrupulous people who we have sent payment to and never received wok, therefore our company policy is only to pay fee upon completion as you should of course already be aware. It is important you understand this.

Once the sample video is received, payment will be made within 24 hours of receiving scans/copies of receipts for any expenses paid out. Your expenses may include the following:

Travel
Clothing for the actors
Rental of any rooms
Food
Agency fees

Please note that scans of any receipts will be required before payment can be made. If your expenses are expected to total more than US $10,000 then please do contact me beforehand. Expenses DO NOT include the hiring of the actors. These fees are paid separately as soon as the sample video is received.

If you are in agreement with that then please do get back to me as soon as possible and I shall provide you with further instructions. Feel free to telephone me at any time if you need further clarification.

Kindest regards,

Brian Anthony
Director
Brian Anthony Fine Arts

UPDATE March 3rd, 2007:

At this point - as we have now got most of what we need from Obo! - I can now reveal that in order to present this new proposition to Obo, I introduced my "partner" Mr. Ronald Jones, who is a good friend of Brian Anthony and just happens to own a Video Production company. As luck would have it, on their website they state that they are looking for people to submit video work for scholarships as well!

Brian Anthony tells Obo that Ronald Jones will take over from him and guide Obo through the misery... (ahem!), process of submitting the video

Ronald Jones sends a standard introduction email to Obo telling him about the history of VXD Video Productions, and the submission process.

Obo replies to Ronald Jones, and I get the feeling he has had some kind of attitude change. Either his partner is replying to me now or he has decided that fighting the inevitable is a lost cause!

From: Ony Obo
To: Ronald Jones
Subject: greetings

Thank you for your email.

I can see you are a seriuos minded business man.I have read all the conditions nessecray for the business to take place,I hereby agree to the terms and conditions,provided that my interest is protected. May i ask,i a stiutation whereby i send the DVD to you via post and you refuse to pay since we have no binding agreement,what will happen to me.Am not saying you will absound with my money,nither will i if you make any part payment.But in any case I think we should enter into a legal binding agreement that will favour both parties in this business.

As for being ready to work with you and through you,i am.May you processed to letting me know the details on how to carry-out this project. Again i wish to drow your attention that here in Nigeria we speak and write English. So get the nessecary information i need,including the agreement arrangment so that no party will feel cheated.All the three things you require i can provide.

Ony.

From: Ronald Jones
To: Ony Obo

Dear Mr. Obo,

To answer your concerns, I am happy for you to make up your own agreement and I will be most happy to sign it and send it to you by email attachment, however I shall have to state once more that we cannot pay any payment in advance of receiving the sample video. Additionally, I can assure you that should your work be of sufficient quality, my company would be very interested in having you create additional (and of course fully paid) work. Any additional work would be paid in advance, once you have proved yourself to us, however again I must stipulate that for the sample video no advance payment, either in full or in part, can be made.

Yu will appreciate that because of the generous terms we offer, we are always being approached by people offering their services, so please do not feel forced into agreeing with us. If you feel uncomfortable working to our terms then this is absolutely not a problem, we can find other people who are willing to help.

Please remember that my company is not in the business of ripping people off. If that were the case then I would quickly be out of business. The most important thing to me is the good name and reputation of my company, and I would certainly not do anything to deliberately besmirch it.

So, my offer to you is that you may if you wish draft up an agreement containing my terms, and my promise of payment to you within 24 hours of receipt of the sample video. Send a scan of it to me by email attachment and I shall personally sign it and return it to you. Along with the reputation of my company, this is the guarantee I give you that your work will be rewarded.

So please let me know if you are willing to continue and I will forward you the details you require, however please understand once more that I cannot offer you any payment until such time as we have received the video sample.

I tried to telephone the number you gave me below however I could not get a connection. You can contact me on my private number which is +44 8708 74X XXX

Sincerely,

Ronald Jones CEO
VXD Video Productions

From: Ony Obo
To: Ronald Jones
Subject: forward me the instructions

Thanks once more for prompt response. I have accepted the terms and condition. You can now processed with the details and may i know the targeted date for delivery. I shall consult my attoreny as to drafting the agreement. Before then shall we processed with the details so that i can bite the timimg.

I appreciate working with you. Within the next 15mins the number i gave you will be through. Am waiting for your response soon .I will carry-out every work as you directed,provided you the instruction are very clear and striaght foward. Till i hear from you

Best Regards

Ony

Remember folks, this is a guy who was initially at death's door. He was so ill that he was unable to distribute his wealth to charity all by himself. I think we may be witnessing a medical miracle here.

From: Ronald Jones
To: Ony Obo

Dear Mr. Obo,

Thank you for your email.

Below you will find detailed information about the scene to be acted. For reasons of time we have decided to change the scene to a shorter version. Also, two other gentlemen from your part of the world have already started their work on a sample video which was the one we were going to send to you, however it would be pointless to have to identical samples, so we have decided to give you a different one. This one is shorter and so should be slightly easier for you to arrange. Typically the scene should last for approximately 7 minutes, but if it is longer then that is not a problem.

As outlined below, you may edit/re-shoot the video to try to make it look as professional as you can, however do not worry too much about making it look perfect. It is the actors that we are interested in, and so long as the video and sound is clear, and the script is followed carefully, then that is the most important thing to us.

Remember to make notes of all expenses that you incur, and be sure to get receipts for any money you spend.

Please do reply to this email as soon as possible to let me know when you think you will be able to complete this project. It is vital that we complete this sample video as soon as is possible.

Kind regards,

Ronald Jones CEO
VXD Video Productions

I'll spare readers the boring details about how the scene is to be set up etc. suffice to say that I handed over detailed information - and a full script - for the recreation Monty Python's classic, "Dead Parrot Sketch". I also emailed him a video copy of the original sketch. I don't need to tell you how excited I am at the prospect of seeing this one!

From: Ony Obo
To: Ronald Jones
Subject: the work will be done

Thanks you for the information. I want to let you know that the job will commence immediately. All the instruction you have given are all understood and will be carried out soomthly.

As regards the sample video it conveys all we need.I beleive i shall deliever before january 2007. If that is ok by you please do let me know.

From: Ronald Jones
To: Ony Obo

Dear Mr. Obo,

Thank you for your reply.

January is fine, however please note that I will be unable to make any kind of payment between Jan 13th and Jan 22nd as I shall be overseas attending a conference. I will of course be available via email, but again, I cannot authorise payment between those two dates. Of course, if for some reason you are able to submit the sample any time before the 13th of January then that will not be a problem.

Now a subtle carrot & stick reminder for Obo:

Please will you let me know what your preferred method of payment is so that I can alert my accounts department to prepare the paperwork?

Kind regards,

Ronald Jones CEO
VXD Video Productions

From: Ony Obo
To: Ronald Jones
Subject: Thanks

Thanks for the response.I will like the payments to be made via western Union Money Transfer. [Well surprise surprise!] I hope i should have no fear of losing in this business,Because that is my only fear. However am ready to invest in it. If there is any kind of guarantee,it will make me to be more relaxed,I understand with you about what happened in the past but am not asking for money but any commitment which will be fair.

Thanks

Ony.

From: Ronald Jones
To: Ony Obo

Dear Mr. Obo,

Western Union will be fine. If you forward me the name and address information of the payee I will have my office draw up the paperwork in readiness.

Again, I can only offer you my personal guarantee that should you provide the work that we are requesting then you will be most definitely adequately rewarded. As I told you previously, I will be happy to sign any kind of guarantee if that will alleviate any of your concerns. I had presumed that you would have the agreement completed that you told me your lawyer was making ready.

Please be sure to keep me fully updated as to your progress, and if you are able to get the work done ahead of schedule it will be looked upon most positively by my company.

Kind regards,

Ronald Jones CEO
VXD Video Productions

From: Ony Obo
To: Ronald Jones
Subject: Re:Thanks

I just wanted you to know I have commenced the project by scouting for a location siutable for pet shop.The actors have been given the script to study for their interpretation.As soon as they are through i believe we shall start reharrsal.

sir there will be some 8 days delay becos the video camera has rotted [Now I'm really curious as to what the hell type of video camera they are filming this with!]. there may be more but i will keep you informed as the project advances.

Thanks

Oby.

Well the New Year arrives, with little progress from Obo. Time to drop him a line and make him think there is a competitor on the horizon.

From: Ronald Jones
To: Ony Obo

Dear Mr. Obo,

Happy New Year to you, and I hope your year is a prosperous one.

I am just writing to ask about your progress so far, and also, I have been approached by a person called Emeka Wilson who represents an acting agency in Nigeria by the name of "Happy Light Agency". Do you know anything about these people? They asked about our company project.

Sincerely,

Ronald Jones CEO
VXD Video Productions

Poor Obo. He thinks I want to fire him!

From: Ony Obo
To: Ronald Jones
Subject: progress & question

Compliments of the season.I am happy for the mail i recieved from you today.

Acutally i have been busy as regards the production.Everything is set only that the very location we want to use is occupied for now.We have been given a date by the owners of the location,so the shooting will takeplace in no distant time.

About the Emeka Wilson i don't know him and have never come across his agencie.It is up to you to let me know what your plans is about him.I guess you are trying to transfere the job you gave me to him,thereby laying me off.I believe that we have a deal and am working to achieve the goal as soon as possible.I await to hear from you soon.About the actors they are asking the price they will be paid at the conclusion of the job.

Thanks

Oby.

From: Ronald Jones
To: Ony Obo

Dear Mr. Obo,

You need not worry. There is absolutely no reason or plan to lay you off the job. We need as many people as possible to help with this project. I was only asking you about the person known as Emeka just in case you had some dealings with him in the past. You will recall in one of your previous emails to me that you told me you were an agent with the Nigeria Movie Guild, and because of that I assumed that you may have personally known Mr. Emeka. It is of no importance, I was just trying to gather information. Please do proceed with our project, and I am pleased that you are nearing a starting point.

As for your question about the actor's payment; we pay a standard rate of US $9,750 per actor, plus expenses, as outlined in my email in December. You will of course be paid our standard agent's fees, again as outlined in my previous email.

Are you still on course to complete the work on January 20th or is there any possibility that the work can be concluded earlier? The reason I ask is because I was due to attend a conference on Jan 13th until Jan 22nd, however this has been postponed until a later date, so I shall now be available during those dates.

Thank you once more, and please do not hesitate to email or telephone me if you have any further questions.

Sincerely,

Ronald Jones CEO
VXD Video Productions

From: Ony Obo
To: Ronald Jones
Subject: Re:progress & question

Dear ronald

Compliments of the season.How is work doing?I hope you are kicking fine.

I write to inform you that the production is almost coming to a conclusion.We have had a series of reheresal.Another one is meant to take place today evening where all the correction will be possiblly made and concluded for shouting.But the director asked me a question which i was unable to answer.He asked whether the vocal intunation will it be British ar do we use our normal African English vocal intunation.Are we expected to produce the sound the way it is in the Sample video.He needs the answers so as to give the actors the next instruction.

But i suggest we use our normal African vocal sound,because we are Africans not British men.It will make it look more of African drama.May i know have you ever seen any Nigeria or West Africa Movie?If you have you will understand my question well.I hope to hear from you soon so that we can conculed.Also send the address where i will paste the video.
Thanks for your co-opreation

Ony.

From: Ronald Jones
To: Ony Obo

Dear Mr. Obo,.

Regarding your questions; the vocal enunciation can be in your standard African-English vocabulary. As I indicated in one of my previous emails to you, it is the actors themselves that are most important to us, and it is important that they are not subjected to vocal ranges or tones that are unfamiliar to them. As long as they can speak clear English it does not matter about their national accent. All we ask is that the script and scene is followed as closely as possible and that the actors speak English.

The address of our head office is as follows. Please mark the package for the attention of my secretary. I work out of the office most of the week, and my secretary will advise me by telephone immediately that you sample arrives so that I can see to it straight away:

[Safe address inserted here]

Please remember that if you are sending the sample rather than uploading it, we can only accept it in a DVD disc, not video tape.

Also, for the sake of speed and security, I would encourage you to ship the sample by some kind of fast courier, such as FedEx, DHL or similar. The faster that the sample reaches us of course, the faster we can initiate any payments.

Once more, please keep me fully updated as to your progress.

Sincerely,

Ronald Jones CEO
VXD Video Productions

I hope Obo manages to keep alive long enough to finish this project. It would be awful to have him kick the bucket at this late stage. Hold on man, hold on!

Looks like Obo wants to upload the video rather than shipping it out to me, which is good news as I will get to see it much earlier.

From: Ony Obo
To: Ronald Jones
Subject: Information required

Dear Ronald

Thanks for the mail.The project is nearing completion.I will like you to provide me with the web site where i will paste the job.I will provide the names of the two actors as soon as we are through with the production.On the other hand you can pay them through me.

If you are okay with that may you processd with my name as their agent and prepare the nesseccary document.Please get back to me so that i will be cleared.Expect the job soon.

Thanks for the understanding so far.

Ony.

So Obo wants me to pay him, rather than the two hardworking "actors". I really do hope he can hold out long enough to collect his money, but I'm sure he can. He's held out for months so far, and my guess is that no matter how long it takes, he'll stay with us until he gets his cash. What a brave, brave man.

From: Ronald Jones
To: Ony Obo

Dear Mr. Obo,

Thank you for your reply.

We can of course make the payments directly to you. Please do not forget to inform me by what method you require the payment to be made (cheque, Money Order, Bank Transfer etc.). Please do remember to list any expenses you have made.

Regarding uploading the file: [I've removed the long and boring info I sent explaining how to upload the video]

If you have problems using this service then please let me know and I will forward you details of another service you can use, or if you already know of one which you would prefer to use then please let me know.

Sincerely,

Ronald Jones CEO
VXD Video Productions

I cannot even BEGIN to tell you how stupid this guy is, and how much hair I've pulled out in pure frustration! I've spent nearly three weeks explaining to him in great detail, including sending step-by-step photos showing the simple steps to take to upload the video footage, both by email and telephone. He failed miserably despite my stunningly good directions. We decided in the end that the best option would be to post the video footage to me. Nearly a month wasted, and time that Obo in his current health state cannot afford!

Anyway, the video has finally arrived, and I have to say it's fantastic, but probably for all the wrong reasons!

It must be noted that the two people featured in the video are probably not scammers themselves. Perhaps they are amateur actors, I don't really know, but I do doubt they are scammers. One of them does have a rather nice gold watch though!

The picture quality isn't much to write home about. Obviously filmed with a budget analog video camera, the image quality is comparable to VHS (just!) with video noise appearing after nearly every cut.

Readers have two options for viewing this video. You can play the streaming Vimeoe version below, or if If you would like to download teh full screen full screen version then click on the download link below which will download a 82 megabyte Zip file. You can then unzip it and play it on most media players.

Download high resolution (full screen) version AVI file here: PARROT.ZIP (82 megabyte file).

And here's a few pictures of Obo's packaging. Approximate cost to ship was approximately US $30.

OK, so lets have a quick recap of the events so far:

Six months ago, this wretched human being contacted me to explain he was moments from death as a result of the ravages of Esophageal Cancer. He had led a bad life. All he wanted to do before joining our dead parrot in the great big bird cage in the sky was to distribute his wealth to deserving charities... at a cost of course.

Obo battled on bravely with my requests, and eventually managed to carve a copy of my own head. Having failed miserably to protect my head in transit, it was partially eaten away by a hungry rodent. After apologising for the screw-up, Obo agreed to create another piece of artwork for me, this time in the form of a 17 foot tall painting of a book cover. As well all know, this was a complete and utter disaster, and Obo was ordered to complete yet another project which he did with great success. All this despite being weakened by the ravages of cancer. Ladies and gentleman, we have a hero on our hands!

Obo must be flushed with a feeling of success, and great anticipation of the thousands of dollars coming his way. Shall we spoil his party...? Shall we?