“DEAR MR. SIR,
I apologize to encroach into your privacy in this manner, but I approach you in a request for assistance regarding a matter of the utmost urgency. I found your contact from a directory on the Internet, here in Nigeria, and I was inspired to seek your co-operation. My name is Solomon Owu Akinyele. I am the eleventh son of King Solomon Owu Akinyele, and as my father is King Solomon Owu Akinyele, I am a prince here in Nigeria. I know you don’t know me, but I mean no harm sending you this note, just that I have no one else to talk to on this matter of utmost urgency, and, as I am the eleventh son of King Solomon Owu Akinyele, I am of lesser importance than my brother, Isaac Owu Akinyele, the tenth son.
You may be wondering why I chose to trust a delicate matter like this in care of a stranger, but it is the best I can do in my present situation. I would have trusted this kind of project in the hands of my wife who is my closest confidant, but in light of the current situation she has become unavailable. My other brother, Ikpe Owu Akinyele, the ninth son, has ruined his life with hard drugs, hence my decision to work with a neutral person, if we can establish some trust between ourselves, for your mutual benefit.
I need you to assist me in a very important, risk-free monetary transaction which will be very beneficial to the both of us. It involves a reasonable amount of money which was deposited in my name somewhere in Europe by the former prince shortly before my abduction.
In this transaction I want you to invest $20’000 in the persons responsible for my capture who are currently holding me prisoner in the highest tower in Lagos, Nigeria. Last week, I made a small sum of $35’000, and I have already secured other investments from likeminded, good individuals such as yourself for a total sum of $1m. If you send me the PayPal transfer, which will arrive immediately, it would be most valuable in progressing my release from this highest tower in Lagos, Nigeria. In exchange for your goodwill, good Sir, my father King Solomon Owu Akinyele will reward you with wealth of kind that would triple your initial investment.
All I want you to do for now is to give me your mailing address, your private phone and fax number and your account details. I believe at the end of the day, you will have 50%, and 50% will be for me.
I am writing this email to you out of trust, and I expect you to keep our discussion to yourself, that is, without the knowledge of a third party.
Best Most regards,
Prince Solomon Owu Akinyele the Eleventh.”
And with that, Prince Solomon Owu Akinyele the Eleventh hits SEND. He stands up from the wooden table in his cell in the highest tower, and walks to the small, barred window. He rests his head against the cold steel and breathes in the salty ocean air. Longingly, he looks out at the port of Lagos and the Gulf of Guinea stretching out in front of him. There is sadness and sorrow in his eyes.
Soon, he hopes. Soon we will have enough to secure my freedom.
THE END
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