My name is XXXXXXXX and I live in London, England. I really wish I'd seen your site before I lost $20,000 (yes, 20.000) to the very scam that I see here.

I was taken completely and believed I was helping a poor, frightened African girl get out of Ivory Coast, with her Father's legacy of $22m that he had left in a security company, when he was mysteriously poisened on a business trip in France. I read an almost identical letter on your site, also based in Aberjan, Ivory Coast. Some phrases were identical.

I paid for the money to come out of Ivory Coast, where it went to Amsterdam, where I paid more to get it out of customs. This wasn't enough, as the amount kept going up due to the 'diplomatic' secrecy of the 'consignment'. Finally it was taken into care by a security firm (www.interconfinance.com).

I went to Holland, was picked up at the airport by two men in a Mercedes.(they were playing gospel music and talking 'God' and 'Jesus', as they knew I was religious)

Then we went to an office, where I was introduced to the manager, who said they would release the consignment to me now, on payment of the customs fee and their charges. I paid $10,000 and they brought in the box. It was opened and it was full of money, secured with pink plastic, which had to remain sealed until it got to the bank.

I was then driven back to the airport and told that the money would be in my account soon and could be placed wherever I wanted.

All the time, I was in touch with the 'poor/rich girl, Silvia, who was now in Africa somewhere, desperate for things to be 'finalised' so we could start a new life together with her money.

They have a web-site : www.interconfinance.com and If you look at that site, click on 'online banking', then click on 'accounts' and put in user name 'xxxxx ' [changed to protect the victim] and password xxxx, you will see an entry crediting my account with $22m.

The next surprise (surprise, surprise!) was that I now had to pay $22.000 to get a license from the Hague, stating it was not drug/laundered money.

At this point, my enquiries saved me. I called the Hague, asking for the price of this form and he said it was a scam. Then I looked up the form name in google and got straight to your site, where I read the same letters, with variations that I got.

The point is that it is still going on now. My contact in Amsterdam, a 'diplomat' called Collins rang me three times today to stress the urgency of paying. I got an e-mail from the 'company' man in Aberjan, to say they've found someone willing to put up $4000 to help pay..I offered them a $Million out of the money but no-one seems to interested.

I'm also getting urging e-mails from 'Silvia'..'do it soon, my dear. I want us to have a new life etc, etc..

Because of the plausability of these people, they find out your weaknesses, given in confidence and exploit them mercilessly, I was taken in and suffer the financial pressures, as the money was entirely borrowed from credit cards, so convinced was I.