Watch out! Now angle by fraudsters

I was one of the very first to expose the work of the Nigerian Fraudsters who used to contact people by phone and fax.

See my article of 1996 Missile of Black Gold.

They then spread their tentacles to the internet and email.

There have been many new angles used by them, but this is the first time I came across this one:

Barrister Peter Morgan (Esq.)
Of Peter & Morgan Chambers
16 Norman Williams Street Ikoyi
Lagos Nigeria.
Email Address: peter_morgan1@hotmail.com
Tell +234-1-819-7854
From: Barr. Peter Morgan.

ATTN: Jacob Matthan

I am Barr. Peter Morgan An Attorney at Law and Senior Advocate of Nigeria. I am the personal Attorney to Engr. James E. Matthan, An American by Birth, who used to work with Shell Development Company in Nigeria. Here in after shall be referred to as my Client. On the 21st of April 2001, my client, his wife and their three Children were involved in a fatal car Accident along Shagamu Express Road. All occupants of the vehicle Unfortunately lost their lives. Since then I have made several inquires to your Embassy to locate any of my clients extended Relatives this has also proved unsuccessful.

After these several unsuccessful attempts, I decided to track his last Name over the Internet, to locate any member of his family hence I contacted you.

I have contacted you to assist in repatriating the money and property left behind by my client before they get confiscated or declared unserviceable by the Bank where these huge deposits were lodged. Particularly, the Security Company Where the deceased had an account valued at about (US$10.5m) Ten Million Five Hundred United States Dollars.

The Bank Has issued me a notice to provide the Next of Kin or have the Account confiscated within the next 21 working days. Since I have been unsuccessful in locating the relatives for over 8 months now, I seek your consent to present you as the next of kin of the deceased since you have the same last name so That the proceeds of this account valued at (US$10.5M) Ten Million Five Hundred United States Dollars.can be paid to you and then you and I can share the money, all Necessary legal documents will be in place that can be used to back up any Claim we may make.

All I require is your honest Cooperation to enable us seeing this deal through.I Guarantee that this will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law. Please do get in touch with me through this mailbox: peter_morgan1@hotmail.com for more details, once I have your consent and trust then we can proceed immediately.

Call me on my Telephone number if you have any question regarding this transaction. Tell +234-1-819-7854.

Your anticipated response is urgently needed.

Yours Truly,

Barrister Peter Morgan (Esq.)

The special reference to someone with the same surname is a completely new approach. SO BE WARNED.

Thank you 56ers!

(Cross-posted on all my major personal and alma mater blogs. This is a tribute I received for concerned blogging.)

Monday, November 27, 2006

(Click images to see enlarged version.)

Dear Class of 56,


Editorial page from Class of 1956 Directory, 2006.

To quote from the editorial page of your Class Directory:

“To Jacob Matthan go immense thanks for the support of his blogsite and his indefatigable research.”

Thank you, Meena, for writing these words which will be remembered by my children and grandchildren for another 50 years at least, even though none of them had the opportunity to be Cathedralites.

I do hope that I have instilled some of the “education” that I received from my glorious alma mater to these two generations of my immediate family.

You 56ers have made today of my most wonderful days of my life.

Courier Post this evening brought me the Class Directory and two absolutely precious Tee-Shirts.


Cover of 1956 Class Directory, 2006.

I offered one to my better half, but she said that they were for me.


Annikki & me, Rauma, 2006 October.

Of course, she told me not to wear it as I usually do, as I am, at this tender age of 63, in the habit of spilling my tea all over the front onto my large paunchy area.

When Ubi forwarded me the Reunion Report, my eyes were moist with the tears of joy and sorrow that welled in me. I was especially moved by the news of how Muku, another one of my heroes, came to the reunion get-together. His CV in the Directory explained to me the character of a man I admired in school.

I especially remember when young Aditya Malkani read about his father on my Seventh Heaven website (April 2001), well before it was made into a blog.

From: "Aditya Malkani"

Subject: Re: Picture Champion House 1953

Mr Mathan,

It was great to recieve your email.

I went to your very impressive web site and saw the picture from 53.

I almost had tears coming out of my eyes looking at pictures of my dad and reading about names that i had heard him mention so often.

I am currently a third year in Oberlin college and i will be graduating in may of 2002.

I have several school pictures from around 1956 that my father kept in good condition, if you like i can scan them and send them to you when i return to Bombay in July.

I wish in thirty years from now our graduating class of '98..manages to keep in touch, the way yours has.

Thank you ever so much for allowing me to learn more about my father's younger days.

aditya malkani

When Doreen discovered me and entered into a beautiful relationship, I have enjoyed every moment learning about her life and her family.

And when Ubi entered into my life via the blog, I was so thrilled to be in touch again with someone so immensely dedicated to the school, that it was my greatest pleasure to fulfil his every desire towards making your reunion a success.

And from all the accounts that I have received, it was.

When I received the Directory and turned open the cover and found the mention of ME in the editorial, Annikki and i were so overjoyed that we have still not stopped talking about it.

I explained to her about so many of the personages contained therein, many of you whom i remember so vividly.

Ubi was my hero, but that does not detract from the enormous respect I hold for so many of you who used to be willing to give time to us kids to help us.

What I learnt from many of you is what i practice on my blog.

I do hope that as many of you will send me photographs and details to share with over 3000 Cathedralites from 1945 to 2006 who tune in to this blog faithfully to see what YOU have to say.

I hope that you will allow me to be part of your 60th Reunion!

Thank you 56ers.

Jacob Matthan
Kampitie 6 B
90150 Oulu
Finland
Tel: 041 - 7067788
email: jmatthan@gmail.com

All complaints listened to

Starting with daughter Joanna in Newcastle, and going around the globe, there have been complaints about the photo quality on my blogs. So I borrowed a camera from Pailin and have taken some shots of the snow creations of Annikki this winter, and just in time.

The warm rains of today may wipe out her work by tomorrow morning.









The Laplander and the Kota (Finnish Laplander's Wigwam) are truly outstanding creations.







The boat and the lighthouse are also fascinating. The candle lights look glorious in the night in this garden. Annikki has a clear mind as to where each candle and lamp should be.







The melting snow has a way of twisting, as can be seen from this shot of the snow on the bridge arm.



Iitu, our 15 year old cat, was most intrigued to know why the two of us were in the cold winter garden and came out to draw our attention - she climbed the Thai pergola leg in desperation to make us notice her.








The berry tree was in a fascinating state with snow and icicles. The snow covered tree against the night sky was a great sight.

Annikki may not have much time for the next month to create any new snow artworks, but expect to see some more later on during this winter.

Annikki still in creation mode

When I got back last night I was in splits of laughter as Annikki had created a Lappish snowman (hilarious), and a Finnish Laplanders wigwam in snow, called as a kota.

Sorry about the quality of the photographs.





She in in THE MOOD. More to come folks!

REUNIONS?

(Cross-posted on my Seventh Heaven Blog.)

The Mumbai Cathedral and John Connon School Founders Day programme will take place on the 14th of November and several class reunions will take place. (I have been especially involved with the 50 Year Reunion of 56ers, and may I wish them all a very very happy reunion!)

I am hoping that the Reunion Reports will be sent to me so that I can blog them.

This last week, I went through a reunion after 47 years, when Narayan Acharya (née Seshachar) took the trouble and made the time to visit me at this Arctic location. Ooky (Elijah Elias) is the only other classmate who has visited me here.

It was wonderful to establish a one-to-one reunion with Narayan.

Narayan joined school only in the 10th Standard and so was not a full-blown Cathedralite. He came from a great school run by American Jesuit priests in Jamshedpur, so Cathedral was not the "cat's whiskers" for him.

He made a few friends. He lived so far away from school, at Khar, that he could not take part in all the extracurricular activities which were part of our enjoyment of school.

But, as I remember, Narayan's entry to our class had a profound effect on the top echelon as he was a brilliant student, topping almost in every subject. His brilliance really shone when he topped the entrance exam to the Indian Institute of Technologies a little later in his life.

His likes and dislikes were based on his short exposure to the school, and were quite different from mine.

Our week together was really great as we exchanged opinions, agreed on many subjects and disagreed on many. We shouted at each other and on one occasion, when we had dinner at an Indian Restaurant, and we were the only customers late in the evening, we went at each other with hammer and tongs. It was great as it showed our Cathedralite upbringing in that we could argue on issues and not take offence!

This is something a Class Reunion does not accomplish. I have attended our class reunions in 1989 and 1999, and they were great events. (I do wish Shivi (Vijay Shivdasani) would send me the video and snaps from the second event!)

But there was no possibility to get to know each other as I got to know Narayan during his visit.

He went with Annikki and me to the Loy Krathong Festival, he saw the sights of Oulu as only I know how to show them, he met many of my friends, my adopted children (that is those who have adopted Annikki and me), and he even had dinner and listened to a lecture about Australia and the English Club of Oulu.

Like me, Narayan is a Jonah and Murphy’s Law follows him everywhere. His trip to Oulu was eventful with a series of mishaps, so much so that I went to the Railway Station several times and could not find him, till he finally found a landline phone to ring me. Most public phones in Oulu are dead as almost everyone has a mobile!

Narayan, for all his brilliance, has stayed away from new electronic gadgetry.

When I invited him here, I did not expect that Oulu would be anywhere near wintry conditions, but a few days before he arrived, we were hit by a blizzard and the temperature dropped sharply, so much so it appeared to be already mid winter. Narayan coped rather well in these conditions. I did feel sorry for having dragged him here under false pretenses.

He was able to see Annikki's Winter Garden.



This year we have a long boat - several metres long, and a lighthouse in front of our Thai Pergola! (More creations will appear shortly!)

Even before we both realised it, the visit was over and he took the train to Turku to catch the ferry to Stockholm, the train across Sweden to Malmö, the crossing to Copenhagen in Denmark, and the long journey from there to Frankfurt to take the flight to Philadelphia.



Thank you Narayan for coming and sharing your time with me.

Winter grips Oulu early

(Cross-posted on the Seventh Heaven Blog.)

Last Thursday we were hit by a blizard. As it ws still October, Annikki held out saying it was still autumn and this was something known as autumn-winter. She recalled having experienced snow in Oulu as early as the 1st of September.

It took me about half an hour to drive the 2 km from the City Centre to our home.

Come 1st November, Annikki announced that it was now winter, and the snow all around was sufficient proof to anyone that we were right in the middle of winter.

The tree in our garden was covered with berries. (I must apologise for the quality of the pictures taken with our crummy camera.)



Above is a picture of the berry tree against a dark night sky pre snowfall.





And here, above, are a couple of snaps the same berry tree after our blizzard a day later.

In real life it looks great to see the beautiful red berries being preserved with a thick layer of snow!

I invited a Mumbai Cathedralite classmate, whom I had not seen for 47 years, to visit me in Oulu on his way back from Bangalore to Philadelphia.

Narayan Acharya was known as Seshachar when he was in school. He joined school in the middle of our 10th Standard, and hence did not find friends easy to come by. But he was a really brilliant student and topped our class in almost every subject. (The last fact I did remember about Narayan was that when he sat for the entrance exam to the Indian Institute of Technolgies, he topped the list of several thousands who sat for that exam.)

A few years ago, when I was searching for classmates, I found someone by the name of Narayan Acharya, as I had been told that Seshachar had changed his name to this. So I emailed the gentleman. I found Seshachar's cousin who goes by the same name. Through him I got our Narayan onto our class mailing list.

After a rather eventful journey, as Narayan seems to be like me as far as travel is concerned (we both are living proof of the truth of Murphy's law), Narayan reached Oulu safely last night.

We have been catching up on our intervening years.

It has been a bit here, there and everywhere, but it has been really great meeting up with him.

But I digress.

When I invited Narayan I told him not to be worried about the cold, as November is usually not that cold. When he landed here yesterday the temperature was around -11 C.

He is going to experience one of our coldest Novembers.

Those who remember Narayan will think of him as being a small chubby person. He is now a handsome gentleman, standing quite tall.

I will have a picture of him in a couple of days, and hopefully, one of the two of us together.