“FROM:MR RASAQ BELLO ,
AUDITING & ACCOUNTING DEPARTMENT,
BANK OF AFRICA(B.O.A),
OUAGADOUGOU,BURKINA-FASO.
Dear friend
I know that this letter may come to you as a surprise (Typo mistake). I got
your contact address from the Internet when I was searching for a business
partner. My name is MR.RASAQ BELLO . I am the auditing and account-
ing Manager of bank of africa (B.O.A) ,Ouagadouguo Burkina Faso. In my
department we discovered an abandoned sum of USD$11.5 Million (Eleven
Million Five Hundred thousand US Dollar). In an account that belongs to one
of our foreign customer who died along with his wife and children in a plane
crash in 1999 plane crash….”
It was at that point that I stopped reading the email that landed in to my
inbox from the Burkina Faso banker. I knew what he wanted without opening
the email, but it’s always fun to read what sums of money they invent, what
pretexts they choose to kill their former clients, and so on and so forth. Actu-
ally, it is when I got to the plane crash news killing a whole family that I re-
ally got thinking. What if it was true? A google search with the words “plane
crash 1999” yielded several results, a breakdown of which is as follows:
“Random hearts”, a movie by Sydney Pollack – about an adulterous couple
dying in an airplane crash which brings their respective spouses to connect
on their own terms. Close, but no cigar.
There was a prediction of a plane crash on new year’s eve (Still 1999, techni-
cally speaking) due to some Chinese/Korean Y2K test for malfunction. The
prediction did not materialize. Options narrowed.
There was an article dating back to 1999, but it was actually about an El Al
plane crash in Holland on October 4th, 1992, the plane was carrying 190 lit-
ers of dimethyl methylphosphonate, a chemical used for making sarin nerve
gas, but which can also have innocent uses. Again, wrong plane.
A report about a plane crash in Argentina, on August 31st, 1999, killing 80
people on board: Interesting, a viable option.
On September 3rd, a twin-engine Beechcraft B90 turbo-prop crashed in
Florida while attempting an emergency landing. All 8 people on board were
killed; they all worked for a hair restoration company. It was a business trip.
No “families” involved. Option dropped.

On October 31st, 1999, about 1:50 a.m. EgyptAir flight 990 crashed into the
Atlantic Ocean just south of Nantucket Island, off Massachusetts. The air-
plane involved was a Boeing 767, and all 217 aboard were lost. The hypoth-
esis that the co-captain was suicidal was never fully sustained. But it is likely
that there was some Egyptian businessman on board, with a wife (Or one of
his wives) and a fraction of his many children – or all of his children (To be
compatible with the Burkina Faso lawyer’s idea that no next of kin showed
up for the money – OK, I cheated, I read a line further in the email). Maybe.
Then, a revelation. A report about a Piper Saratoga II HP, registered N529JK,
capable of seating six, with top speed of 180 mph that crashed on July 16th.
It seems that until that date there were 13 accidents for that same model
since 1989 with 8 fatalities, and 11 injuries. At 9:30 p.m. the last signal of
the airplane was received on the radar as it approached Martha’s Vineyard
airport. But it never reached destination. The plane had three passengers who
all perished: Lauren Bessette, Carolyn Bessette Kennedy (Who was rumored
to be pregnant at the time), and John John Kennedy. And there it was: My
immediate family (Well, unborn children from the rumored pregnancy could
be labeled under “children” to match my Burkina Faso lawyer claims), and
presto!... It all falls into place. So, the “abandoned sum of USD$11.5 Million
(Eleven Million Five Hundred thousand US Dollar)” was just some change
in the Kennedy fortune that they forgot about overseas. Now, I have reported
the message as “spam” to yahoo, and I hope they didn’t delete it from my
trash box yet as they do periodically, because I intend to have my fair share
of some Kennedy forgotten money.