Double Deceit Book Review

‘If it seems too good to be true, it probably is’. This is a phrase that is constantly stressed throughout the book, Double Deceit. When one is offered millions of dollars of money for no apparent reason, that phrase should apply ten fold. In the case of Dr. Hassan Mashaal, in Double Deceit, that is exactly what happened, but unfortunately for Dr. Mashaal, he did not believe it was too good to be true, until it was too late.

Double Deceit discusses the true story of a wealthy retired medical doctor that was tricked out of thousands of dollars by a well-trained Nigerian money scam group. Dr. Hassan Mashaal, who spent the majority of his career working for the World Health Organization (WHO) out of Geneva, Switzerland, received an e-mail one day with an offer that he could not refuse. The Nigerian scam group disguised themselves as a helpless young lady named Linda Morgan who was in a terrible car crash with her family; Linda was the only one to survive the accident, but remained under critical condition. Linda is expected to die due to her injuries sustained from the accident- but before doing so, she wants to ensure that her father’s inheritance of 10.5 million dollars goes to a trustworthy and reliable source that would invest her money in profitable ventures. She does not have any other family or friends to will the money to, so instead she decided to appoint Dr. Mashaal as the unsolicited inheritor of the 10.5 million dollars. Dr. Mashaal was thrilled with the opportunity to use the money for the better by donating to programs that would help save people’s lives and rid countries of diseases. The doctor was warned countless times by several different people that the e-mail he received was from an untruthful source and that he should not pursue the money. Instead of listening to the wise advice, Mashaal agreed to Linda’s request to accept the money and faced terrible losses in the long-run. In order for the scam group to steal Mashaal’s money, they had him...