Nigerian fraud

[FLLawdog]

After some consternation as to whether I wanted to put this in the LEO or public area, I figured it could be beneficial to everyone here.

I don't know if everyone around here is aware of this fraud, but it's usually sent to businesses where the author makes a heartfelt plea for help on behalf of the Nigerian government or some similar ploy. It sounds pretty good and I guess it's hooked a few people.

Anyway, as a reference, here's the official web site...

web page

[Snoopy1]

I have received several of those in the last four or five months. I just delete and forget them.

I'm a retired ex-secretary so I have no idea where they got my name or what makes them think I have any money to invest.

[Godside]

Here's my story:

My fiancee forwarded me a e-mail which was without a doubt a scam. The overview of the e-mail was that it was a "minister" from an African country who "needed our assistance". We would assist him by flying ourselves to London, England and receiving a package of defaced bills amounting in 10 Mil. Dollars. He even wanted to give us 90% of that money. How nice.

My fiancee e-mailed him back and asked for more information. Much to my surprise, the person answered back with much more detail. And in an effort to make sure we received our money, he needed our account number. Yeah, right.

After I contacted a buddy of mine that works for the local PD, he noted that I should write this person a "nice little letter" explaining to him that I was not interested in his offer, to remove our contact information from his records, oh and that local law enforcement has been contacted. I told him that if he was serious about "giving away money", he should donate it to the American Red Cross (This was just after 9-11).

Of course, soon after I sent that e-mail, the address was deleted and he got away. I guess he will move on and try to get another person. Sadly, he probably will.

[shooter1201]

I get those every now and then. I simply FWD the e-mail to: [email protected]

[ateamer]

Anyone who falls for that scam deserves to get taken.

[edgar]

My roomate has a website and some Nigerian people contacted him and promised him something like 1 Million bucks if he would fly to Spain and access some bank account that they were unable to get to. The catch of course was that he had to shell out $16000 bucks or something like that as a fee. he decided to screw with them and talked to them on a few occasions. He made them call him Mr. Blue and made plans to meet them at a bar in Spain and went as far to get ****ed at them for standing him up at the bar etc. He had them going for a while!

[ 04-02-2002: Message edited by: edgar ]

[Niteshift]

I've recieved those emails on 2 email accounts I have on copmail.com. Now if copmail isn't a good enough indicator as to the kind of guy who will be opening that email up.....

[Zamboni]

We actually had a women here in town fall for one just like this. She allegedly won a Canadian lottery (never mind she never entered one :rolleyes and all she had to do was provide account numbers and such and authorize them to withdraw 5000.00 to secure her half million Canadian dollars. She did so and couldn't believe it was a scam.

Another good one was a local computer company. They shipped $30,000 in computer goods to someone who turned out to have a bogus credit card. Okay, I can forgive the initial mistake. But the con guy convinced them it was an accident and then they shipped another $15,000 in computer RAM.

But the one that tops it all is the evil spirits in the money. A couple of hispanic con artists came into town and put out ads that they would bless money for other hispanics so that it would come back to them in greater amounts. So numerous hispanics turn over $3000.00 to them. The con artists wrap it up in newspaper, chant at it, and then give it back with instructions not to open it for a week or it would be cursed instead. Well a week later and about 50,000 altogether turned over to these people all the hispanics open their newspapers and find confetti.

[Pigskin]

I just did a local radio talk show this morning explaining about scams. Our latest one is targeting Hispanics. The con (Hispanic male) claims that he cannot speak English & has a lottery ticket worth $200,000 but he needs $20,000 for taxes & fees. He even calls a telephone number & lets the victim talk to a Hispanic female who identifies herself as the local lottery office & verifies the need for the money up front. The victim is promised double their investment if they help. So far there have been two reports in our city & one in a nearby city. The victims gave anywhere from $1,000 to $3,800. Just another version of a pigeon drop.

[Don]

Originally posted by Zamboni:
She did so and couldn't believe it was a scam.

There are some folks so stupid, that they are just begging to be taken. I really have mixed feelings for somebody like this.

Yeah, I know, you SHOULD feel sorry for them, but come on, how can people be so darn dumb. As to the con artists, it seems that they seldom get caught, and when they do, they don't usually seem to spend much time on the inside. However, I DO believe that their "judgement" day will come.

[Mitzi]

Does this mean I won't get my $3,000 back in the "We can make you lok like Pamela Anderson" sweepstakes I just won? I paid to enter.