signal12's Blog

This is the #1 scam reported to the police on a daily basis... Nigerian scams turn your own greed and desire for wealth, against you and into a way of emptying your bank account.

It's the old addage of getting something for nothing....

I spoke with a Man that had fallen victim to several different versions this scam, not once but  six times..

You've probably been courted by the Nigerian scam.  It comes in e-mail or letter form and may start, "Dear Sir, I got your information from a confidential source.... " The letter then goes on to tell you a story of a large amount of money hidden overseas or his accounts are going to be frozen, and  that the writer of the letter/email wants to put some in your bank account. In return, he promises you a big cut of the cash or offers you a large amount of cash for your trouble.

Bounced checks and counterfeit money orders

Long story short: Any checks you receive from this person will be fake. The con will ask you to keep part of the money and send him the difference. Shortly after you send him the difference by mail or wire, his check bounces, and you owe the total amount to your bank. Warning: Sometimes, people are told by their banks that the check has cleared, so they wire the difference to the Nigerian scammer. But don't be too sure: The scammers sometimes forge a cashier's check, which fools the bank into prematurely reporting the check as "cleared." Once the forgery is discovered, the bank will try to hold you liable. In some cases counterfeit money orders take the place of cashier's checks. The payment type isn't that important because either way the victim will be held responsible by their own Bank.

 He will claim it is in a special account but to get it he needs five thousand dollars to get it out and asks that you help. He will next offer you a portion of these dollars if you do indeed help this poor individual who is just trying to retrieve what is rightfully theirs. He will tell you to deposit the money in an account and when the money is transferred from the main account he will give you access to your free money. This form of fraud is sometime referred to as an advanced fee scheme.

Nigerian scams work all too well

Despite constant reports of Nigerian scam swindles in the media, people continue to be fooled. It should be noted that con artists have been perfecting Nigerian scams for decades. It may be hard to believe but this type of scam has been around since the 1920s when it was called the Spanish Prisoner Con. Back then the letter requesting funds were mailed the old fashioned way rather than arriving via email. The schemes were somewhat different in that they involved breaking the heir of a wealthy family out of a Spanish prison.

 Large sums of money were promised to anyone willing to help finance an operation designed to smuggle the heir out of the jail. The plan was in place but money was needed to bribe the guards, provide a means of transportation or whatever else the scammers might dream up. Each attempt would end in failure but the next one was certain to succeed! The specific details of the fraud may differ but it's essentially the same thing as a Nigerian 419 scam. Every year there is a new angle to play and it's a sure bet that someone will take the bait.

Falling for a Nigerian scam will leave the worst kind of taste in the victim's mouth. Not only will you have been ripped off but you will have willingly allowed it to happen and been an active participant. Most like to say that get-rich-quick schemes don't work but this one actually does for the Nigerian scam perpetrators! The victim is left with nothing but a hard lesson. The Police rarely can do anything about the scam because the perpertrator is in another country.

More information is availible regarding these scams:

http://www.potifos.com/fraud/

http://www.fraudguides.com/internet-email-scams-2007.a
sp

 

Remember knowledge is power, so arm yourselves!