SELLER BEWARE: HOW THE
NIGERIANS
PLAN TO STEAL YOUR MONEY
Mary just wanted to
sell her car. She wasn't looking to make a
fortune, just cash in the value and then get
that snazzy new Buick she'd always wanted.
So she placed an ad in an automobile
classifieds site and waited for the calls
and emails to come in.
Something caught her eye as she scanned her
email inbox the next day. In between
responses from local buyers was an
interesting note from a fellow named,
improbably enough, Dr. Abolo Emmanuel.
Dr. Emmanuel presented Mary with an
interesting situation and an intriguing
offer. It seemed that he wanted to buy
Mary's car, but he had a bit of a problem...
he lived in Lagos, Nigeria and had an
associate in the U.S. who owed him money.
This man would be willing to send Mary a
cashier's check for $20,000 -- $5,000 more
than she wanted for her car.
All Mary had to do, Dr. Emmanuel wrote, was
cash the check, take out the amount she
wanted for her car and send Dr. Emmanuel the
rest. Then his friend would meet with Mary
to pick up the car.
Mary was hooked. This was great! Why, it
sounded TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE! Mary marched
over to her bank and had no trouble cashing
the check. She kept her asking price for the
car and sent the rest to her good friend Dr.
Emmanuel.
All went well... for a while. Mary bought
her dream Buick and told all her friends
about her luck. No one had shown up to pick
up her car yet, but her new Nigerian friend
assured her they soon would.
And then her world came crashing down. It
started with a startling call from her bank
-- the cashier's check from Dr. Emmanuel's
friend had bounced. Not only that, but so
had half a dozen checks that Mary had
written in the meantime. Mary suddenly owed
the bank $23,000!
Of course Dr. Emmanuel wasn't returning her
emails now, and the police told her that
there was little more they could do than
take a report. Mary was devastated.
Though Mary is fictional, her situation
isn't. Unfortunately, this type of scam
happens all the time, even in our area. The
latest case to gain attention happened in
Ormond Beach, and cost an elderly couple
their lifesavings of almost $300,000!
Life online is just like offline. The same
common sense rules apply, especially this
one: if it seems too good to be true -- it
is!
That couldn't be more appropriate in the
case of the Nigerian scammers. In addition
to the scam above, their oldest dodge is
known as the "419." It's named for the
Nigerian penal code that forbids it, and is
basically a variation of the one that got
"Mary."
The 419 letter or email is even more
convoluted, and preys on a widespread human
weakness -- greed. This time the Nigerian
will claim to be a government official (or
the son of a former official, or something
similar) and offer you the chance to help
them out of a tight legal situation
involving millions of dollars.
For your minor assistance (just opening a
bank account and helping with a few fees and
bribes) you'll receive a major reward. In
fact, you share could be as much as a
million dollars!
Naturally, you'll actually get nothing at
all, while transferring thousands and
thousands of dollars to cover bogus fees and
bribes. Because it's a SCAM. And that's what
you should remember when dealing with any
odd emails from Nigeria, or Sierra Leone, or
Belgium, for that matter. They are all
scams.
There are a few obvious give-aways in the
email that should alert you that you're
dealing with Nigerian scammers:
-
it's from Nigeria
-
the spelling is terrible and the wording
odd
-
the sender claims to be a born-again
Christian and wants to know that you are
too
-
it asks you to send money to cover
"advance fees" or other taxes or costs
-
IT'S TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE
For more info on the
Nigerian scam, try these websites:
Keep your eyes open
for the scammers, and then ignore them, and
you'll find the Web a safer place. Remember,
the Web is just like the rest of life -- use
common sense!
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