legal eagles a sceenario for you update

[sdlee]

First of all thank you guys for your help!!!!! MAny times over.

Laundress, you were right on with what this scam was all about and my friend wound up doing exactly as you described...they sent her money orders and she sent them cash....two days later it was discovered that the money orders were counterfiet.
that cost her 1200.

Panthera...your advice to call the cops is right on. Personally I wouldnt wait for the scam to start Id notify them as soon as I opened the email. IF the rest of you find yourself in this predictimant the people to call is the FBI and they are listed in your phone book in the Govt pages.

Brant-ix good advice from you too to imeadiately talk to the branch manager, our bank here got involved somewhat but not enough. The teller was kinda on the look out and asked did you get these through the internet? my friend stupidly said no coz at that point she still thought this was all ligitimate. Then the teller said do you KNOW these poeple and my friend said yes.
IM not sure the teller could have done much more.I wish she would have said something along the lines of well with this much money we need to wait for them to clear.

durring all this I have had a few wake up calls of my own..one about Money Orders....I didnt even know you could counterfiet them. I thought the whole idea for them was that they were safe from fakery and that was the whole reason they existed.

looking into why this is comming out of Nigeria....according to the private eye my friend is now working with we Americans have little or not rights in that area of the world. Farther more if The Nigerian Govt decided to get involved in this and you happen to get forced over there by extradition or some other method and wind up in thier jails again you do not have the rights you would have as a prisoner here in America.

Women Be esp aware .....most women who wind up in prison there simply are just not heard from again.

Im not sure how much truth is in that but I just watched a documentary about women in prison and they sure made it seem that way....bad enough to be a stinking American in a foriegn jail but quite another to be a stinking American women in one.

Please everyone be careful....I want to remind you of two things you already know. and so did my friend but she tempoarily forgot.....

If it sounds too good to be true....IT IS!!!

If they ask for money upfront...RUN!!!!

And again you guys thanks. I wish I could report a better outcome but at least my friend has her eyes wide open.At least this only cost her money.Some things are not replaceable.

 

[launderess]

Well, couldn't say she wasn't warned, now could you? Am very sorry for her loss, but as you say thank goodness it was only money.

Yes, money orders, cashiers checks, counter checks, certified checks and such can be forged, and because of the banking laws treating them as cash, people get scammed. As this scam grows, more and more banks are not depositing such checks as cash, unless one has funds to cover. In that case a hold is placed on the amount until things clear.

Your friend should have been careful in what she says to the bank. If her bank even suspected she was in on the game, they could press charges.

Personally think this scam has been well enough covered people should know better. You did the right thing by asking for advice, if more people did the same, maybe the scam would end.

 

[panthera]

Damn,

I am sorry.

 

[rp2813]

Agreed, I've seen TV commentators referring to Nigerian e-mails like it's common knowledge that they are all scams. You can usually tell just by the text and wording that they are phishing for a live one.

I received one of these emails after posting my old Amana pair for sale on Craig's List. I wanted to write back and give them a piece of my mind but decided to just ignore it.

I also used to get regular e-mails at work from Nigeria advising that somebody had a buch of money that they'd share with me if I just agreed to do some banking for them over here. I'm very surprised this hasn't already run its course by now, seeing as how Nigerian emails are joked about probably even in sitcom scripts these days.

 

[rocketwarrior]

I am less sympathetic

I think it is too simplistic to break this into a scammer and a victim. Anyone who sends cash in response to this kind of solicitation is "partidipating" in the scam. Cash that is sent fosters and encourages more scams. People at this end should be held to a higher responsibility for their role in this stuff. It should be a crime to respond.
Is there anyone out there who will stand up and say, "I am not a victim!"

 

[58limited]

~Agreed, I've seen TV commentators referring to Nigerian e-mails like it's common knowledge that they are all scams...
I wanted to write back and give them a piece of my mind but decided to just ignore it.

This scam is alive and well because people keep falling for it. It is called a 419 scam. 419 is the code for the statue that is being violated.

Below is a pretty funny page that shows people who lead the scammers on and waste their time for months. One guy has even gotten money from the scammers. There are several warnings on the page such as: Anyone wishing to be a "scam baiter" be careful - use an alias and a fake e-mail account. If you try to scam them out of money - be aware of your laws, it might be just as illegal for you to take a scammer's money as it is for them to take yours.

http://www.419eater.com/

 

[perc-o-prince]

I rememebr Rich and I were contacted by a scammer wanting to buy something we had on Craigslist. Rich went along with it (knowing it was bogus) as long as he could, acting like he believed the guy, just to waste his time a little. I wanna say it ended when Rich told him to overpay his movers and have them bring the cash, rather than overpaying Rich and having Rich pay the movers.

Supposedly the guy was in the US, moving to the UK. Traced the email origin back and he was, of course, no where near either country!

Gotta love it!

Chuck

 

[whirlcool]

Nigeria has to be one of the most corrupt countries on the face of the planet. I saw a documentary about scams coming out of Nigeria. It seems that the Internet cafes there are nothing more then scamming dens.
Also, please note that PayPal does not do business in Nigeria, so any PayPal transaction is worthless and is a fake.
If anyone here has ever been to Nigeria, it's a totally dreadful godforsaken place. The Brits left the Nigerians with a pretty good infrastructure in 1961. Now it's all falling apart due to lack of maintenance. In fact it's not even recommended that you leave the airport on your own, but to hire a mini van with covered windows to take you to your hotel! Carjacking is alive and well with the drivers/passengers usually are never to be heard from again. Tribal battles are even worse than the gang wars we have in this country. This takes place even in the cities.

 

[sdlee]

thanks again people

most of you guys were fantastic help here with a serious problem. I was here running off copies for my cousin over in Wyoming tonite and was just reading through it again.I am so glad for this site and for Robert and all those who helped create it. Just out of intrest the scam in Wy is a plea to help bring someones children home from Nigeria, send money and thier captors will send jewlery worth many times your donation. All can rest my cousin is already reported it.

Myself I only have one lil question for Rocketwarrior...

do these same people that stand up and say I am not a victim have to do the same thing when you kick them while they are down?...............please dont answer,please dont even respond