Woman out $400K to 'Nigerian scam' con artists - Page 3

A*O · November 19th, 2008, 04:12 PM

Craigslist is FULL of scammers. Beware.

Another scam that a lot of people get fooled by is the Overpayment Scam. If you are selling something on the internet or looking for a job (ebay, craigslist or private ad) the scammer will contact you and "buy" the goods, apartment, service or offer you a 'book-keeping' job and send you a cheque for more than the agreed price. They will ask you to cash the check and send the 'overpayment' back to them via Western Union.

The cheque they send will be a fake but the bank might not spot it for a long time so you will get the money initially but they will then come after you for a full refund and maybe even call in the cops too because you presented a fake cheque.

DeadDwarf · November 19th, 2008, 04:17 PM

My friend was selling a couch on craiglist and she baited a scammer. They said they were from Africa and wanted her to ship the crappy couch to her. They would send her a cashier's check for over the amount she wanted and she would have to send a new cashier's check back to them for the difference. It was all email since the scammers never called her.

She knew it was a scam because they lived in Africa and wanted to pay her over $1,000 for a piece of shit couch.....so she told them to send her the cashier's check. They did! And it looked real. She said if they were real people then they would get pissed when she never sent them their money. She waited for them to contact her after she got the check, they never did. Now she keeps it so she can laugh at the scammers. It's framed in her hallway.

ETA: AO posted while I was typing, LOL, that's the scam I am talking about!

cynic · November 19th, 2008, 04:19 PM

....also famous are the "You have won the Spanish/English/name any country sweepstakes".......all you have to do is send them money and they'll send you your big winnings......

....A*O....greedy people aren't always stupid....but they are always greedy.....

A*O · November 19th, 2008, 04:41 PM

A lot of victims are greedy, but be honest, if someone told you you'd won $5million in an internet lottery or sweepstake and you were shown some pretty convincing documents to back it up (not all scammers documents are crap) wouldn't you at least be mildly curious and perhaps ask for more info about your "win"? That's not greed, it's "wow, I got lucky!"

Like I say, victim psychology is a lot more complex than dumb greed in many cases. Having said that, many of them are so stupid they a danger to themselves and others and it's those people who the scammers prey on. Unfortunately the victims who lose most - and some victims lose everything - are those who can least afford it. That's why they are an easy mark in the first place.

Edit: If you do receive a fake cheque from a scammer then keep it as a souvenir or better still, send a pic back to the scammer of the new BMW you purchased with the cheque. They love that.

HWBL · November 19th, 2008, 04:45 PM

Quote:

Woman out $400K to 'Nigerian scam' con artists

I've seen episodes of Oprah and Dr. Phil (yeah, the terrible twins) on
this subject and they had several of these women on. The mind boggles
at how gullible people can be, to even respond to mails from people they
don't even know especially considering the amounts involved.

A*O · November 19th, 2008, 04:48 PM

Like I say, if you are desperate and poor then the promise of some easy money seems like a dream come true.

HelpMeRhonda · November 19th, 2008, 04:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by A*O

A lot of victims are greedy, but be honest, if someone told you you'd won $5million in an internet lottery or sweepstake and you were shown some pretty convincing documents to back it up (not all scammers documents are crap) wouldn't you at least be mildly curious and perhaps ask for more info about your "win"? That's not greed, it's "wow, I got lucky!"

Like I say, victim psychology is a lot more complex than dumb greed in many cases. Having said that, many of them are so stupid they a danger to themselves and others and it's those people who the scammers prey on. Unfortunately the victims who lose most - and some victims lose everything - are those who can least afford it. That's why they are an easy mark in the first place.

Edit: If you do receive a fake cheque from a scammer then keep it as a souvenir or better still, send a pic back to the scammer of the new BMW you purchased with the cheque. They love that.

Not if it came by email.. that is what always floors me.. all this WONDERFUL news comes by email from countries I've never been and from people I've never heard of.. Oh ya.. where do I sign?

HWBL · November 19th, 2008, 04:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by A*O

Like I say, if you are desperate and poor then the promise of some easy money seems like a dream come true.

The women on the shows I mentioned weren't poor or particularly desperate.
They WERE lonely and hungry for contact and seemed to have in common
that they wanted to help people. There was a teacher, I believe a person
who had worked for an insurance company and some others with jobs that
you would think would be less naive.

yoyoma · November 19th, 2008, 04:54 PM

This scam started in Nigeria and since it works so well apparently
a lot of other countries got involved in it too but saying they
are from Nigeria even though they are not even African...
It's BIG business.

cheetopia · November 19th, 2008, 05:05 PM

Another thing to beware of and I've even seen this in my tiny town's newspaper, want ads advertising looking for 'payment collection reps' or 'direct sales reps' in the USA and the contact info is either a yahoo email box or a hotmail box. These are also Nigerian scammers fishing for banking info. They agree to 'hire' you if you will receive checks for them from monies due their overseas business, cash the checks and Western Union them the money.

L1049 · November 19th, 2008, 05:07 PM

Scammers are incredibly fun to fuck with. If you can string them along for a while, you can easily get some pictures or more from these idiots.
One thing to remember if you decide to bait them, while these people are dumb as hell, be safe. Use an email account that hides you IP address (gmail I think does).

Two of my favourite baiter sites are:
ScamBaiting at it's finest - Scam Baiting for Fun and Justice theScamBaiter.com
Welcome to the 419 Eater

cynic · November 19th, 2008, 05:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by A*O

A lot of victims are greedy, but be honest, if someone told you you'd won $5million in an internet lottery or sweepstake and you were shown some pretty convincing documents to back it up (not all scammers documents are crap) wouldn't you at least be mildly curious and perhaps ask for more info about your "win"? That's not greed, it's "wow, I got lucky!"

Like I say, victim psychology is a lot more complex than dumb greed in many cases. Having said that, many of them are so stupid they a danger to themselves and others and it's those people who the scammers prey on. Unfortunately the victims who lose most - and some victims lose everything - are those who can least afford it. That's why they are an easy mark in the first place.

Edit: If you do receive a fake cheque from a scammer then keep it as a souvenir or better still, send a pic back to the scammer of the new BMW you purchased with the cheque. They love that.

...no, those of us who do not believe in luck and go by the name CYNIC do not believe anything that even resembles good luck without wondering who is getting what out of it.......I never enter lotteries or sweepstakes which solves that problem, too......I also never gamble......there are no lucky stars in my universe....

cheetopia · November 19th, 2008, 05:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by L1049

Scammers are incredibly fun to fuck with. If you can string them along for a while, you can easily get some pictures or more from these idiots.
One thing to remember if you decide to bait them, while these people are dumb as hell, be safe. Use an email account that hides you IP address (gmail I think does).

Two of my favourite baiter sites are:
ScamBaiting at it's finest - Scam Baiting for Fun and Justice theScamBaiter.com
Welcome to the 419 Eater

The best ones are the ones with the slimmest grasp of English. Demand crazy things, like proof of their candy bar or insist that you'll only do it for them if they get a tattoo of your church on their arm and send you a photo. My favorite is to tell them I'll hand off the money cash at Abbey Road at a certain time. Pull up the Abbey Road public webcam on my computer and watch for confused looking guys lurking about before sending them an email berateing them for making you wait or screwing up the time.

Gmail will hide your IP and is the only way to go..

A*O · November 19th, 2008, 06:03 PM

And let's not forget the love scammers. They prey on lonely people looking for lurve on dating sites and not only empty their bank accounts but break their hearts in the process. It's a jungle out there!

AllieCat · November 19th, 2008, 06:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by greysfang

They have another new one they are pulling as well. On craiglist for people looking for rental houses (and I'm sure on other free sites). They show a pic from a nice house that is priced well-below others in the area. When you contact them to get additional information, they send you some long drawn out story about being missionaries to West Africa and they will be gone for years, god bless, blah, blah, snore. They attach a rental application and tell you to send it back to confirm your interest. If you e-mail them back to ask to see the place before you do the app, you will never hear from them again.

I wonder how many idiots have had their identity stolen with this scam already.

Omg, I had this happen, but I replied by text message on my phone, and didn't fill out an ap. I wonder if they could still get my info anyway?