DON'T BE A VICTIM : NIGERIAN SCAM

Updated May13, 2007 Beware! Now even the lonely are being targeted!

That's right! Scammers have infiltrated many of the dating sites on the internet. Men and women in the US and Canada are being sent emails from beautiful women and handsome men. Their pictures will reflect their desireability. Often times the pictures are stolen from the net and are of some of the most beautiful people in the world. So, if they look familiar, chances are it is a picture of a Hollywood personality.

Do Not be fooled! They will profess to wanting a relationship, but they're in Africa someplace, though their profile will state they are local to you. They will first ask you to call them or to be allowed to call you. Once they have your phone number, in either circumstance, they will use your number to their own benefit.

Next will come the request to send money to help them come to the States/Canada so they can be with you. Take my word for it, you will never meet them and you will never see your money again. They will also use any number of requests as stated in the preceedings of this document.

I can't express enough that you should never EVER supply them with any personal information. The best thing you can do is send a copy of the email to the site's contact address, letting them know that this person is asking for monetary benefits. Then you should block them and not have any further contact with them.

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March 03, 2004 A couple of days ago, while I was in Yahoo Chat, I was IM'd by a person going by the nickname of kellycoleinc. We started out having a nice chat when he suddenly asked me to call him or to allow him to call me. Immediately, I became suspicious.

He told me he was working in Nigeria because he had lost his job in the States and a friend had clued him in on work there. Here is part of what he told me as taken from my chat archives. His typing and language leave a lot to be desired, so bear with me on this.

kellycoleinc (6:33:50 PM): Yes, you know internet and other computer stuff just got here
kellycoleinc (6:34:18 PM): So the contract am to supply Computer accessories
kellycoleinc (6:34:35 PM): Ink jet cartridges and some other small components
kellycoleinc (6:36:58 PM): So am Trying to contact some stores that have this components
SultryEnchantress (6:37:10 PM): stateside?
kellycoleinc (6:37:11 PM): So i got some but they cant ship here
kellycoleinc (6:37:35 PM): Yes i will be getting them from the States
kellycoleinc (6:37:58 PM): Thats where one can get the most original ones

At this point, he started in with the flattery, telling me I am a nice, sweet lady. He was trying to play for my affections, telling me "i could be your kind of man". Yeah, right. He then started to convince me that he was "a honest, and God Fearing man".

Eventually, he got down to the part I was expecting. He wanted me to receive packages and keep them at my apartment until he picked them up. Of course, I said no and that I didn't want that kind of responsibility. He didn't press it any further.

Tonight he contacted me again. This time he laid a new problem of his on me. He claimed he had been robbed and didn't have any money. That all he had was a cashier's check for $4,500 and couldn't cash it in Nigeria. I told him to try the American Embassy. He replied that he had, and they could do nothing for him. For every suggestion I had, he found a way to say that it wouldn't work. He wanted to send me the cashier's check and have me send the money to him via Western Union. At this point, every alarm, bell and whistle went off in me. I told him I would get back to him and went off-line.

What I did then was call the FBI who in turned gave me the number for the Secret Service. I spoke to an agent and told him my suspicions. I was right.

I was told that this is one of the many scams to relieve American and Canadian citizens of their money and leave them deeply in debt. These monstrosities generally target the elderly, relieving them of hard earned money, retirement funds, nest eggs, etc. They send the person a check for an exorbitant amount of money, asking them to deposit it to their account, then withdraw the money and send it to their friend in Nigeria. Soon enough, the bank finds that the check is counterfeit and the good samaritan is now left to cover the money from the fraud.

This has been going on for over two years. Nothing can be done to these menaces. Africa doesn't allow these criminals to be extradited to the US for prosecution. All YOU can do is to immediately cut off all contact with these vermin.

Please pass this information on to friends, family members and especially the elderly who are primary targets for this scam. I know I will be sending this to everyone in my address book and posting it on all my websites.

PROTECT YOURSELF AND YOUR LOVE ONES FROM FRAUD! AND REMEMBER! IF IT IS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE, IT PROBABLY ISN'T!

If you think you are/were a victim to fraud, you can report it at http://www.ifccfbi.gov/index.asp This is very helpful in regards to internet fraud. There is also a list of other frauds/scams that are presently on-going.