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He needs help getting currency out of the country......so your bank account will help him and he will split it with you......then your account gets drained!
One of the nation's longest-running scams is taking on new twists, reports the Better Business Bureau. Known as Nigerian letter scams, these "fund transfer" frauds reach intended victims by fax, letter or e-mail. The sender, who claims to be a government official or member of a royal family, requests assistance in transferring millions of dollars of excess money out of Nigeria and promises to pay the person for his or her help. The message is always of an “urgent, private” nature.
Those willing to assist are asked to provide their banking account number (for "safekeeping" the funds) and Social Security number, birth date, or other personal information. Or they are asked to send money to the letter-sender for taxes and various fees. Victims never see their money again, and the con artist obtains the ability to empty their bank account and/or steal their identity.
He can't carry it in a suitcase? Why does he need to get it out of the country in the first place? The ruse still doesn't make sense. And why would anyone volunteer to assist with what sounds like money laundering? Why would anyone do that, even if they believed it? I guess the scammers figure that if they ask enough people, they're sure to run into some that are dumb enough that these questions wouldn't occur to them?
I am shocked that people are still falling for it but I guess with the aging population these problems are going to continue as retirees represent easy targets in the internet age.
They cleaned out an elderly lady in my home town with this scam. She lost her house etc.
All it takes is someone to be mentally vulnerable and without someone to keep track of their estate.
My relative works at a small town bank and they've seen (and warned family members on the side if they know them) elderly people doing things they shouldn't like wiring large amounts or in one case trying to put old coins worth quite a bit of money cashed in as change.
The biggest threat though is the casinos. They clean out a lot of lonely elderly people. (and young people)
He can't carry it in a suitcase? Why does he need to get it out of the country in the first place? The ruse still doesn't make sense. And why would anyone volunteer to assist with what sounds like money laundering? Why would anyone do that, even if they believed it? I guess the scammers figure that if they ask enough people, they're sure to run into some that are dumb enough that these questions wouldn't occur to them?
They target the elderly so you're not dealing with "dumb", you're dealing with dementia, alzheimers and other mental debilitations.
Heck, a telemarketer for some magazine sales company got into trouble a number of years back selling an elderly woman something like 1000 subscriptions, dozens for the same magazines. Relatives, finding piles of magazines around the house got to the bottom of the situation and got their money back.
They target the elderly so you're not dealing with "dumb", you're dealing with dementia, alzheimers and other mental debilitations.
Heck, a telemarketer for some magazine sales company got into trouble a number of years back selling an elderly woman something like 1000 subscriptions, dozens for the same magazines. Relatives, finding piles of magazines around the house got to the bottom of the situation and got their money back.
Oh, I see. How do the Nigerians know who's elderly and who isn't? Are they able to hack SS records, or something? How do they tap into this info?
Really sad. Anyone have any idea why it's always Nigeria, and not Ghana, or Angola, or whatever? I know Nigeria has many times the population of those other countries, but still.... Ghana has kings and princes, too.
Oh, I see. How do the Nigerians know who's elderly and who isn't? Are they able to hack SS records, or something? How do they tap into this info?
Really sad. Anyone have any idea why it's always Nigeria, and not Ghana, or Angola, or whatever? I know Nigeria has many times the population of those other countries, but still.... Ghana has kings and princes, too.
They don't target. They blanket call and just work with what they get. However, since mental issues can increase with age they typically wind up bilking the elderly.
The scam is so old that who knows why Nigeria was picked. There are many variations on the scam however where the country is changed or the circumstances etc. It's a variation on scams that have been around for centuries....modified for the age of phone and email.
They don't target. They blanket call and just work with what they get. However, since mental issues can increase with age they typically wind up bilking the elderly.
The scam is so old that who knows why Nigeria was picked. There are many variations on the scam however where the country is changed or the circumstances etc. It's a variation on scams that have been around for centuries....modified for the age of phone and email.
Its only Nigeria we hear about, but I would assume fraudsters from other countries do this same thing, they are basically immune from any consequences, if they are in another country, nothing that US law enforcement can do about it.
People in the US could do the same thing to victims in other countries too.
Its only Nigeria we hear about, but I would assume fraudsters from other countries do this same thing, they are basically immune from any consequences, if they are in another country, nothing that US law enforcement can do about it.
People in the US could do the same thing to victims in other countries too.
Once the money goes overseas, its GONE for good.
Nigerians started the Prince scam. Then the scammers spread it worldwide, since Nigerians originally started the scam on a massive scale and people still use it in Nigeria to this day as police is very corrupt and don’t chase non-violent criminals (although their has been a few huge crackdowns) it is associated with Nigeria but it is more international now.
The scammers are incredibly annoying to most regular Nigerians as the thousands of them sending hundreds of thousands of messages every year makes it look like all Nigerians are in on the scam. In Nigeria itself the scamming is pretty bad as many of them will lose as family members and some of them might even be a family member. Their common enough that anyone who is fairly social in Southern Nigeria, will know of someone who is a possible scammer, the government would focus on scamming but their are so many more harmful things going on that scamming is so far down he list, in fact it might even be beneficial to the Nigerian economy. Scamming also pushes ethnic anger, as scamming is associated with certain ethnic groups same with say Italian prostitution is associated with the Benin/Edo ethnic group and shady Tokyo bars is associated with Igbo or drug dealers in Malaysia/Thailand are associated with Igbo.
I personally hope that other scammers from different countries stop using Nigeria in their scam and that Nigeria’s own scammers are stopped as they paint a terrible light on the country.
An old scam. In the 30's and 40's it was the Spanish prisoner game.
They're still pulling that game. My grandfather told me he got a call from a guy named something like Detective John (with an Indian accent) saying his grandson got arrested and is in jail and the only way he can get him out is with prepaid Visa cards for bail. Creepy thing is the guy used my brother's name.
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