i recieved an email from an unknown individual supposedly wanting to give me 25% of the account amount fore his aid in moving a multi-million dollar south african bank account which has been inactive for many years. it was a scam of course, and i sent it to the trash. however, i have recieved a second email which thanks me for my assistance, but whiich states that his partner, now in a west african bank will send me a 5% intl bank draft of the amount from the original amount. in the first mail he wanted personal and bank info to do the transfer, in the second a postal address and name so he could send the draft to me. he claimed it was all legal. i wonder if anyone has ever had such a "windfall of a million dollar fee " for dpoing nothing. have you heard of this kind of scam before, and how the rest works out? please, no dumb comments, just a simple explanation of how the rest of the scam works. it seems kinda like fun.
2006-08-13 16:29:43 · 11 answers · asked by de bossy one 6 in Politics & Government ➔ Law Enforcement & Police
You received spam from a person you don't know and you're even asking if it's a scam?
He wants your bank details so he can clean your account out for you. Pretty simple.
The other version of he scam has him sending you a bank draft that you're supposed to cash and return part of the funds to him via Western Union. The bank draft takes 2 or 3 weeks to be discovered as a fraud but the money you sent off via Western Union is gone forever and untraceable. Your bank expects you to make good on the bogus bank draft and you have a legal obligation to do so.
Any transaction involving a Western Union transfer with someone you do not know intimately should be regarded as a scam. This includes cars for sale from various auction sites, overpayment scams for items you are selling or "payment processing" scams advertised as jobs. Ditto for any transaction where you are asked for your bank details.
2006-08-13 17:02:32 · answer #1 · answered by Bostonian In MO 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
As some have already stated, this is referred to as the Nigerian scam. Nigerian because it seems that Nigeria had no laws against this kind of larceny. It started before computers with people sending out letters to their victims.
There are variations to the actual content of the letter but essentially they all say the same thing. "You are being contacted by a government official or a bank official or the widow of a official of a previous administration. "Someone" has secreted or deposited money and has since died. If you help them get the money out of the country by giving them some personal info, they will split the money with you .
There's more to the scam but once they have you interested and involved, they will tell you that a problem has occurred. A favorite is that there is now a need to bribe someone. Can you send "X" amount of money for the bribe and they will pay you back by increasing your share. If you fall for this, then some other problem will occur and they will need more money. People have been stupid enough to be bilked out of tens of thousands of dollars.
Even though this seems like it's an international concern, if you contact interpol, they will tell you to contact the FBI first. If you contact the FBI on line, you will find that they have an automated setup to deal with nigerian scams. Ergo, it happens so often that they don't even bother with personal contact. They'll send you to send them a copy of the email but after you've done this a couple of times, you'll just start to delete them.
It's a perfect example of only a greedy person can get conned.
There have been a couple of tv specials on this. It is very rare that anyone is caught and brought to justice.
2006-08-14 00:08:07 · answer #2 · answered by Spiritual but not religious 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Don't take any chances with these people. Say nothing. Forward the email to the government. This is the one for the FBI fraud department: SPAM@UCE.GOV
These people are unscrupulous. They have ripped off many people of untold millions of dollars.
You agree to accept the money but then a hurdle happens - someone had to be paid or their is a fine to clear. Now you send them money. Then another thing happens and you send them more. You either quit in disgust or get bankrupted.
People haved died over this. Donors have gone over seas to Nigeria and been killed by the con artists.
www.scambuster.org has great stories and back ground on this. Check it out.
2006-08-14 00:01:07 · answer #3 · answered by Think.for.your.self 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It is an old scam. The future results they get your personal information and use it if you don't send them the money. I have heard it called phishing. I have also seen people go to jail who tried to cash checks they were sent from these scammers. I would keep it in the trash bin report as spam.
2006-08-14 06:19:07 · answer #4 · answered by bsure32 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Yes it is a scam and a fairly common one. You have to send them money before they send you anything. Of course after you send the money you receive nothing. Unless you are crazy you will keep ignoring them.
2006-08-13 23:34:33 · answer #5 · answered by Jen G 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
you're never going to receive money. they WILL propose something to you along the line of commissioning one of their lawyers to proceed with this disbursement. then you will have to pay lawyer's retention fee. the amount will depend be of the percentage of the total sum that you're expecting. they will even send you invitation to visit them in their country so that you're convinced.
then when the process starts, you'll realize that it's a scam when the money never comes.
2006-08-13 23:54:22 · answer #6 · answered by daddygo 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
that is a scam i got the same and i called the fbi and they said that was a internet scam.
2006-08-14 00:06:13 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
the old nigerian scams are still thriving strong
making funds for terrorism like allways
2006-08-13 23:33:16 · answer #8 · answered by Valley Mental Health tooele Utah 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
That old scam is still around?
2006-08-13 23:35:13 · answer #9 · answered by Hathor 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
i get those constantly, on my best day i could have made 300,000,000.00 in commision.....
2006-08-15 08:57:55 · answer #10 · answered by wilfreds805 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋