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The Nigerian Scams (The 419 Scams, and others)

There are several different versions of the Nigerian Scam. Common examples are the 419 Scam, or the Advance Fee Nigerian Scam. We'll review them all here. I call this first scam the Nigerian Used Car Counterfeit Cashier's Check Scam.

Before we get started, let's review briefly 2 common myths and misconceptions that Americans have about banking:

Banking Myth #1 : "A bank draft or cashier's check is as good as cash, right?"
Wow, bad call. Everyone is under the false impression that bank drafts are as good as cash. There are tons of counterfeit cashier's checks floating around that scam people every day. Counterfeit cashier's check fraud is everywhere on every type of financial instrument. This holds true for all money orders, bearer bonds, and other financial instruments. Even the post office has been deluged with counterfeit postal money orders. People don't check for the few post office watermarks which could instantly identify counterfeit money orders forged to look like official post office money orders. The problem is so out of control, that no bank is safe from having their cashier's checks counterfeited. It happens to the smallest regional bank, all the way up to Bank Of America. In fact, look at the FDIC Monthly Special Alerts List. Month after month, it's filled with counterfeit check notices and stolen bank draft checks from banks all over the country. Most scammer's are too lazy to duplicate the perforated edges top and bottom on legitimate cashier's checks. It should take you .025 second to determine fake check if the perforations are missing. Let these words forever ring in the back of your mind in any of your financial dealings going forward:

A Cashier's Check Is A Worthless Piece Of Toilet Paper Until It Clears The Issuing Bank.

Banking Myth #2: "Bank drafts or cashiers checks clear the next day, right?"
Wrong again, another urban legend exposed. Propagating the problem further, many bank tellers, ignorant of their own bank's internal operations, are disseminating bad information to their customers, telling them the bank drafts clear in 24-48 hours. What really happens is that per the 1992 Federal Reserve Board Regulation CC, the bank MUST make the funds available in you account in 48 hours, but the check has not cleared/bounced yet. Get the picture? Two different events, the bank makes funds available, then the check either clears or bounces about a week later, after bouncing around to incorrect Federal Reserve locations, or bank accounts. Virtually no one understands the big picture mechanics behind depositing checks, including tellers. The average bank draft or cashiers check can take 2 weeks to clear, not 2 days. Yet everyone thinks cashiers checks are as good as cash, and they think they clear the next day. Bottom line, the scammers know the banking system well, and capitalize on this arbitrage of time quite well. The banks make the funds available in your bank account within 48 hours of your deposit, days before the cashiers check clears- or bounces. Then they take the money back out of your account, and blacklist you.

Nigerian Used Car Counterfeit Cashier's Check Scam:

How the Nigerian scam works: This is similar to the other Cashier's Check Scams, but the buyer/scammer does not come to your home. Instead, the crime is executed via email and mail fraud using FedEx or other official looking overnight services. There's also a dash of wire fraud thrown in for added flavor. You (the victim) put your used Honda Accord (or any car, insert your car here) up for sale on Yahoo Autos, Autotrader.com or eBay for $11,500. You get contacted via email from someone in Nigeria, or sometimes they claim to be from the U.K. It's ironic, the scammers like to use the email services of the Internet's greatest enabler of spam and criminal activity, Yahoo. Some of them may be spoofing the "from" address too, so it might not always be Yahoo. The "buyer" is interested in buying your car. The scammers like to end their emails with "God Bless", to make you think they are some honest, God fearing Christian.

The buyer/scammer usually claims to be some huge overseas shipping company with a client interested in your car, or they claim to be in Nigeria and can't get to the U.S. But his friend in the U.S. who owes him $20,000 can buy the car from you on his behalf. So the scammer proposes that he have his friend just send you the full $20,000, and you "wire the remaining $8,500 back to the buyer", who will arrange a transport truck to come get the car from you. Skeptical, you think to yourself, this sounds like a scam so you tell the "buyer" you don't feel comfortable. He assures you everything is fine and tells you his friend is about to FedEx you a cashier's check for $20,000. He makes you feel better when he insists for you to wait until the check clears before you wire him the remaining $8500.

Keep in mind Nigerians are nice people, and have taken a bad rap for this crime, but the fact remains that most of instances of this scam originate in Nigeria. I have posed as a victim many times and received phony checks from these scammers sent to me overnight from Nigeria.

So the "buyer" sends you a real check...or does he?
The next day the cashier's check arrives via FedEx. Wow, you think, the buyer WAS serious! It looks official. Ok, you'll play along, then. So you go to your bank and deposit the cashiers check, still wondering if it will cash. 48 hours later per Federal Reserve Board Regulation CC, your bank makes the $20,000 available in your account before the check clears (bounces). This is what banks do. Wow, you think, the check cleared and the money is in my account! Although the scammers even suggested you wait 3 weeks, you see the money in your account right now! You could not be more wrong. You just foolishly deposited a third party check into your bank account. Your soon to be short lived elation is caused by your belief in Banking Myth #1, and Banking Myth #2 near the top of this page. So off you go to Western Union to wire the buyer/scammer his "remaining" $8500. Now you are happy because you have $11,500 in your bank account, and a transporter will pick up your car to take it to the "buyer". You could not be more wrong.

Now the bad news from your bank...The Check bounced!
A week later, your bank drops a bombshell in your lap. The cashier's check you deposited last week from the scammers has bounced, the bank took the money back out of your account, and you have a negative balance in your checking account because you had already withdrew that money to Western Union to the scammer. The bank demands you pay them the negative balance. Some victims get put on the ChexSystems blacklist that prevents them from ever opening another checking account at any bank. Some victims have been arrested for trying to cash fraudulent checks, which they had not idea were fraudulent. For the love of God, if some victims had only waited a week until the check was found to be counterfeit before they sent money off via Western Union, they could have been saved! What makes this scam work, is the scammers know it really takes over a week for checks to officially clear, and it will be too late for you. They understand how the float works, you don't. They know the time space continuum, you don't.

No one cares about your problem
Oh, I forgot to tell you, the Nigerian government could care less about your little problem, and does very little to stop these crimes. The Secret Service will tell you to forget it when you call them, because once money is wired to Europe and picked up, it's out of their jurisdiction, and they cannot reverse a Western Union transfer. Foreign governments offer little or no help at all, so your best remedy is to avoid this trap in the first place, via education. Once you fall into this trap, there is no way out. No one wants to waste time on it to help you because Western Union transfers cannot be undone, or reversed or cancelled or disputed or anything. Western Union did the job you paid them to do. They wired cash to your recipient, who collected it already, so they cannot give it back to you. Jesus cannot get your money back for you.

NEVER TAKE A THIRD PARTY CHECK FROM A BUYER!
Why do you think retail stores all have signs saying they don't take 3rd party checks? Because it is 99% fraud. So why would you take a check from a third party? Use your head, use the same security procedures that the stores do! Your bank account will stay cash flow positive a lot longer.

From: Andy Martins [mailto:owoautos@yahoo.com]
Sent: Monday, February 17, 2003 9:46 AM
Subject: 1997 Acura Integra LS

Hi,
We are LONDON based valuable procurement concern that specialise in the purchase and shipping of CARS to our numerous customers worldwide. We have a customer interested in purchasing your car mentioned above for the sum of $10,500.00. We will arrange a pick up of the car once payment is confirmed by the seller. Please acknowledge the offer and we will instruct the buyer to have the funds remitted to your account as soon as possible.

export director [Jude Egobia]

Date: Tue, 20 May 2003 15:34:02 -0700 (PDT)
From: Rolied Dave <rolyedcarpalace@yahoo.com>
Subject: 1997 Ford Escort LX Sedan

Dear Sir, We are interested in buying your car 1997 Ford Escort LX Sedan as advertised on the net. We are a reputable car purchasing and selling company in West Africa. One of our clients is interested in the purchase of your car and he has agreed to pay US$1,600 to you. The car will be picked up by our prepaid agent and shipped to roro port in coutonou, the republic of Benin,W/Africa. There my customer will pick up the car. I would be glad if you can contact me as soon as you can to enable us round up with all the necessary modelities as regard purchasing the car. Looking forward to hear from you either through my company's email (rolyedcarpalace@yahoo.com) or call me. Thanks, Rolied.
Tel.#: +234-1-776-6537.
234 1 774 8415. N.B. Please send pic.

Hey, Stupid!
Let me get this straight. Your little old car isn't selling to anyone locally or in the U.S. Are you really that stupid to think someone thousands of miles away on another continent is going to buy your car? Are you that gullible? If you drive on the right side of the road in America, why does someone in the U.K. who drives on the left side of the road want your American car? Are you that stupid to think that some stranger in another country is going to send you MORE money than your asking price and trust YOU to make change and send them the remainder? Besides, what business do you have dealing with a foreign buyer? Are you nuts? I got an idea, go to Western Union, and wire me all the money in your bank account. Just leave $50 to get you to Friday. Wouldn't you rather give all your money to me, someone you love, rather than deal with the heartache of knowing you got scammed? Let's turn you into a donkey.

USE YOUR HEAD!
A buyer in the UK or Africa does not need to a buy a Camry from you, they can get all the same cars over there. As I alluded above, why would someone in the UK want an American marketed car when the steering wheels are on the right hand side of the car in England? Did you ever consider that? Think about this: How often do you see her en America a car with the steering wheel on the right hand side? How often do you buy a car from the U.K.? SO you can see they really have no legit reason to buy your car. Any time a buyer outside the U.S. wants to buy your car, a big red flag should go up.

Block International Bidding on eBay Motors
Most people don't know this: If you sell your car on eBay Motors, you can block international bidders. Wait a minute, I hear some music! I'm no fool, no sir re, I'm going to save $40,003! Why didn't I think of that earlier! Their emails each get stranger too. Check out this email I got from one scammer:

-----Original Message-----
From: Dr David Igho [mailto:dr_digho@representative.com]
Sent: Monday, May 05, 2003 8:40 PM
To: Jeff Ostroff
Subject: CarBuyingTips.com Question

I AM DR DAVID IGHO,A MEDICAL DOCTOR THE MEDICAL CONSULTANT OF DAVE HOSPITAL LAGOS.PLS I WILL APPRECIATE IF YOU CAN LOOK FOR A USED AMBULANCE,SO THAT I CAN USE IT FOR MY HOSPITAL HERE IN NIGERIA.EVERY EXPENSIVES WILL BE TAKEN CARE OFF.I WILL PAY AT THE BETWEEN THE THIS RANGE 10,000-15,000.
THANKS I WILL BE WAITING FOR YOUR REPLY AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. YOU CALL AS WELL CALL ME ON MY CELL PHONE 234-8037167799. REGARD,
DR DAVID IGHO.

Hey, somebody call that phone number and tell me what it is. I don't want to waste my own money. Nice little email scam. Wait a minute, I think I hear some Disney music. I'm no fool, no sir re, I'm going to save $30,003!

Some consumers are fighting back! The Joke is on the scammers now!
There are some people out there that are turning the tables on the scammers. Potential victims, when they get the Nigerian Scam email, submit the scammers email to all sorts of spam mailing lists, and porn sites. (I hear the scammers are into farm animals). Other consumers are having much more fun with the scammers. One girl allowed a scammer to FedEx her the counterfeit cashier's check, which costs the scammer money to send. Then instead of wiring the money to the Western Union location specified by the scammer, she sent him on a wild goose chase. She told him she had to send it to a different Western Union location that was somewhat of a drive for the scammer. When the scammer got there, of course there was no funds for him! Man, that was a classic that had me rolling on the floor with laughter. I myself have a nice collection of checks for my own victory garden that I have obtained from scammers by posing as a potential victim. I love to pose as a victim, and cause the scammers to FedEx me a check at their own expense. Whenever I engage the scammers, we refer to them as "my little puppets."

I think you should save the checks they send you and see if the FBI can get fingerprints or DNA samples. You never know, it may pan out someday. They cant keep it up if more of us trick them. We can all have them wasting money FedExing down a dead end road.

Tips for Avoiding the Nigerian Scams:

  • Gee, this is a tough one. Don't deal with them at all. Don't answer their emails, just report them to SpamCop.net, who decodes the email and forwards it to the proper abuse addresses based on their IP address. You can also forward the email to the abuse department of their email services, usually Yahoo. Be sure to include the IP address headers or they will not process the spam and close the account.

  • If you are selling a car on eBay, block international bidders

  • Don't get warm and fuzzy because an official looking cashier's check arrived via official FedEx. Lot's of people use FedEx to commit a crime.

  • Remember, once you wire money using Western Union, MoneyGram, or E-Gold, you can never get it back once the cash is picked up at the other end. It's not a check that can be cancelled. It's the perfect wire fraud. Jesus cannot get your money back for you.

  • Here's a thought: Don't ever wire strangers money, ever! This will ensure that you'll never lose it. No wire fraud there. Only wire money to family and loved ones.

  • Don't try to sell your car to anyone in a foreign country.

  • Never trust anyone who wants to pay more than your asking price.

  • Ignore emails from transport or other companies that "have a client who wants to buy your used car." What a stupid cover story. Nobody has a client that wants to buy your car. If the guy wanted to buy your car, he would have emailed you himself! Wake UP!

  • Don't ever enter any offbeat financial transactions. Keep it simple stupid. I am a big fan of clean transactions. They pay you in person, you give them the car. Call it a day.

  • Trust your gut instincts. If you suspect something is wrong, don't do the deal. Nearly all victims were suspicious at first, but did not trust their feelings, and paid the ultimate price in the end.

  • If a buyer gives you a cashier's check, settle at the bank, or call the bank and verify the check first.

  • DO NOT use the phone number on any check to call and verify a cashier's check. Always look up the bank online and call directly.

  • Now that you're aware of the scam, you can have some fun. When they ask you your address to FedEx you the "Cashier's Check" that you know will be counterfeit, give them your "address" of the Secret Service: 950 H Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20223. That's where they collect evidence for Nigerian Fraud.

Other Nigerian Scams: 419 Nigerian Scams A.K.A. Advance Fee Scams

The United States Secret Service calls this the 419 Scam, because it is "known internationally as "4-1-9" fraud after the section of the Nigerian penal code which addresses fraud schemes." It has been around for years and years, but as you know, we have no shortage of people no privy to this scam. This 419 scam does not involve cars, though.

How the scam works: We've all seen these stupid emails. You get spammed by some loser claiming to be some colonel/general/minister/government official from Nigeria who knows where there is $60 Million surplus that is tied up by the system, and they need your help to release it. They are looking for a reputable person (sucker) that they can trust (you). In return, they'll give you say 25% of the $60 Million (wait now, stop laughing, it gets better) if you'll help them get that money out by covering the costs of some bogus government fees to free up certain accounts. There's a million variations on this story, all with one common thread: They want you to wire them money. My favorite part of the emails is they always say "God Bless", like they're Downtown Julie Brown or something. They use words like "URGENT" and "CONFIDENTIAL". If it's so confidential, why are they spamming millions of people with it everyday? They send you all sorts of official looking government and bank documents to make it look real. I can do all that with Microsoft Word. Oh, did I mention that once you wire them money, all sorts of Snafu's develop? Yes, more complications that require you to send in more money. This starts a downward spiral for many victims, who get in so deep, they become convinced it has to work because they invested so much more money into it. This is like those idiots who in 2000, bought Yahoo at $100, then $90, then $80, then $70, then $60, thinking it will turn around. Normally I laugh my ass off when I see these Nigerian scam emails, with their terrible use of grammar (mine's not much better, don't laugh). I actually look forward to getting these Nigerian scam emails, they brighten up my day with a good chuckle. I usually forward them to my buddies for a laugh as we all delete them. I'm shocked however, at how many people out there don't press the DELETE key, but rather they hit the SEND key! As in Send Mo Money! Apparently there are thousands of I.Q. challenged people out there who have fallen victim to this scam. Some have been lured to Nigeria to squeeze more money out of them, and held there for ransom and killed. Here's one of the many versions of the email I usually get:

From: ERIC JONES [mailto:ericjons03@juno.com] TO: Jeff Ostroff
Sent: Tuesday, May 20, 2003 4:03 PM
Subject: INVESTMENT/ASSISTANCE

Attn: Sir/Madam,
My name is Mr. Eric Jones chairman of contract award and monitoring committee of the ministry of industry and international trade development ,my duty as empowered by the Mauritius government is to provide the basic amenities, social recreational activities in urban and rural areas. This program includes assistance to deprived local communities and to co-ordinate projects and development at the national level, furthermore, from this projects we have been able to secured some Reasonable amount of u.s.$21.8(twenty one million eight hundred thousand US. dollars only) as commission from various contractors resulting from over invoicing ,hence all the necessary approvals has been completed. These approved fund was packaged and dispatched through a security company for onward delivery to its Destination in Europe. These fund was first deposited into a security vault before we arrange for its movement to Europe through diplomatic channel using decoy purporting that the fund belongs to an expatriate company. As we are government officials, we are not allowed to operate foreign bank account, hence we need you to stand as the beneficiary and claim the fund on our behalf from the security company. Presently I am now in Europe to search for a reliable person/company of high integrity /dignity and one with conscience who will claim this fund on our behalf as the beneficiary ,and we have agreed to give you 25%of the total sum as commission for your Assistance effort and 5% will be used to settle every expenses incurred we will use 70%to invest under your recommendation and guide and go into joint venture business with you. I would greatly appreciate your assistance . I look forward to your response as soon as possible. Best regards
Eric Jones reply to:ericjons01@netscape.net or call +31-630-555-165

Now folks, if you get emails that look similar to these, don't send them to me and ask what I think. They are all scams, it's a no brainer.

Hey, Stupid!
Let me get this straight. Wait, hold on, everyone be quiet! Stop the music! I want to hear what Stupid has to say here. Ok, let me see if I understand this correctly. Some loser spam emails you, yes little old YOU out of the blue, and says little old you is the key to unlocking $60 Million clear on the other side of the globe? Are you out of your cotton picking mind! I mean come on, that has got to be the most stupid thing in the world! In fact, it's so stupid, I bet the scammers did not even think it would work the first time they tried it. Let's turn you into a donkey. If these Nigerian scammers can fool people into sending them money, more power to them! They could probably talk a pig right into a ham sandwich.

The Financial Crimes Division Of the United States Secret Service established "Operation 4-1-9" to battle these scams worldwide. Keep in mind, it's a small understaffed task force, and the African governments are doing very little to help out. We hear the Nigerian government offers up a token arrest once in a while. Wow, big help, there's thousands of them doing it, and so many sellers on so many classified web sites are getting hit with it, that we theorize there might actually be companies with armies of employees paid to cold call on every posting online, hoping to nab a victim. On the United States Secret Service task force web site, it says this:

If you have been victimized by one of these schemes, please forward appropriate written documentation to the United States Secret Service, Financial Crimes Division, 950 H Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20223, or telephone 202-406-5572, or contact by e-mail. If you have received a letter, but have not lost any monies to this scheme, please fax a copy of that letter to (202) 406-5031.

Some victims have been arrested when they take the fake cashier's check they get for their car to deposit it at the bank. They have no idea they are in the midst of a scam.

Other variations of the Nigerian scam
There's a million twists to this plot. Other scams involve "get paid to stuff envelope" scams or "work from home" scams. With those scams, they claim you'll earn $20 an hour sitting on your ass at home. Yeah right, like anyone is really going to pay you to sit on your ass, get serious! Sometimes they want you to pay for "materials" up front, which turn out to be useless, or don't work, or whatever. They may say you just need to pay them for setting up a second phone line or fax, or some other excuse. They will send you money to set it up, then realize they "accidentally sent you to much money". They will then want you to wire them back the remainder since they screwed up. Don't fall for this scam. Come on, when in the history of time has someone EVER sent you too much money?

Don't think this mail fraud cannot happen to you. This happens all the time, every day to people who have cars or any household item up for sale on the internet. Also, this scam has other twists, sometimes it's not Nigerian. Often people get emails from scammers in Scotland, Germany, England, just about any foreign country. So how do you really know what country they are in? When it comes time for you to use Western Union to wire them the money, they specify what western union location to use, usually near their home.

God Bless
-Jeff

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