Hello interested parties:
If you have been using email for any length of time than you must be
familiar with the Nigerian 419 scam. Please find below an explanation of how
this scam works and why you shouldn't invest your hard earned money in such
a thing.
Beware of e-mail swindles
Q. I've been getting e-mails from foreign countries. The message
is always the same. They have $15 to $50 million in funds that they
need help in moving, offering 20 to 40 percent for my help. All my
friends agree that it is a scam, but they want to send me money?
What's the catch?
A. The catch is that they never send you any money. You are asked
to pay this fee and that bribe, until you are drained or wise up.
Hopefully, the later comes first.
It's called the Nigerian 419 scam. It has been around for years,
starting with letters, then faxes and now e-mail. I occasionally
see stories about people who have fallen for it. Often they embezzle
money from their employers to participate. Rather than getting rich,
they end up in prison.
The 419 scam (named for a provision of Nigerian law) plays off the
greed of victims. They are asked to open a bank account where a huge
sum of money, always illegally gained, can be deposited. The person
opening the account is offered a good cut of the money.
But the money doesn't exist, of course. The people who purport to have
the money continually say they have run into roadblocks. The victim is
asked to put up more and more money to overcome these obstacles.
Victims often are asked to come to Nigeria to close the deal. The
victim is told that a visa is not necessary. Nigerian authorities are
bribed to allow the person into the country. Once in, they can't get
out without the visa. They are threatened in an effort to make them
release more funds.
According to the Secret Service, an American was murdered in 1995
in Nigeria. Many other foreigners have been reported missing, all
apparently victims of this scam.
You can learn more about this scam at the Secret Service site:
http://www.secretservice.gov/alert419.shtml
And if you want to help track down the senders of these e-mails,
forward any you receive to the United States Secret Service at:
[log in to unmask]
Whatever you do, don't get mixed up in this. You could lose everything.
This, and any other spam, should simply be destroyed.
From komando.con tip of the day for Tuesday, June 15, 2004.
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