There was an ad online in the classified regarding loans from a private lender. I emailed for information and the individual (who is overseas in Nigeria) :(…
in the reply the email stated a loan balance of 235000.00 payable in monthly pymts of 700.00 per month…
I took it a step further and called the individual who went on to say that 500.00 is needed and he would wire the funds directly to m bank acccount… oh failed to mention that he sent a one page document for a contract…
now I am overly peranoid… but why would I have to wire 500. cash via WU to someone for some type of insurance (this is what i was advised that it was for) and the funds would be wired directly into my bank account…
is it just me or is something kinda fishy
I’ve been throught this time and time again. In fact, there are numerous websites devoted to these scams and how the US government is attempting to track down and stop these scammers. Here’s your next step, tell him that you require $1,000 processing fee for your legal fees and then you’ll write him a return check for $1,500 after you get your money.
Richard,
You’re right, it is a scam!
Nigeria is just one country where there is no regulatory body for internet based advertising or business but it is probably the biggest as far as scams go. The “I need someone in your country to cash in this huge inheritance…” scam nearly always originates there, as do hundreds of others. A favourite is the forged USPS money order, they send funds via a USPS money order, when you receive it you wire a ‘small’ processing fee back to them, by the time you find out the money order is a forgery it’s too late!
“In the last six months, the F.B.I. and postal inspectors say, international forgers - mostly in Nigeria, but also in Ghana and Eastern Europe - appear to have turned new attention to the United States postal money order. More than 3,700 counterfeit postal money orders were intercepted from October to December, exceeding the total for the previous 12 months.”
If you want to check whether something is a known scam try
http://www.fraudguides.com/internet_fraud.asp or http://www.ic3.gov/crimeschemes.aspx
There’s also somewhere on the second site where you can report a scam.
Dave N
Glad you decided to
Any time you receive correspondence from one of these clowns, simply ask them, “can you say 419?”…which is the INTERPOL code for these Nigerian scammers (they all know it) and it makes them run for the hills.
If you get any response from Nigeria or any other countries, it is a scam. IF SOMEONE ASK YOU FOR UP FRONT MONEY, IT IS A SCAM!
Here’s my experience with these scammers.
I was selling a product online for $1200. One of them offered me $1500 for rush delivery. I got suspicious when the person said her boss would be sending me the payment in his name and not the buyer’s. When I got the payment, 1st thing I noticed about the check was that it was from a bank in florida but the person I was talking to had said she was in London. Also the check was for $5000 instead of the agreed upon amount of $1500. :o When I emailed her about the overpayment, she said to send her the refund in london as soon as I could. RED FLAGS went up all over the place.
I wasn’t about to send her anything until I spoke to her boss personally and the check cleared the bank. She had some guy call me saying that it was ok to send the refund. I checked with my bank and they said that the check was counterfeit. I quickly got back to her and mentioned this. She said that she didn’t know what happened and appologized. I said that she needed to send certified funds and $500 in legal fees if she wanted the merchandise. She said ok and I haven’t heard from her since.
It people like this that make the internet an increasingly dangerous place to do business. You have to protect yourself and watch your back at every turn or should I say every click of the mouse.
Internet/International fraud and counterfeiting = Secret Service!
Great guys…very professional. I had the opportunity to work with them for 9 years in a different life. They love working these guys over.
Keith
I got taken for about $2,000.00 in fees from one of these individuals several months ago. This went on for several months and I kept being told the money would be transferred into my bank account. My understanding is that the exchange rate is almost 2 to 1 of ours, so they had a field day with the money I sent. Be smart and stay away from any of these people. They don’t have money and they are now praying on people in the U.S. for ours. Lastly, I contacted REICLUB.com over this situation and requested that they post a post or warning out regarding these people and they advised they could not do it. We all used this site at our own risk.