You get an e-mail out of the blue from a person you do not know. They claim they need help and you are the only person in the whole world who can do it. In exchange for your help, they will give you a lot of money.
Okay, so they are in dire straights, as they claim. What do they want you to do to help?
They have a fist full of money in the millions of dollar range, but they cannot access it for one reason or another. They need these funds put in a secure location and as you are a trustworthy person, they feel you would take care of their money. HOLD THE PHONE HERE! Even if this were a real offer someone was making to you - this is called money laundering. It would be highly illegal to do this!!!
Of course, you know deep down this scheme is illegal and there is a sense of adventure. They appealed to your human nature to help someone in need. What could close the deal for you? How about a cool 10-25% of their cash? All you have to do is help them get access to their money using your bank account.
Why do people not feel their skin crawl at that point? They are asking you to help do something illegal and to use your bank account to do it. Do you really want to do anything involving illegal money laundering to a bank account traced to you where federal agents would put you in prison first while the others get away with it? However, it is not the case with these schemes. It is far more devious.
Should you respond to the plea, these con artists will pitch you [and hundreds of other suckers who are gullible enough to fall for this scheme] the plan. Merely give them your bank account information and a location of a nearby place to wire money. They will wire you the money to deposit into your bank account if you do exactly as they say. Some tell you to wire you funds enough to buy a plane ticket for them to meet you from another country or tell you to buy a ticket and meet them in their country [an even more dangerous scheme as you will probably end up dead or stranded.]
The check they may give you is a bogus check that will never clear, but most never take it that far by giving you the check. In the meantime, they have your bank account information as well as some of the generous fees you have paid to cover "legal fees" to help them access their money which means you have already paid them thousands of dollars on the chance of having that money wired to your bank. They can also clean out your bank account and disappear. If you are talked into meeting them in a different country and to bring lots of cash on you, chances are you will be robbed at gun point and most likely killed.
The Nigerian Scam, otherwise known as the 419 Scam or the Cash Front Scam all work the same way. The con artists finds a victim. They tell them some incredible story or make them an offer that is too good to be true by touching your human nature instinct to get something for nothing. It could be a so-call job offer, an investment deal, a favor to help them get money out of the country, to help a dying person... Whatever they say, it will always be followed up with the offer -- if you help them, they have a lot of money to give you in return. What will you have to do to get this money? Give them your bank account information and some upfront money on your part to be transferred to them via Western Union.
You may be doing things right now to become a target and not realize it. Do you ever go on to message boards, guestbooks, newsgroups, or any kind of public forum? If so, do you leave your e-mail address anywhere you post? If you do, these so-called "Mugu" people may have targeted that site and are using software to harvest your e-mail address for the purpose of scamming you. Just a word to the wise, if you are posting any message in the public or even on Usenet newsgroups, do not post your e-mail address or at least put in a Spamblocker between the @ sign and the .com or .net or .org part of your e-mail address such as - contact@NEVERGETMEaol.com. Whatever wording you use does not matter.
This term "Mugu" means fool. Basically, if you see this in any message board or guestbook, it is a way of letting you know it has been hit by this group of thugs. They are criminals who intend to defraud you of a lot of money.
Here is one example of a scam e-mail offer:
- Subject: Job Offer
- From: Info @ support-monster.com
- To: myemailaddress@myemailaddress.com
- Date: Tue, August 9, 2005 9:45 am
- Priority: Normal
Dear myemailaddress:
We have many ways to save our clients' money. We hire the cheapest programmers and designers all over the world. Our stuff works mostly from home and we don't pay high office rent. That is why our price is the best on the market.
One of these ways to save money is hiring a Financial Manager. In case of getting order from another country we have to pay 15% fee for international bank transfer according to the US law. To reduce the tranfer cost we are looking for Financial Managers all over the world. When we get an order from another country, the Financial Manager in this country gets the payment and sends it to us through Western Union. Commission rate of Financial Managers is 3%. This way we reduce expences for international bank transfer twice.
In order to qualify for the position, you must be aged 21 and above. The prospective candidate should be good with numbers, committed and a good communicator. No special education is required; however, any experience in accounting / finance / client relations / database management is an advantage. You will be working under the direct supervision of the respective Regional Collections Executive. You receive your commission as soon as the transfer is carried out. There are no probation periods, no rolling reserves and no hidden fees or deductions.
- Now required financial manager in:
- The United Kingdom
- Australia
- New Zealand
More info on:
http://jobs.support-monster.com/
How do I know this is a scam? Elementary, if someone you don't know sends you a so-called job offer, especially when you have not been applying for jobs anywhere, that alone should give you a warning that the offer is not legitimate. However, if you have been seek jobs through certain companies and the offer they give you happens to "look" like it may be from them, there is a way to tell if it is genuine or a fake.
Look at the subject line and to whom the e-mail is addressed. If you had applied through an employment web site, they would have your name on file and it would have been included in the greeting. If it addresses you by only your e-mail address or does not call you by name at all or gives a general greeting such as "Dear Job Seeker", it is a scam.
Trace the header information. Are there any listed domain names that do not belong to the company they say they represent? If so, it is a scam.
Is the web site given in the proper domain? A web site from Monster.com will not have a deviant URL such as above with support-monster.com. Carefully read the URL to be sure. If in doubt, do not click the link. Open up a browser and manually type in the main page URL of the site, then do a search to see if such a company is listed. If it truly is listed on their site, it will come up in the search. If you cannot find it, find a contact link to get in touch with the web site owner and forward a copy of the e-mail complete with headers.
Legitimate employment web sites will NEVER ask you for your bank account number or anything that personal for applying to a job. Never give it out. If you do get a real offer and you have met the employer in person, then you may give any necessary details to become hired. Any job wanting you bank account number IS a scam.
This particular scam will get YOU in big trouble. They are not out to get access to your money, but only to launder money for themselves. There will indeed be a lot of money circulating in your account as they state and they will pay you. Sooner or later, they will leave you high and dry when the cops catch on to whatever scam they are pulling. When they look at the records to track the person behind taking away the money from these innocent people, guess who is left holding the bag - YOU. You would be the paper trail to nowhere. All their money can be proven to be in your bank account. They were smart and had you wire their share of the money to them and left long before it could be traced. From a legal standpoint, it appears as if you are behind the scam and will face prison.
Here is another example of a scam:
CONFIDENTIAL
Dear Sir,
Good day and compliments. This letter will definitely come to you as a huge surprise, but I implore you to take the time to go through it carefully as the decision you make will go off a long way to determine the future and continued existence of the entire members of my family.
Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Dr. (Mrs.) Mariam Abacha, the wife of the late head of state and commander in chief of the armed forces of the federal republic of Nigeria who died on the 8th of June 1998.
My ordeal started immediately after my husband's death on the morning of 8th June 1998, and the subsequent take over of government by the last administration. The present democratic government is determined to portray all the good work of my late husband in a bad light and have gone as far as confiscating all my late husband's assets, properties, freezing our accounts both within and outside Nigeria. As I am writing this letter to you, my son Mohammed Abacha is undergoing questioning with the government. All these measures taken by past/present government is just to gain international recognition.
I and the entire members of my family have been held incommunicado since the death of my husband, hence I seek your indulgence to assist us in securing these funds. We are not allowed to see or discuss with anybody. Few occasions I have tired traveling abroad through alternative means all failed.
It is in view of this I have mandated DR GALADIMA HASSAN, who has been assisting the family to run around on so many issues to act on behalf of the family concerning the substance of this letter. He has the full power of attorney to execute this transaction with you.
My late husband had/has Eighty Million USD ($80,000,000.00) specially preserved and well packed in trunk boxes of which only my husband and I knew about. It is packed in such a way to forestall just anybody having access to it. It is this sum that I seek your assistance to get out of Nigeria as soon as possible before the present civilian government finds out about it and confiscate it just like they have done to all our assets.
I implore you to please give consideration to my predicament and help a widow in need.
May Allah show you mercy as you do so?
Your faithfully,
Dr (Mrs.) Mariam Abacha (M.O.N)
N/B: Please contact Dr Galadima Hassan on this e-mail address for further briefing and modalities
How can you tell if such a plea for help is a scam? These scams always tell of an alleged high profiled person who has either been murdered, held in prison, or is dying. A high profile person is one who can be found somewhere on the Internet - run a search! A high profile case involving human rights abuses would be found within Amensty International and other human rights web sites. If you cannot find such a high profiled person listed, have your doubts. If such a high profiled person is listed, see if they are actually related to said person.
Also, think logically. There are hundreds of millions of people on the Internet. Out of all those people, why would YOU be picked for such a high profile and confidential request? Think about it. If they are basically asking you to help them launder money, and they want to keep it top secret, why would they risk picking YOU out of all the people online, when their very lives could be in danger? For all they know, YOU could be a federal agent or a member in their government out to get them. VERY RICH PEOPLE HAVE VERY RICH CONNECTIONS!!! If you are not a very rich person, you are not part of those connections and neither are they or else they would have contacted them.
Make no mistake, they are asking you to do something illegal. Even if it were a legitimate proposal they were making [it isn't] what they are asking you to do is illegal. You would spend big time years in prison if you attempted to launder money internationally.
Here is another example, one designed to tug on your heart strings:
- From: Maggie Mogu
- Subject: Dear in Christ
Dear Follower of Christ,
My greetings to you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. I am sister Maggie Mogu from Nigeria in Africa.
I was married to Reverend Michael Mogu who served as an archdeacon in the St John in Ivory Coast for nine years before he died in the year 2002.
Upon his death, there was political turmoil in the Ivory Coast when a war broke out and I had to flee, along with the orphans, into Nigeria.
We were married for eleven years and wanted children. Unfortunately, I developed cervical cancer early in our marriage and this was not a possible dream. This is why we decided to do the Lord's work and become missionaries where we could help those poor orphans who lost their parents through the tragedies of war and AIDS. We are both born again Christians and believe strongly that the Lord is kind.
Dear Michael died after a brief illness which made breathing quite difficult. It took him 6 weeks to slowly suffocate to death while dying in a rat infested hospital. Since his death I decided not to re-marry, but so long to have a child. There are many children here in need of a loving parent, but as a single mother there is a great difficulty for me to do it alone.
The children I wish to adopt are Anna, Brian, and Michael. They are brothers and sister who tragically lost their families. Their father was killed in a war. Their mother tried her best, but died from AIDS when the oldest, Anna, was only 5. They were exploited by the older men and sent to work as prostitutes and slaves. They were abused and exposed to Satanic rituals.
We found these children barely alive, dehydrated, starving, and quite ill. We took them into our orphanage and helped them get better, have an education, teach them the love of God, and allowed them to be children.
Now that my husband has died and I am not a licensed minister, I will have to leave the country soon.
When I was diagnosed with cancer, the bill came to over 3 million USD. I am still making proper payments with this debt, but for now it is a black mark against me in adopting a child. I need to get the money to pay my hospital bill and to help with the adoption proceedure.
My late husband has over 10 million USD in a bank, but I cannot access these funds directly and have been living in impoverished conditions since his death since his assets have been frozen. There is just so much legal red tape here on my end. All I need is to get half of my money out of the account to pay for my expenses to adopt the children and to come back home. I do not need the rest of the money and am willing to give it to someone who is God fearing and willing to help us.
With God all things are possible. I know you are a kind hearted and God loving person who will do the right thing. I am not asking for anything from you other than help in transferring my money into your bank account. When you get my money, you will simply give me my half of it upon my request to pay to the proper agencies and to give me the tickets to return home with my children.
I want you and your church to always pray for me because the Lord is my shepherd. My happiness is that I lived a life of a worthy Christian. Whoever that wants to serve the lord must serve him in spirit and truth. Please always be prayerful all through your life.
Any delay in your reply will give me room in sourcing another church or individual for this same purpose. Please assure me that you will act accordingly as I stated herein. Hoping to receive your reply.
Remain blessed in the lord.
Yours in Christ,
Sister Maggie Mogu
For one, this is not a high profile case, but one filled with tragedies. An automatic red flag!! If such a person is really desperate, it is simply amazing they have such access to get online.
Do a search on Yahoo News for details that might be mentioned in such e-mails. In this case, there is no specific case of refugees fleeing from the Ivory Coast into Nigeria in 2002 - it just did not happen.
Note the name of the children. These are children allegedly born in the Ivory Coast where the predominate language is French. The names Anna, Brian, and Michael are not exactly typical French names. They do not even resemble African names. These are basically associated with Anglo names, with the exception of Michael which is Hebrew in origin, but the French spelling of the name is Michel or Michele. We are to also assume a Christian background from the bogus story, so we can cut them slack in not giving them a more reflective Islamic name which would be in touch with the majority of the population.
Pull out a trusty atlas and then you will discover for this refugee crisis to be what was said, she would have to go through Ghana, Togo, and Benin in order to make it to Nigeria with her orphans in tow or to take a boat across the waters which would have been equally questionable.
Use the CIA Factbook when in doubt about the status of the countries stated.
There is fighting in the Ivory Coast, but this is an internal problem between the Ivoirians and the French forces trying to keep order since 2002. 71,711 Ivoirian are in fact refugees, but in Liberia, directly southwest of the Ivory Coast. The Ivory Coast has been an independent Republic since August 7 1960.
As for Nigeria, following nearly 16 years of military rule, a new constitution was adopted in 1999, and a peaceful transition to civilian government was completed. Nigeria has been an independent country since October 1 1960. There have been communal violence between Christians and Muslims since President OBASANJO's election in 1999, but these displaced people [refugees] have mostly ended up in Cameroon, directly to the east of Nigeria.
They are relying on your ignorance about the world and world events.
The request is an automatic red flag. Do you really think anyone will trust a total stranger in taking all of their money in hopes that you will return half of it back to them, especially when they are in desperate need of money? Would YOU gamble away 10 million dollars to give to a total stranger in hopes they will give you 5 million back? If she did have such money in frozen assets, it would be inaccessible by anyone.
This person is obviously looking for people who rely on a simple faith of God and play on that vulnerable link you may have.
There are a lot of liars out there. Don't fall for these sad stories. About 1 in 100,000,000 sob stories you get in your inbox are actually true and only from people you actually know.
The last two examples are really dangerous if you go through with them. Not only is your own safety in question, but that of everyone around you. Terrorists can use these tricks to get you to sponsor their activities. If you deal with them, you are probably helping the terrorists. Your name could easily come up in a list of terrorist helpers. You could end up in a detention camp before you know what hit you.
How Does The Scam Work?
If you have the misfortune to reply to these people, here is what will happen to you:
- You will get a reply back thanking you for your kindness and to await a response from their legal counsel who will help you with the red tape.
- The legal counsel will contact you and ask for any of the following: bank account number, passport number, address and information to wire money.
- They will request the fee for the lawyer to handle all the require paperwork and to initiate the wire transfer.
- Once you send the information, they will tell you they are wiring the money
- There will be a problem with wiring the money into your bank, so they will use the Western Union nearby for fund transfers, but before they can continue, the person is short on money and needs to pay some legal fees to make this transaction happen. You will be reimbursed once the transfer takes place.
- You wire in the legal fee.
- You get a note saying the person needs another expense covered to make this transaction possible.
- You wire the next fee.
- Still more problems. Could you possibly come to the country and pay the fee in person?
- You go to the country with an extremely large sum of money to pay them and are either robbed or beaten up or killed.
- You never get the money in the end, but have paid out thousands to the con artist.
Fight Back!
The best thing you can do when you see these offers is to delete them. Do not reply or you can get your e-mail address confirmed as legitimate and will have many of these offers.
Never leave your e-mail address on any web site, newsgroup, message board, or any other place where it will be posted in the public as it can be harvested.
If you want to get rough, you do have options.
Go to Spam Cop and register for an account. Get a free e-mail account. Post your free e-mail account on a few guestbooks and wait for them to take the bait.
Once you get these bogus offers, copy and paste the entire email including the headers and send it to Spam Cop. It will tell you exactly where the source is coming from as well as automatically report this spam to their ISP which will shut them down.
Or you can choose to be a complete bastard!
Pretend to go along with their story. Use a fake name and information. String them along as much as possible. Play dumb when they ask you to fill out paperwork. Ask them a lot of questions on how to fill it out. Stall for time. Give them a dose of your own sob story when stalling for time. Give them bogus account numbers that go nowhere. After awhile, tell them you have wired them money and when they get back to you to find out you did not send it, tell them you will look into the problem. Get back to them and tell them their account number was flagged for some kind of trouble by the government and the transaction was cancelled by Western Union, but you have an option - there is another company that could wire them the money they request, but you need THEM to send you money first because you don't have enough money to pay the fee. If they do send the fee, keep stringing them along like they were trying to do to you.
Sooner or later, they will catch on and will either curse you out or just stop communicating with you.
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