Beware of Nigerian Internet Scams
IRONWOOD, MI - Saturday, January 03, 2008 - Did you ever get an email offering you a job? Or did you ever get one from an out-of-country attorney or public official that is asking for your help to act as an heir to a massive fortune? Or how about one for a little old religious lady that is dying and wants you to distribute her massive wealth to the needy? These are all Nigerian schemes that are designed to rob you of your hard earned money.
These people are extremely dangerous and their only goal is to force you to send them money you probably cannot afford to part with.
On December 18, 2008, I received the following email message:
Dear Sir/Madam
Royal Arts and Design is a premium European textiles supplier that has its headquarters based in the UK, we export textiles from Europe to the USA and Canada.
Royal Arts and Design needs individuals in different locations in United States of America/Canada who will be working for the company as representatives/book keepers. This position would not affect your present state of work if you have one. We need individuals that will be receiving payments on behalf of the company from our customers in their locations. These payments are in form of Money Orders or Checks and will be made payable to your name, so all you need do is cash the Money Orders or Check from your bank and deduct 8% percentage(your commission) then wire the rest to one of our continental offices via Western Union Money Transfer.
You will make as much as $300-$700$ per week depending on how effective you can work.
If you are interested, please reply by filling the form below:
FULL NAME:
FULL ADDRESS(not p.o. box):
CITY:
STATE:
ZIP CODE:
OCCUPATION(if any):
PHONE NUMBER (S):
AGE:
Warmest Regards,
Greg.
Royal Arts and Design.
Recognizing this to be a scam, and acting with extreme caution, I thought I'd play along. I sent a very brief response to "Greg" from "Royal Arts and Design." Since they weren't requesting credit card or banking information, I sent them my name, address, occupation, phone number and age.
On December 20, 2008, I received the following email:
Good day,
Thanks for filling the application form. Your application has been accepted for this position. Our customers will be sending payments to your address starting from next week . As soon as we get a postal tracking number for the payment, we will email you.
Please send an acceptance reply as soon as you receive this message, this will enable us enter your information into the company's database as a representative.
Thanks.
So I replied. Sure enough, within days I received the money order pictured at the top of this article. The document, a very real looking money order in the amount of $1,900, was apparently purchased through the Pluswood Credit Union in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.
That same day I received the following email titled "Payment sent:"
Dear Rep,
We just got a notice from one of our customer that a payment has been sent to you by United States Postal Service Mail (Regular mail).You are suppose to get the envelopes today. As soon as you get this envelopes. Kindly email us for further instructions.
Being reasonably certain that the money order was fake, I decided to contact the Pluswood Credit Union. I emailed them a copy of the check and I asked if it was valid or not. The following day I received this message from Pam Williams of the Credit Union:
No this check is not good. Do not cash it. Counterfeit money orders.
I immediately called Pam and I asked her if she would like me to send her the counterfeit money order. She said she would very much like the original for their growing file of counterfeits. She said that someone had apparently purchased a money order from their Credit Union and then went and had the document mass produced. She said she has been getting an alarming number of "bad money orders" returned to her.
So, I sent the money order back to the Credit Union, and I emailed by "employer" to see what I was to do next. Early this morning I received the following response:
Thanks for your email.This is payment coming from our clients for the
services rendered to them. Kindly follow this procedure for cashing and
sending the money by Western Union. Kindly take it to your bank to cash
it and be advised check will clear instantly, they are to be cashed
Immediately, once you cash the check, deduct your 10% from the Funds,
and go to the nearest Western Union location to send the money
Immediately. Kindly, know that The Enclosed funds was allocated for the
own money
Of raw materials that we bought from our raw materials suppliers in
China, So therefore once you have deducted your 10% from the received
amount, you are advised to proceed With effect to the nearest western
union office to make the money Payable to the below names of our Raw
materials suppliers China, also deduct the western Union charges from
the balance of the money.BELOW IS THE INFORMATIONS OF RAW MATERIALS SUPPLIER IN CHINA:
NAME: - MEIYU DU
CITY: - NANNING
PROVINCE :GUANGXI
ZIP CODE: - 530011
COUNTRY:-CHINA.Once you have made the payment, kindly get back to me with the
below information as soon as you have send out the money via western
union money transfer for immediate sending of it to our raw materials
suppliers.
Sender:-
Address:-
City:-
State:-
ZIP CODE:-
Money Transfer Control:-
AMOUNT:-
I do appreciate all your patient and time in helping us, Extend my
warm regards to Your Family, while I will be waiting to hear from you.
Best Regards
So, what would have happened if I would have simply deposited the money order in my account and been gullible enough to send "Meiyu Du" in Nanning, China "his share" of the funds? The Oshkosh Credit Union would have returned the money order as counterfeit. My bank would then have taken my funds to cover the money I would have sent to "my employer's supplier" and I would have been out $1,710.
What I did instead, is I sent the fake money order to the Credit Union, and then I sent "my employer" false Western Union information. It should be interesting to hear what they have to say when they try to pick up the funds at their local Western Union office. I will update this story as it develops.