Don't Fall for a Nigerian Scam

No matter how many times we hear that many of those "You've won the lottery" emails and letters are probably scams, people keep falling for them left and right and losing a lot of money. The worst part is these scammers are usually out of the USA, making them near impossible to find and prosecute. It is hard to believe that people could still fall for such a thing after shows like NBC's Dateline have done stories on these 'Nigerian Scams'.

These scams can work in few different ways. The scammer will tell you that they are some foreign dignitary, business man, or government official or that they work for one of the previously mentioned and give you a reason as to why they cannot get to their own money, like they owe money or need to pay a transfer fee, etc... Usually ten percent of what they are offering you. That is where you come in. If you 'help' them get their money from some overseas bank, they will reward you with some outrageous sum of money. By help, I mean wire them money.

Another one that I could see someone falling for is those 'job offers', they claim to be a textile company that needs a rep in the US. Your job as a rep is to collect money from their 'US clients" and wire them the money minus your cut. Even if this weren't a scam, it would still be tax fraud.

People selling stuff on craigslist and eBay can even be victims of these scammers by falling for the 'overpayment scam'. Scammers participate in legit auctions, buy stuff from classifieds, etc... As payment they usually send a cashiers check or money order for more than the total amount owed, the point is the overpayment. Most people in the US think cashiers checks and money orders are as good as money, but it is not. The scammers will say that it was an accident, and ask you if you would send them back the difference between the total owed and the overpayment.

In both of these types of scams the victim has to deposit a check/money order/ cashiers check into their own bank account, and since the bank is required to give you access to your deposited funds in a few days you can withdrawal and wire the money back to them before the bank validate the deposited check. However, when the check does not clear the bank wants you make good on the transaction. Of course, you have to because any checks or money orders you deposit are your responsibility.

New commercials are running on TV to inform the people of the scammers tactics, and the address to a website where you can find tips on spotting a fake check/money order, even report a scam to the National Consumers League's Fraud Center, http://www.fakechecks.org/index2.html.

Here are other websites to check out if you want to learn more about how to spot a scammer and even read some of the scam emails going around.

http://www.fraudaid.com/ScamSpam/Lottery/index.htm

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/alerts/intlalrt.shtm

http://www.hoax-slayer.com/email-lottery-scams.html, examples here.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/12/13/eveningnews/main533033.shtml