Sound Like a Scam?

Unseen122 · Post by **Unseen122** » Sat Nov 27, 2004 12:36 pm

I have been trying to sell some of my instruments that I want to get rid of this is what I got from an intrested "buyer" I think it is a scam what about you?
Email I recieved:

Thanks for the mail, i will like to tell you that a cheque of $2,000 is send to the shipping company that is responsible for the shipment so make sure you get back to the company with your full address so that the company will bring the cheque to your place and you will go together to the bank to cash the money , this is for the safety of both of us , so after you cash the money you will deduct you money and the company we sign all necessary document , please make sure you give them all necessary things needed so you can contact the shipping company with this box shipper01@sailormoon.com please bear with them . i,m looking forward to complete this transaction soon because i needed thisPipes urgently.hope to haer from you asap
regards

OnTheMoor · Post by **OnTheMoor** » Sat Nov 27, 2004 12:38 pm

I vote yes.
What kind of shipping company has a e-mail adde at sailormoon.com?
Not the same, but you can check out this thread:
http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?t=23941

GaryKelly · Post by **GaryKelly** » Sat Nov 27, 2004 1:55 pm

It's a typical 'Nigerian' scam. Don't touch it with a barge-pole!

There was another one recently over on the UP forum, almost exactly the same but with typical Nigerian spelling.

Don't even bother replying to the pondlife or they'll bug you forever.

Over on the UP forum I posted a link where you can report these scumbags; I can't remember the link off the top of my head or I'd post it here, and I'm bandwidth-challenged here at home. I'll repost it here on Monday from the office if you can't find it.

GaryKelly · Post by **GaryKelly** » Sat Nov 27, 2004 2:04 pm

Oh I found it...

http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php ... sc&start=6

dwinterfield · Post by **dwinterfield** » Sat Nov 27, 2004 2:54 pm

Sounds like a variation of Nigerian scam. Recently a friend was selling a car and a British person offered to buy it. He said his agent sent an overly large check $25K on a $11K price. My friend actually got the check. While it was waiting to clear, buyer e-mailed that his mother had died and he needed $5k at once for funeral. Could my friend send it at once an the rest of the overage when his check cleared. Fortunately my friend is not a fool and the deal died right there. Need I say the $25k check was not good?

john swinton · Post by **john swinton** » Sat Nov 27, 2004 3:47 pm

Definately a scam!

so many words for a transaction is rediculous. it is also so many ways to fool you and steal your money.

If they wanted the pipes so mutch then they would go for a quick exchange like paypal.

TyroneShoelaces · Post by **TyroneShoelaces** » Sat Nov 27, 2004 3:51 pm

please pardon my ignorance, but what exactly is a "nigerian scam"? i've never heard of it. thanks

Joseph E. Smith · Post by **Joseph E. Smith** » Sat Nov 27, 2004 3:57 pm

...without a doubt, a bonfied scam.

Jerry Freeman · Post by **Jerry Freeman** » Sat Nov 27, 2004 4:07 pm

This follows one of the standard patterns:

Someone invents an excuse to send you a check or money order for an amount significantly more than the business you are proposing to transact. You receive the money order, which looks official in every respect. The sender invents another excuse why they need for you to send them the excess money over the transaction amount right away, before the money order has time to clear the bank.

These checks/money orders are invariably counterfeit.

Best wishes,
Jerry

Paul · Post by **Paul** » Sat Nov 27, 2004 4:16 pm

TyroneShoelaces wrote:please pardon my ignorance, but what exactly is a "nigerian scam"? i've never heard of it. thanks

they have been around for years. It used to be done through the mail. I have gotten them fairly regularly since the early '90s. Now they're mostly email. There is always some rich relative, king or prince or something like that that had died and left millions of illicit dollars or an inheritance behind. They would ask for your bank account information to park the money in it for a while, usually 10s of millions of dollars or more, and in the end you would get to keep a portion of the money for yourself. In almost every case if not all, the original sender was either in or from Nigeria. Hence the name "Nigerian scam". Of course, it was always bogus. WWhen people get sucked in, the whole thing quickly gets very complicated. As the deal goes on, brick walls keep popping up and the scammers ask for money to make the transfers, pay people off, what have you in order to make things move forward. The victims often find themselves heavily invested in the transaction and keep paying more so as not to lose out. Some people have actually got so wrapped up in the scams that they have travelled to Nigeria and in some cases have been harmed by these perpetrators.

WIth the internet, these guys have been able to vastly expand their operation. The scam that Unseen22 has been hit with is the latest one that I have heard about.

Dale posted his response to one that he got here:

http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php ... ght=shower

Best,
Paul

dwinterfield · Post by **dwinterfield** » Sat Nov 27, 2004 4:53 pm

FYI - First hit off google. I think it's now a generic term for "overinvoicing scams" I have a sense that most of the victims are elderly folks.

The Nigerian Scam Defined
A Five Billion US$ (as of 1996, much more now) worldwide Scam which has run since the early 1980's under Successive Governments of Nigeria. It is also referred to as "Advance Fee Fraud", "419 Fraud" (Four-One-Nine) after the relevant section of the Criminal Code of Nigeria, and "The Nigerian Connection" (mostly in Europe). However, it is usually called plain old "419" even by the Nigerians themselves.
The Scam operates as follows: the target receives an unsolicited fax, email, or letter often concerning Nigeria or another African nation containing either a money laundering or other illegal proposal OR you may receive a Legal and Legitimate business proposal by normal means. Common variations on the Scam include "overinvoiced" or "double invoiced" oil or other supply and service contracts where your Bad Guys want to get the overage out of Nigeria; crude oil and other commodity deals; a "bequest" left you in a will; "money cleaning" where your Bad Guy has a lot of currency that needs to be "chemically cleaned" before it can be used and he needs the cost of the chemicals; "spoof banks" where there is supposedly money in your name already on deposit; "paying" for a purchase with a check larger than the amount required and asking for change to be advanced; fake lottery 419; and ordering items and commodities off "trading" sites on the web and then cheating the seller. The variations of Advance Fee Fraud (419) are very creative and virtually endless.

At some point, the victim is asked to pay up front an Advance Fee of some sort, be it an "Advance Fee", "Transfer Tax", "Performance Bond", or to extend credit, grant COD privileges, send back "change" on an overage cashier's check or money order, whatever. If the victim pays the Fee, there are often many "Complications" which require still more advance payments until the victim either quits, runs out of money, or both. If the victim extends credit on a given transaction etc. he may also pay such fees ("nerfund" etc.), and also stiffed for the Goods or Service with NO Effective Recourse.

The Nigerian Scam is, according to published reports, the Third to Fifth largest industry in Nigeria. It is the 419 Coalition view that, in effect, the elites from which successive Governments of Nigeria have been drawn ARE the Scammers - therefore, victims have little recourse in this matter. Monies stolen by 419 operations are almost Never Recovered from Nigeria.

Most 419 letters and emails originate from or are traceable back to Nigeria. However, some originate from other nations, mostly also West African nations such as Ghana, Togo, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast ( Cote D'Ivoire ) etc. In most cases 419 emails from other nations are also Nigerian in that the "Home Office" of the 419ers involved is Nigeria regardless of the source of the contact materials. But there are occasionally some "local" copycats trying to emulate the success of the Nigerians. These folks tend not to last too long actually operating out of nations other than Nigeria, but they do try.

glauber · Post by **glauber** » Sat Nov 27, 2004 4:56 pm

Point your google at things like "419" or "bait a mugu" to learn more.

I think this site is the funniest, and one of the most informative:
http://www.419eater.com/index.htm

Great way to waste time.

Be careful dealing with these guys, they're professional con artists, and they sometimes get violent. Best to just delete the email. But read these for fun:

http://www.419eater.com/html/letters.htm

Especially this one:
http://www.419eater.com/html/joe_eboh.htm

pearl grey · Post by **pearl grey** » Sat Nov 27, 2004 11:03 pm

You can forward suspicious Nigeria 419 emails to:
419.fcd@usss.treas.gov
(as told to me by my brother in government)

pizak · Post by **pizak** » Sun Nov 28, 2004 3:27 am

You might want to look at:

http://www.universityofnigeria.com/

pearl grey · Post by **pearl grey** » Sun Nov 28, 2004 10:56 am

pizak wrote:You might want to look at:

http://www.universityofnigeria.com/

But now I see that it's a joke. "Comments: This website has left people with mixed feelings. Listen to a sampling of the few, humor-impaired visitor comments." It's pretty funny though! The alumni comments especially!