# Internet Scams - Advanced Fee Fraud



## WayneC (Mar 8, 2007)

Part of using the Internet and this site safely is to understand the dangers of the internet. We have someone (sonia2007) trying to pull off a Nigerian Scam or advaced fee fraud on the members of this site. In general everyone should be aware of this scam so I am including info on it.

From Wikipedia
An advance fee fraud is a confidence trick in which the target is persuaded to advance relatively small sums of money in the hope of realizing a much larger gain. Among the variations on this type of scam are the Nigerian Letter (or 419 fraud) and "The Spanish Prisoner."

This scam usually begins with a form-letter e-mail sent to many target recipients making an offer that will purportedly result in a large payoff for the intended victim. The stories behind the offers vary, but the standard plot is that a person or government entity is in possession of a large amount of money or gold. This person, for myriad reasons, either cannot access the wealth directly or is no longer in need of it. Such people, who are fictional or impersonated characters played by the scammer, could include the wife of a deposed African or Indonesian leader, a terminally ill wealthy person, a U.S. soldier who has stumbled upon a hidden cache of gold, a business being audited by the government, a disgruntled worker or corrupt government official who has embezzled funds, and similar characters.


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## Obi (Oct 19, 2006)

I NOTIFIED MARTIN AS SOON AS I GOT IT.


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## WayneC (Mar 8, 2007)

I imagine Martin's message box will be filling up on this one. BTW. Good morning Obi.


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## Tikka (May 14, 2007)

DITTO.

I think these fraudsters must be really stupid to think that they are going to get somebody to respond to their letter, especially after all the bad publicity they get. Oh of course you have seen xxx's of copies of the same letter, all from different people!

OR

Are there still some really gullible people out?


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## Treefarmer (Mar 19, 2007)

It always amazes me that this kind of stuff can still work. Never underestimate the power of greed or the level of ignorance.


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## Radish (Apr 11, 2007)

To quote American showman and huckster P.T. Barnum, "There's a sucker born every minute."

Hi ho.


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## WayneC (Mar 8, 2007)

This is a very successful scam. Especially with the elderly. I've seen where people have played these scammers and had a lot of fun getting them to do stupid things.


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## boboswin (May 23, 2007)

Don't respond to the letters.
They will harvest your e-mail as a "live one" and sell it to other spammers.
I report as many as I can to spamcop

Bob


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## Tangle (Jul 21, 2007)

All con games operate on greed. If it walks like a duck and it quacks like a duck, it's probably a duck!!!


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## WayneC (Mar 8, 2007)

Good advise Bob.


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## TheGravedigger (May 20, 2007)

I just trash-binned it. I knew that by the time I read it you guys would have already gotten Martin up from his coffee to take care of business.

A quote of Dave Ramsey quoting Proverbs:

"He who hastens to acquire wealth will not go unpunished."


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## WayneC (Mar 8, 2007)

Now there is a Sonia2008 account on the site. Hmmmm.


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## WayneC (Mar 8, 2007)

Guessing Martin will take care of this…


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## 2 (Feb 26, 2006)

I've removed both sonias. I'm working on some features that will help to prevent this - but probably not eliminate completely. The best thing to do is to send me PM when this happens and NEVER respond to the spammer. Plus as Bob said report to the spamcop

Thanks for discussing this.


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## Brad_Nailor (Jul 26, 2007)

I went to AutoCAD school with a guy that made messing with these scammers his hobby! He would make them do all kinds of stupid stuff to try and convince him they were legitimate.


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## WayneC (Mar 8, 2007)

Thanks Martin.


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## Sawdust2 (Mar 18, 2007)

We had a family, well, husband and wife, who responded, sent money, then realized that they had been scammed and went over to Nigeria. Long article, 7-8 pages, in a local magazine about them. Tried to get to the root of the problem and get their money back. The story was quite detailed. Embassy contacts, local bank references, etc.

The couple disappeared over there.


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## WayneC (Mar 8, 2007)

Not good. Just a reminder to everyone to be careful.


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## Dadoo (Jun 23, 2007)

Unfortunately there are people who fall for this crap and end up loosing their life savings or in the case of Sawdust2's couple…their lives. Scammers are everywhere and as long as we report them to the web honcho (Martin) he can eliminate them from here. And as everyone else said…Do not respond to the letters! These scammers are nothing more than criminals and will take your mothers life savings as quickly as taking your own life! Danger, Danger Will Robinson!

But in some cases, some individuals DO respond just to "scam the scammers"! I'd like to invite you guys to check out a website called www.419eaters.com . This British fellow and his friends go after these scammers and most of the times the results are hilarious! One particular story had them making the scammer carve a human head only to have it devoured in shipping by an African squirrel. Anyhow the scammer wants to sue the Klingon Shipping Company for damages, etc. Unfortunately, I just checked and find that the website is down. Bummer. Thought you guys might like reading about Nigerian wood working and carving. Maybe some other day!


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## Dadoo (Jun 23, 2007)

I just checked out www.419eater.com and it's back up. If you're bored and want to read a funny one go there, click on "Letters Archive" and read "Busted". It's a long article but quite amusing. Enjoy!


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## Buckskin (Jun 26, 2007)

I just got one of these today. I deleted it without even looking at it. So much for 'shameless marketing'.


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## WayneC (Mar 8, 2007)

Looks like we have another spammer today - AnnChrist.


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## Frank (Nov 19, 2006)

--free spam, 
and I'm just wondering what to do with all the tree spam, 
soon to be coming my way, 
when those trees start spamming me with their leaves….

GODSPEED,
Frank


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## Tangle (Jul 21, 2007)

Yeah, the new one is in French. Some version of the Nigerian letter. My French isn't real good.


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## WayneC (Mar 8, 2007)

Tree spam is a good thing…


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