Perhaps the following scenario can enlighten those who may be tempted to earn millions of USD the easy way:


I receive an email that says I'll get to keep 15% of USD25 million if I agreed to place it in my account. It has something to do with me being the (surprise surprise) beneficiary. Someone died in a plane crash, and the guy had tons of cash in a bank, without heirs, and no one knows about the money except a few insiders...


Anyway to cut story short, out of sheer curiosity (never believe one could earn that much for doing nothing) I responded using a newly-created free email account (the email address I and a friend created actually means 'rotten fish' in our language, just for fun).


We gave a **** (fictitious) number in another country, SWIFT code and everything real except there's no such account.


This scam artist then sent us an email requesting for fax number and land line number. We gave fax number, and true to his word he faxed all the legal documents, one from his local bank and one from his legal firm. All quite authentic yes yes.


A week later he sent email to request for telephone number just so that we could be comfortable that the transaction is real. I got in touch with a friend who agreed to use his office phone number (he's about to move out and cancel that number soon anyway).


This person actually called long distance to speak to my friend about the transaction. The money is ready, the bank is ready, the minister 'overseeing' the transaction (he would get his cut, of course), and yes the money will be credited to my account within the next few days.


A week passed, and several more days... finally we received another email from the same person to say that he'll call later that day to discuss certain matters outstanding. we replied to suggest he spell it out in email, it's OK we trust each other now.


A couple of days later he apologize via email about the delay. The money is ready for sure, BUT but there's a slight problem here with the bank now.. we need to pay for one final documentation, and for that we need to advance some money first. Oh just as well! When a few million is coming our way sooo easily. I was ALREADY spending tons of money in my dreams.. a couple of Lexus yes why not? An expensive apartment etc.. etc.. A long Vacation yes..


So now what do we do?????? Ok let's split the expenses. I'd remit USD10,000 immediately so that everything goes according to plan OK? But wait, I dont know you, and you dont know me. He emailed again to say OK for me to come over and bring the money, so that we could also get to know each other. After all this is a legitimate transaction. OK I said I'll be arriving on this flight (with flight number advised - I simple check airline's flight connection schedule), and that I'll be staying at this hotel (I obtained actual hotel name and street address in Nigeria).


BUT I said am new in that region, so I'll bring a couple of friends along. OK fine that's not a problem.


My final email was to advise this person that my flight is finally confirmed, and that I'll be staying at this particular hotel on this date, with a couple of friends/bodyguards (fictitious) joining me from Moscow... whose names are...


That was 2 years ago, and I've never receive any further email from this person. What went wrong? Beats me.

Of course 'rotten fish' email account has since been inactive and closed for good. But what an exciting experience, fun and a good laugh for me and my friend.


It's easy for this kind of scam to continue for as long as there are people out there who believe you can make tons of money without lifting a finger..

Replying to [smarco]:

Thanks for your detailed and interesting description.

Replying to [smarco]: Hello smarco. Thanks for the study on how these scam artists really operate. I've received hundreds if not thousands of emails about these scams and they always end up in the trash folder where they belong. It was very interesting to know how they operate but we always have to be on guard as I'm sure they're always thinking of new and clever ways to scam people.

I've been scammed by a guy from Nigeria and took from over USD7000 on payments for a shipment of phones that I never received.
Now I can't get the guys info or my money back.

A few years ago I was selling some items on a local paper here in my city. This scammer looked up my ad and sent me an email advising he lived abroad but wanted to purchase my items.

I said okay. Send your payment first and I will send you the goods. Well this scammer actually sent me a fake money order which looked completely real. I took it to my local post office and they indeed verified that it was fake.

I took a copy of it just in case and then turned it in to a U.S. postal inspector for further investigation. The scammer also used some local address that I told the inspector about so they can check the address too.

The scammer wanted me to take my money and send him the rest back with the items. By nature I do not trust anyone so I was always skeptical to begin with. Good thing for me that I was skeptical.

When I told him that I had contacted the authorities and they advised me that his money order was a fake, he emailed me back insisting that it was 100% real. He created a new email address with a fake FedEx address so I could ship out the items and also send his money. I told him that I had also contacted the FBI. And that was the last time he emailed me.