Do you know someone who fell for a Nigerian scam?

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  • landiekate
    landiekate Posts: 32 Member
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    Yup. Sure do! My cousin did, got about 10k out of 'er I think. All she wanted was some *kitten*, too.
  • TheRoadDog
    TheRoadDog Posts: 11,793 Member
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    Yup. Sure do! My cousin did, got about 10k out of 'er I think. All she wanted was some *kitten*, too.

    What's her email address?
  • abuck_13
    abuck_13 Posts: 382 Member
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    I've known some scam-baiters but never someone who actually got taken by it....

    Our running joke with my friends has always been along the lines of:

    "Hey, I can help this deposed prince. Wouldn't be fair for me to keep all the money though. Give me your account number so they can wire it and I'll split it with you."
  • srslybritt
    srslybritt Posts: 1,618 Member
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    I'll tell you the story! In exchange, all I need is your social security number, main checking account number (with routing#), and a photocopy of a valid drivers license or government ID card.

    For verification purposes... of course. :)

    ETA this not mandatory but mandatory disclaimer: This is a joke. For serious. I don't want any of that.
  • findingmarina
    findingmarina Posts: 89
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    I do. I used to work at a hotel wayyy back, anyway there was this little old Haitian man (very kind, such a sweetheart) who randomly received an email from some woman in Nigeria who needed his "help". She told him that she needed $$ to come down and live in the US, for a better life for herself and her child. My coworker like I said was an older men who never wed, so he offered her companionship and a male figure for her son. He kept asking me for my advice and I would urge him to stop talking to her. He didn't listen...sadly he did wire her a lot of money and well....she was never heard of. He went into a deep depression after that :(.
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
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    Yup. Sure do! My cousin did, got about 10k out of 'er I think. All she wanted was some *kitten*, too.
    Are there no bars where she lives? I mean, if I REALLY wanted to, I could pretty much walk into any one and walk out with a one-nighter -- I wouldn't even have to pay for a drink ...
  • Cliffslosinit
    Cliffslosinit Posts: 5,044 Member
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    Yup. Sure do! My cousin did, got about 10k out of 'er I think. All she wanted was some *kitten*, too.
    Are there no bars where she lives? I mean, if I REALLY wanted to, I could pretty much walk into any one and walk out with a one-nighter -- I wouldn't even have to pay for a drink ...

    True...Hi you're pretty, let's bang.
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
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    Yup. Sure do! My cousin did, got about 10k out of 'er I think. All she wanted was some *kitten*, too.
    Are there no bars where she lives? I mean, if I REALLY wanted to, I could pretty much walk into any one and walk out with a one-nighter -- I wouldn't even have to pay for a drink ...

    True...Hi you're pretty, let's bang.
    It's good to be a woman. lol
  • Cliffslosinit
    Cliffslosinit Posts: 5,044 Member
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    Yup. Sure do! My cousin did, got about 10k out of 'er I think. All she wanted was some *kitten*, too.
    Are there no bars where she lives? I mean, if I REALLY wanted to, I could pretty much walk into any one and walk out with a one-nighter -- I wouldn't even have to pay for a drink ...

    True...Hi you're pretty, let's bang.
    It's good to be a woman. lol

    Perfect!
  • Missjulesdid
    Missjulesdid Posts: 1,444 Member
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    When I was on an online dating site I had a guy who claimed to be from a few states away. I noticed right away from his writing that English was not his first language. claimed to be from Portugal. hmm.. ok. I chatted with him through IM but was really skeptical. He wouldn't video chat which raised huge red flags. (and this was BEFORE catfish) After the first chat I concluded that he was a scammer but I was unemployed and curious and decided to play along. I strung him along for a few weeks using up a LOT of his time.

    After a couple of weeks I got tired of it and decided to just let him know that I was messing with him and told him that I knew he was Angolan (just a guess because I knew they were a high fraud country and they had been colonized by Portugal) and he was trying to con me for money. He became FURIOUS and told me that I didn't understand what it was like for him and that I shouldn't play around with people's lives like that and that I had cost him a lot. LOL, I mean he was REALLY REALLY furious at ME for stringing him along and costing him money.
  • LeslieTSUK
    LeslieTSUK Posts: 215 Member
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    I used to contact them,
    just for fun
    had the bank scam ones
    had the hotel abroad with a deposit needed
    had the lost my luggage and passport one,
    also had one scam where they had a girl chat on yahoo messenger saying she was held up at a dive motel and was stranded, she was really believable too, then as she gave bank details to do a transfer of money I was like mmmm, why it not to you?
    I wasn't 100% sure she was a scam so passed all the info I had to the local police to pass on just incase.

    but most scams can be back traced in google search since it caches every page it ever comes across.
  • jessicapk
    jessicapk Posts: 574 Member
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    I ran into one from OK Cupid. He was in New York but travelled between there and Georgia, where I live. He was doing great and seemed legit for a while. He was head over heels and I got super suspicious once he started sending these long messages that had quotation marks either on the end or the beginning. I googled the messages and they were standard Nigerian scammer mess. I kept playing it for a while for fun and then he suddenly had to go to Africa for work. His laptop got damaged at the airport, he ended up losing his ticket, and then, the final straw was when he went to a charity event, told them that I would donate money, then got upset with me that I wouldn't donate, like I was personally hurting him. Kudos to them for creativity!

    This one was a new one on me. I knew the Nigerian scammers were everywhere but I didn't expect them to break into the housing / roofing market. I work in roofing material sales. Recently, one of our contractors was dealing with someone who was out of town and claimed he needed his rental house roofed. This is actually common but the way the guy wanted to do it was another story. The actual e-mail is below. The contractor sent me a copy of the e-mail to ask my opinion and a huge red flag flew up on this one!

    "I accept your proposal,i will provide you my credit card to charge for the sum of $5,176 plus the extra credit card company charges and AFTER THE FUNDS CLEAR INTO YOUR ACCOUNT you will deduct the sum of $2,500 as a deposit and send $2,500 via money transfer to the initial owner of the house once the initial owner has the $2500, he will make the keys and authorization letter available to you to start work the extra $176 is for the money transfer service after work is complete you will charge my card for the balance let me know when you are ready for my credit card details"

    Needless to say, he did not roof this house!
  • shellma00
    shellma00 Posts: 1,684 Member
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    Didnt read the rest of the responses, but I worked in banking for almost 15 years.. try convincing these people that they are going to be falling for a scam and they dont want to believe you.

    ends up causing many fees and headaches for the customers
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
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    A friend lost about 5k to one.

    It was along the lines of the ones that end up on craigslist where they want to rent your apartment and only have one check, please take first/last months out and send them the rest.... then the check bounces....
  • NotShena
    NotShena Posts: 172 Member
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    I had a friend who fell for a scam on a dating site. The "lady" he was talking to conned him into $500 for a plane ticket to go see him. Poor *kitten*.
  • kristen49233
    kristen49233 Posts: 385 Member
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    Not a Nigerian scam, but a couple of months after my brother passed away last year my dad received a phone call from my nephew (his grandson). The "grandson" told my dad he has been in an accident, was in trouble, and he needed my dad to wire him some money. When my dad asked him why he didn't sound like "grandson" he said he had a cold. Fortunately my dad (who is in his late 60's) called me first before doing anything. I checked around and confirmed it wasn't my nephew who had called him. I think the scammer must have gotten all the information he needed from my brother's obit and was able to search my dad's name & location to get his phone number.
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
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    Not a Nigerian scam, but a couple of months after my brother passed away last year my dad received a phone call from my nephew (his grandson). The "grandson" told my dad he has been in an accident, was in trouble, and he needed my dad to wire him some money. When my dad asked him why he didn't sound like "grandson" he said he had a cold. Fortunately my dad (who is in his late 60's) called me first before doing anything. I checked around and confirmed it wasn't my nephew who had called him. I think the scammer must have gotten all the information he needed from my brother's obit and was able to search my dad's name & location to get his phone number.
    That's a really common one!
  • HazelMcNutty
    HazelMcNutty Posts: 85 Member
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    I once got a second friend request from my mother's old high school friend (she was already on my list) without even really thinking about it I accepted) Instantly she was messaging me. Apparently she was stuck in cuba (She actually HAD gone down there for a wedding) and needed money to help her get out... IT was pretty convincing but the only thing is, my Facebook name, as with my MFP name, is NOT my real name. This person kept referring to me as Hazel. Took me all of about five minuted to figure out what had happened. I then went through every person on the fake profile's friends list and messaged them to let them know it was a scam. Took me about two hours to get them all. By the end of it I had about 10 or 15 people message me back incredibly thankful because they were just about to wire money to their friend they thought was stuck. After posting tons of "This isn't the real person, this is a total scam profile" messages on their wall that account was deactivated soon after. :)
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
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    I had a friend who fell for a scam on a dating site. The "lady" he was talking to conned him into $500 for a plane ticket to go see him. Poor *kitten*.
    I had a family member who fell for that one.... ouch
  • MasterBroshi
    MasterBroshi Posts: 108 Member
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    I had someone call me a few weeks ago and said that I got a government grant for $9,000. All I had to do was give them my bank account number.

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