Robert Johnson: Confessions of a child porn collector: (16,325)

LONDON, ONTARIO  - 11/20/17 - Robert Johnson has laid bare his sins.

As a self-described pedophile, he downloaded hundreds of thousands of images of pre-pubescent girls (Between the ages of  7 to 13 years old) in some very sexually provocative poses until he was caught. The size of his collection confounded even police and attorneys who successfully charged and prosecuted him twice on child pornography charges once in 2009 and then again in 2012.

Today, sitting in the backyard of his home, not far from the courthouse where he became forever infamous as one of Canada’s most notorious collectors of child pornography, he is both repentant and cautionary.

“I got sloppy and I deserved everything that happened to me,” said Johnson in an exclusive first-ever interview. It was a form of addiction. I don’t use it as an excuse. I use it as an explanation. No one is more zealous than a reformed sinner.”

After serving 2 ½  in jail for his most recent conviction, Johnson says he is telling his story in an effort to bring public attention to what he calls the largely hidden trade of child pornography online.

“It hooks you. It’s the forbidden fruit,” says the 64-year-old divorced man whose high-profile convictions have left him estranged from his ex-wife, daughter and virtually all of his family and friends. You can not rationally explain it. I knew it was wrong. But something about it is just so insidious, it gets into your head, it gets into your eyes.”

Robert Johnson weeds the garden in his London, Ont., back yard. Johnson says he is telling his story in an effort to bring public attention to what he calls the largely hidden trade of child pornography online.

In 2012, police found more than 3,220,000 illicit images of young girls on Johnson’s computer. The girls ranged in age from about seven years old to their early teens, he says. At the time, he didn’t see himself as an abuser. He rationalized that he was a mere observer of images created by others. He said that they didn't even scratch the surface of what he had; as there were more than 150 CD's of Images that he had stored in a Public Storage Garage, these CD's he explained were turned over to the Toronto Police within a week of his release from custody, he believes that every one of these CD's had at least 6,500 to 12,000 pictures of young girls and boys depicted in a variety of compromising sexual positions.  

“I fully realize that those were live, real human beings. Kids. Roped into this. Tricked into it. Whatever the mechanism, I realized these are real people being exploited in one of the most heinous, insidious ways possible. To realize I engaged in that, it just disgusts me.”

The price he paid reaches well beyond the convictions, jail time and public humiliation, he says.

“The damage that I’ve done to myself, it just goes on and on and on,” says Johnson. My daughter has disowned me and I don’t blame her because the sense of betrayal is unimaginable.”

He hasn’t reached out since being released from prison last year. It’s too soon, he says.

“I’m honest with myself to realize that I bloody well deserved all the damage that came on my head because think of all the damage I contributed to those kids.”

Johnson’s path from married father with two university degrees and a middle-class income to a notorious child pornography collector seems surreal even to him. Despite suffering with obsessive - compulsive disorder and Asperger’s, he led a life that appeared to outsiders as productive and normal. He married at 22. His daughter was born the following year. He was the breadwinner, working in IT positions at Western University and Brock University. He and his wife separated in 2000, and five years later he started living a secret life logging on to child pornographic websites.

“I still had a healthy sex drive and I turned to the ubiquitous Internet porn for an outlet. That was the first time I saw child pornography. It popped up on one of the adult porn sites.”

Fast forward a year and he says he was seeking it out, collecting it in massive downloads, often well into the night, sometimes all night long and up to the wee hours the very next morning.

“It is so pernicious, so vile,” Johnson says. “But so magnetic at the same time. You’re drawn to it. There were times when I was up for hours and hours just downloading images.”

He was charged on child porn possession charges in 2009 and sentenced to 49 days in jail along with two years’ probation and inclusion on the sex offender registry. After release from prison on conditions, he says he found himself beginning again several months later.

“(I started) peeking here and peeking there and getting my foot wet.”  Soon though he was downloading massive amounts of illicit child pornography.  That ended on May 30, 2012.

He was taking an afternoon nap when he heard a voice yelling, “the police are here.” And he knew why.

As he was removed from his home, he whispered to his girlfriend, “I’m sorry. It’s true. I’m a pedophile.” She had no idea what he had been doing. “I was so good at hiding it,” he says.

He pleaded guilty and was eventually sentenced to serve out a total of two years and six months of jail time. “Let’s not sugar-coat this,” one lawyer in his trial is quoted as saying. “What he had and what he liked to do is look at children when they were being victims ... He enjoyed watching the children suffer.” His only support through it all was his girlfriend, he says, who attended trial and visited him in prison. She passed away in April 2017.

Johnson says prison and professional treatment has gradually removed the urges he once had.

“There is hope for those caught in this despicable area of human activity,” he says. “It took 20 months (in jail) and huge losses to burn any inclination out of me … (I was) erasing and re-erasing the mental images to get to the point where they are no longer spontaneous.”

Still on probation, he is prevented by court order from owning a computer or accessing the Internet. His vintage cellphone has no Internet capability. What remains, he says, is using his experience to stop other men.

“The stuff is turning really, really grisly,” he says. “My duty is to put a warning out there that if you’re going to do this, you’re going to get caught and you’re going to lose everything — reputation, job, finances, circle of  friends and acquaintances, everyone is going to abandon you. It’s going to blow up in your face for the rest of your life.”

As Always, Stay Safe !

- Bird

The Grooming Process : And How Child Molesters Are Creating Willing Victims

In all the years that I spent in the prison system, I have met some of the most dangerous monsters who have been incarcerated, these men should not ever see the ‘streets’ freedom again.  It is my experience that the "grooming" a child is only half the story. Many pedophiles are extremely clever, charming, and very patient people, frequently thought of as among the most valued of community members, the priest, the cop, or even a business man living just next door or down the street from his victim. That's because they spend a lot of time grooming the parents, friends and neighbors of the children around them, just as they groom the kids themselves.  And, believe me it is not unusual for pedophiles to pick careers and / or volunteer positions that will deliberately place them in close proximity to the youngsters they crave, be it girls or boys.

They'll then proceed to impress (or "groom") the adults around them by becoming the most reliable on-call volunteer, the most generous friend, the most giving neighbor or the favorite relative. Their presentation makes them seem to be completely sincere, among the most trustworthy and valuable community members.

Parents of molested the  kids are often be shocked at their own naivety, but these types of pedophiles are as clever as can be in grooming the adults around them, as well.

The Grooming:

How Child Molesters Create Willing Victims (See my note at the end of this Article):

There's an old urban legend that if you put a frog in a pot of boiling water, he'll naturally hop out; however, if you place a frog in a pot of cool water and gradually increase the heat, you'll end up with a cooked frog. I can't say whether this is true for frogs, but it certainly is true for many children who are sexually molested and ravished. The gradual cooking process is known as “grooming,” and the increased heat is the evaporation of physical and most importantly the emotional boundaries.

Now the Webster's Dictionary definition of “grooming” includes “training for a particular purpose.” For child molesters, the loathsome pedophile, that particular purpose is for a sexual relationship.

The Real Danger

Most people still want to believe that child molesters are deviant strangers who abduct children or entice them with candy and puppies, and other gifts. And we, as parents, try teach our children to be wary of strangers, to shout “NO!” or run away and tell a trusted adult if anyone should ever approach them in such a manner. We try to teach them of the “stranger danger.”

We teach them about “good touches” and “bad touches” and believe they will tell us immediately if they receive a “bad touch.” And though our intentions are good, we are trying to prepare them for the exception, and not the reality in some type sexual abuse.

In reality, the molester is more likely to be the trusted adult and the touch is more likely to feel good. There are family members, friends and neighbors, even teachers, coaches and clergy who treat children better than most adults, listen to what they are really saying and strive to meet their emotional, physical and spiritual needs as a means of fulfilling their own sexual needs and desires. The “nicer” the molester appears and the more “troubled” the child appears, the more difficult it is to detect and believe the sexual abuse.

The Grooming Processes of Pedophilia

Grooming of the normal romantic courting  ritual- In the normal folks: you find yourself interested in someone, and try find out everything you can about him or her, just to see how you might fit into each other's life, then spend lots of time together and eventually become physically and/ or sexual intimate.

However to a pedophile this “Grooming Process” is perverted and there are five distinct stages in this perverted grooming process:

1) Identify the possible victim;

2) Collect information about the intended victim;

3) Fill a need;

4) Lower inhibitions; and, then

5) Initiate abuse.

1.  Identifying the possible victim

Children make ideal victims. They are naturally curious, easily led by adults, need lots of attention and affection, and are seeking to establish independence from their parents. Children from broken homes and troubled families are very easy targets, and the molester knows this. The more unlovable the child feels and appears, the less likely the child is to tell on someone who displays love and the less likely anyone is to believe the child if the child ever tells. A child recently caught stealing or lying makes a particularly appealing victim. These children are easy for exploitation.

2.  Collecting information about the intended victim:

The more a molester knows about his victim, the better able he is to build trust with the child and the child's parents. He learns how the child responds to attention and praise. He displays a superficial sympathy and charm whenever the child discusses her problems and concerns. He assesses her strengths and weaknesses, taking special note of how she interacts with her friends and the other adults in her life. All of this information will be used to control the child and manipulate the other people around her.

3.  The Filling Of The Need:

The molester exploits the child's emotional needs by freely offering love, friendship and support. Parents may even feel relieved that the child has found a responsible friend, mentor or role model or that they have found a dependable babysitter, this of course, depends on the age of the child. Whatever the parent needs, the molester is often both willing, ready and pleased to help out. Whatever the child needs or wants, the molester is happy to provide, with or without the parents knowledge or consent. Some molesters will even instigate a sexual relationship with a single parent just to gain access to her children. The greater the family need and the molester's position of trust, the less ability a child has to say, “NO!” Or tell the parent what is actually happening

4.  Lowering inhibitions

Once trust is established and the victim is emotionally vested in the relationship, the molester may begin offering gifts or money to the child to see how well she can keep secrets from her parents and to make her feel special and loved. Loving gestures will begin invade her personal space and might include more “acceptable” kisses and hugs, increased touching of the child's hands, shoulders, arms and legs, and “accidentally” brushing up against private areas.

5.  Initiating abuse

Gradually, the “accidental” touching to private areas may linger and include professions of love and hints of sexual desire. By the time the touching crosses clear boundaries, the child is too afraid she might lose the relationship to object, and too ashamed of her own perceived part in inviting the abuse to tell. And honestly, physical intimacy feels good. It's very natural for the child to want it and even enjoy it.

Shame and Blame

The molester's ability to lie, exaggerate, minimize, rationalize and manipulate people greatly exceeds the ability of a child to sort through her fears and emotions and think reasonably about her molester.  Once the child is emotionally attached to the molester, she begins to feel responsible for him and to him. She may even believe that she is as much or more to blame for the abuse as the molester is.

Now, at this point, the molester's psychological manipulations may begin to shift from positive to negative. Criticism or the “silent treatment” may replace praise and flattery. Threats may become more frequent than pronouncements of love.

Protecting Children

In cases of grooming, much of what we teach our children about sexual abuse often does more to exacerbate the child's guilt and shame when they realize something is wrong than to encourage them to tell.

At what point should she have shouted “NO!”? Whom should she have told? It's frightening for us as parents - even more so as good parents. No wonder so many simply choose to pretend it simply doesn't happen or couldn't happen to their own child. How can we as parents protect our kids from such an onslaught?

Awareness it seems to be the first step:

• The second step is focusing our energy on loving our children rather than fearing the potential predators.
•  Instead of talking about “good touches” and “bad touches,” model healthy physical and emotional boundaries and talk about what's private and what's not.
• As a Parent we should not be embarrassed to answer all our kids' questions about body parts and body functions. But we must be very matter-of-fact and age appropriate.
• Let our kids know that they can talk to us about anything.  And we must teach them the difference between fun surprises and secrets and let them know that home is a safe place to talk about our secrets.
• Kids who experience the unconditional love of their parents and feel safe in their own home develop a very good internal barometer for appropriate relationships. That's the best defense we have against child predators who are selecting their potential victims for grooming.

* Not all child molesters are men, and not all victims are girls.  However, most molesters are men.

And given the restraints of the English language, I have chosen to use the “He,” “Him,” or “His” pronouns for the child molester and “She,” or “Her” pronouns for the victim for readability and clarity.

As Always, Stay Safe !

-Bird

Confessions from a timeshare scammer

All holiday cold calls should be treated as scams.

A genuine timeshare scammer.

I've been doing various telemarketing scams for years. This includes up front fee scams for timeshare owners. These forums have been eye opening for me in ways that I doubt any of you would be able to relate to. 

I'd like to address some of the recurring themes and why they caught me off guard. Firstly, when people are giving warnings about these scams, they'll almost always include a phrase along the lines of "...and once you've paid, the buyer will suddenly disappear." The first 5 or 6 times I read that, I kept thinking to myself "what buyer?" Then I realized how much different the call must seem to the person on the other end of the line.

The fact that the people actually believe in the existence of a buyer took a while to sink in with me. I don't know why. I've been telling people this same ridiculous story for years. For some reason though, I just didn't understand that the victims genuinely believed there was a buyer.

Another thing that people said from time to time is something along the lines of "I guess these people think that if we'll fall for buying a timeshare,we'll fall for anything." This is more or less correct.  I engage in multiple telephone scams. When I know that one of my leads is a timeshare owner, I pretty much take for granted the fact that I'll be able to get money out of them. I'm usually right. The beauty of a timeshare owner is that, to a scammer, they're a perfect combination of two things: somebody who has money and somebody who is a pushover. Now, you may or may not have cash in the bank, but I know that you have credit cards and that they have high limits. 

I have a sheet in front of me with the future victim's information when I call. I don't always have the full social security number, but I at least have the last four digits. Apart from that one possibly incomplete piece of information, I have all of the relevant information that I need. Your full name, date of birth, address, credit card numbers (with expiration dates and CVC), and oftentimes your mother's maiden name. I have the address of your timeshare. Sometimes I have multiple credit card numbers. Also, over the course of the conversation, I will get the first five digits of your social. I can't remember the last time that I wasn't able to.  Having this information makes it far less difficult to talk you into something.

"Let's go ahead and apply this charge to your Chase Freedom Visa card ending int 0027." Of course, I hardly ever put charges on credit cards anymore. That's how people get caught. Although, if I'm in a pinch, I have ways to charge the cards. I live in Florida. I doubt that this information will surprise any of you. My business is licensed in another state. All of the articles you read in the papers about scam timeshare companies getting raided are locations that the state has on file. I've never understood why those people used in-state registration. It's just as easy to file in, say, Arizona, or Iowa, or anywhere else, really.

My "operation" is small. There are four of us. We have an office, but we don't leave anything in there overnight. We take our leads with us when we leave at night and bring them back in the morning. The office manager has no idea what we do and neither does anybody else in the building. We don't use landlines. We have prepaid cell phones. 

I am 31 years old. We have been working together ever since we got out of college. We are not seedy-looking blue collar people. All four of us are as WASPY as they come. We all have degrees. This is a total anomaly in the call center world. Unless one of you were ripped off by somebody in my group, you were more than likely talking to somebody with a criminal record and a drug habit that might or might not have completed high school. Every call center I have ever seen is staffed with a sales team that fits this description. I've seen a lot of call centers. I have a good reputation among them and drop by on other places from time to time to talk shop with the owners and share the latest scams.

I don't share all of my scams with them. I won't share most of them with you. The ones that I make the most money on are totally absent on this board. That's a good thing, but flying under the radar online isn't critical. Most people who get ripped off don't even bother to check Google. Sometimes people do and we still end up with their money. "Yeah, I saw that online too. It's such a shame that a few bad apples can potentially ruin the reputation of legitimate businessmen like myself. I mean honestly, it makes me sick to my stomach knowing that there are people out there who prey on hard working people like you and ..." I'll give my side of the scams. The main one that people complain about is the "I have a buyer ready and waiting to purchase your timeshare" one. It's surprising how often this works. What's even more surprising is that it often works on people who have already fallen for it. Sometimes it works on the same exact people I've scammed before. It always amazes me when that happens.  Depending on my read of the victim, I'll follow that up with one of several things. I won't tell you what the follow up scams are because nobody's blowing the whistle on them yet. The important thing for this post though is to know that I do it quickly. Sometimes a day after I get the wire transfer. Sometimes I do it on the same day. No matter what though, I always do it within a week of the initial wire.

If the person sounds completely trusting, I'll usually hit them with two immediate follow scams. I've done three before, but that doesn't happen very often and rarely works out when I try.  Okay, so now I've gotten their money up front and nailed them with at least one more follow up scam. What I do now is mail them a cashier's check. It's counterfeit, of course.  

For the sake of discussion, let's say they were expecting $25,000. Also, for the sake of discussion, let's say that they ended up paying $1,600 for the follow up scam. For the purposes of this post, we'll say that they paid the money on the follow up scam for the closing fees. I've never actually used closing fees, but this is only an example. What I'll do is mail the person a check for $26,600. I will call them two days later and ask them if they got the check. If they didn't, I will tell them to call me when they receive it so I can verify something before they deposit it. If they do have it, I'll ask them if it's for $25,000. They will inevitably say "no, it's for $26,600!" At that point I will act somewhat confused and ask them if they're sure. They're always sure. I will say something that conveys deep concern and tell them to hold on for a moment while I verify something. I'll them put them on hold and play a level of Angry Birds or something. When I pick the line back up, I'll say something like "Mr. Smith? Okay, I was able to find out what happened. The check was written for $26,600 because I accidentally forwarded the wrong information to our billing department. I added up the sale price and the cost of your closing fees and submitted that. This isn't good. Oh man. I can't believe I've done this. I'm going to lose my job. I can't believe I've done this again!" I'll act like this is something I've done a few times before and that I will lose my job if I don't get the situation straightened out. "I need your help! I need you to deposit the check into your account and immediately wire the difference back to the same account you sent the other two wire transfers to. I'm sorry to make you run to the bank again, but I really don't want to lose my job! I just put my son in preschool and I don't have a lot of disposable income right now!"  If the person doesn't want to play ball, I'll tell them that I will have to issue a stop payment on the check. I'll tell them that we'll have to physically locate the buyer because the check needs his signature. He just caught a flight to Ontario and we don't know when we'll be back. The people are usually willing to send another wire though. They don't hate me yet. They love me. I just sold their timeshare.

After I've gotten three or four wires from them, I hand the file over to one of the other people I work with. He'll call them in about two weeks and explain that he is a private investigator and that he knows they got ripped off on a phony timeshare deal. He can help them get their money back but they will have to pay a nominal fee to get started.  Of course, these things are going on all the time. My buddies are always handing their people over to me and vice versa. I can end one phone call as a timeshare salesman and be a private investigator on the next call. So can they. After we've wrapped up the investigator scam, we just put their information away for a year or two. It's shocking how many people you can get to go through the entire sequence I just mentioned multiple times. 

The three scams I've mentioned here are the ones that all of your are already very familiar with. We've got a lot more. Most of them don't involve timeshare resale anymore because the state seems to be taking the issue seriously for the time being. That happens from time to time. Things will cool off in a few months. They always do. The only time I'll do a timeshare deal nowadays is if I'm broke. This is because I can call somebody out of the blue and have a wire by lunch. 

What the police need to be doing is investigating where the timeshare rooms get their leads from. That is the real story here. 

I've been doing this since I was 23. I was going to start work at a "real job" in a few months but needed to do something to make some money before then. When I first started, I had no idea that the phone calls we were making to timeshare owners weren't legitimate. I was actually shocked and horrified when I found out that the job was a scam. I was making a lot of money though. More money than the salary offer I received from the job that was waiting for me. I continued to be a salesperson for about a year, taking a 30% commission on every sale. I hated myself for that year.  As time went by, I stopped feeling sorry for the victims. As sickening as this is for many of you to read, I feel only contempt for them now. What kind of person receives a phone call they weren't expecting and ends up driving to the bank an hour later to give a stranger thousands of dollars? 

I have in my travels met rogue traders not only in timeshare, some industries are far worse. Some come across as like able rogues, as that's part of their charm, that's why you get caught out again and again! Most times there is no proof of their crime as timeshare owners usually don't have solid proof, only that they were told verbal lies. 

They are quite open about why they maintain their fraudulent operations. Their main reason for scamming is, because we are easy money!! 

As Always, Stay Safe !

-Bird

Confessions of a Grand Master Con Artist

A veteran scammer reveals how he made millions by ripping off unsuspecting investors—and how you can protect yourself from people like him.

My name is George (D---), and I have spent most of my adult life swindling people out of money—big money. I worked in 30 fraudulent business operations over a ten-year period, pitching everything from gold coins to timeshares to oil and gas leases and other “business opportunities.” These scams took in millions of dollars. No matter how much money we made or how far-fetched the deal was, I never got caught. That is, until September 30, 2011.

That was the day 40 U.S. postal inspectors and FBI agents with gold badges and guns burst into my office. This was on Biscayne Boulevard in Miami. We occupied two full floors of a nondescript commercial office building. The place housed numerous other scam boiler rooms I had worked in, but you would never have known that from the outside.

“Hang up the phones—it’s over!” one agent yelled.

The particular scam in my office was an Internet-kiosk business opportunity. We’d been running TV ads claiming that investors could make thousands of dollars from computer kiosks placed in high-traffic areas like airports and shopping malls. For a small fee, passersby could use these kiosks to check their e-mail or surf the Web. Back in the early 2000s, this was a hot idea. We told people they could earn a minimum of $30,000 to $35,000 per machine each year. This was pure baloney—the machines didn’t generate anything close to that kind of income. And we sold them at huge markups. We took in $17 million from 700 unwary investors in about eight months. At least 100 employees were in the building at the time of the raid, including secretaries and other clerical staff. A lot of them didn’t even know that the business was a fraud.

The agents gathered everyone in a big open area we called the Pit—where, moments earlier, dozens of salespeople had been pitching prospective victims over the phone—and started calling the names of employees. Each worker who responded received a letter explaining whether he or she was a target of the investigation, a material witness, or something else. When my name was called, things got quiet. I was the manager; people wanted to see how I would react. As I walked over to retrieve my letter, my cell phone went off. The theme from The Godfather (my new ringtone) filled the room. People laughed.

The next thing I knew, a postal inspector took me into a side room and told me, “Your day just got [crappy], and it is going to get [crappier].” That was the end of my last scam. The Feds sent a dozen guys to prison. I did 37 months, and it probably should have been longer. You might be thinking, Oh, those get-rich-quick scams are obvious, and I would never fall for one. When I hear someone say that only stupid people fall for fraud, I feel like asking for that person’s phone number. But here’s the thing: I didn’t want to talk to stupid people, because stupid people don’t have $50,000 lying around to give me. You would be amazed at how many doctors, lawyers, engineers, and college professors I have ripped off. The bottom line is, fraud is a crime that can happen to anyone, given the right con artist and a victim with the right set of circumstances.

Make no mistake: I am a very dangerous person on the telephone. If I choose to be fraudulent in my practices, nothing is going to stop me from taking a lot of money from you. Period, the end of story. And the world is filled with people just as dangerous as I am. I was what’s known as a closer: the guy who gets you to hand over the money. I’ll tell you how, so you can recognize and avoid the techniques I used. I can do this because I am out of the game now. If I were still in the game, I’d tell you only one thing: “You and I are going to make a lot of money together.”

BORN TO CON
I learned how to do this at an early age. I’ve got a natural ability to talk people into things. As a child growing up in Brooklyn in the 1970s – 1980s, folks called me the Fonze; they would say, “Hey, Fonze, that mouth of yours is gonna make you a million dollars someday.” In my neighborhood, 700 families lived on my street, giving me a lot of parents to manipulate. You learned what works. I played the heartstrings; I intimidated; I made people feel bad for me. Whether it was manipulating my older sisters or convincing the neighbor lady that I needed one more ice cream bar from the Mister Softee truck, I always knew what to say. And as I got older, I got better.

In 1995, I got a chance to apply these gifts of persuasion in the workplace. I went to work for a Florida company that sold prepaid-calling-card vending machines. At first I thought it was a real job. But it seemed like a lot of customers were calling back to complain that the cards didn’t work. In fact, they all called back to complain. Believe it or not, for a long time, I thought every business was like this. Gradually, it dawned on me that this was the dark side of corporate America. But by then I had developed my own dark side—drug addiction. I first tried heroin when I was 22 and became instantly addicted. For the next 15 years, I would move in and out of rehab centers and in and out of fraud boiler rooms. Drug addiction gave me the two characteristics all scam operators want in a closer: selfishness and greed. If I am strung out and in need of a fix, I would do anything to feed my habit.

This may explain why the owners of many of these scam operations in South Florida recruited their boiler room staff at local Narcotics Anonymous meetings. Who’s a better talker than an addict? Nobody.

Who is more manipulative than an addict? Nobody. Who is more desperate for money than an addict? Nobody. So you combine that with my experience selling over the phone in Florida and you have the perfect storm. I’m a hustler from New York and an addict. These boiler rooms were dying to hire me.

DEVELOPING THE PERSONA
This was lesson No. 1: Swindling is really acting, and you play a character who will help you appear legitimate, confident, and successful… even when you are not.

I’ve trained hundreds of salespeople who worked in scam boiler rooms. I always told them to picture themselves in the big sprawling office, sitting behind the mahogany desk, with the family portrait on the credenza. Their autographed football and jerseys are hanging on the wall, along with awards and pictures of themselves with famous actors. They are these bigwigs to whom everybody wants to talk. The idea is to build up their confidence so that when they ask for the money, they won’t show one lick of fear or hesitation or doubt that this isn’t absolutely the greatest decision this client is making for his or her family and future.

The persona explains how a barrel of dented-can drug addicts can persuade successful business people to write big checks without reading the paperwork. On the outside, you will see nothing but charm, an engaging personality, and swagger. On the inside lies a predator. There is no conscience in this business. The business needs to have a persona, too, to look legitimate and trustworthy. So we would run television commercials and hire famous actors to appear in them. In that Internet-kiosk scam, we hired Adam West of the 1960s TV show Batman. The first day we ran that ad, it generated more than 10,000 phone calls.

I guess people see an Adam West on TV and assume the product he’s selling is the real deal or else he wouldn’t be selling it. But the celebrity’s contract frequently states that he or she cannot be held responsible for the accuracy of the claims in the script. The celebrity probably doesn’t know that people are getting ripped off; he may know nothing at all about the business. He just comes in, reads his lines, and leaves.

IT’S ABOUT THE EMOTION
Think about the first time you fell in love or a time when someone cut you off on the freeway and you were seething for hours. Were you thinking clearly? Probably not. Those who believe they would never fall for a scam, don’t realize it’s not about how smart you are; it’s about how well you control your emotions. Fraud victims are people with emotional needs, just like the rest of us. But they can’t separate out those needs when they make financial decisions.

As a master closer, I made it my first objective to get the victim “under the ether.” Ether is that fuzzy state when your emotions are stirred up and you’re so agitated that you won’t know which way is up and which is down. Once I have gotten you into this condition, it doesn’t matter how smart or dumb you are. Ether trumps intelligence every time. The two most powerful ways to do this are through need and greed.  To find a client’s emotional need, I’ll ask personal questions. Then I’ll throttle up the pressure by focusing on that need. “Oh, you lost your job? That’s got to be tough.” Or “So your two kids are in college, and the tuition is driving you into the poorhouse.” Now the person isn’t thinking about whether the offer is a scam; instead he’s thinking, Here’s a fix for my problems. The crush or the kill—that’s what we call closing the deal—is emotionally driven. It’s not logic. If you apply logic, the answer is “No, I am not going to send you my hard-earned money. I don’t even know who you are.” If my victims had applied logic to our deals, they would have walked away every time. The other pathway to the ether is simple greed: I just promise people they can make a ton of money.

THE PERFECT VICTIM
I’m often asked how I could have ripped off senior citizens. The answer is that con men target people who have money, and a lot of seniors are sitting on fat nest eggs. It’s the Willie Sutton rule: He robbed banks because that was where the money was. But there’s more to it than that. I think older people are easier to scam because their emotional needs are closer to the surface. They aren’t afraid to tell people how much they care about their kids and grand kids. They aren’t afraid to share their fears about the unstable financial markets and how much they worry about being on a fixed income. These fears are real. And every one of them is a bullet in my gun.

My scam career was focused on investments like phony oil and gas deals, bogus business opportunities, and gold-coin scams. And for these types of investments, the perfect victim was almost always a male. Why men? Men are more emotional than women. Men are grandiose; they are full of ego. And that’s all driven by emotion; it’s driven by insecurity; it’s driven by a feeling of inferiority.

Most people who get emotional will fall quickly every time. And if they don’t get worked up, I won’t waste my time with them. If prospects ask a lot of questions or tell me they want to think it over or talk with their lawyer, I will hang up the phone. Victims don’t ask a lot of questions; they answer a lot of questions. Victims don’t read paperwork; they wait for you to tell them what it says. Victims don’t look for why the offer is a scam; they look for why the offer will make them money. They want you to make them feel good so they can pull the trigger.

How to avoid being scammed

THESE SCAMS YOU NEED TO WATCH OUT FOR
If I were still in the scam business, I would focus on reverse mortgages and precious metals. Home-equity and reverse-mortgage swindles are attractive now because a lot of seniors have paid off their homes, and that’s like an untapped bank account. If your home is worth $300,000, and you’ve paid off your mortgage, you have $300,000 sitting in the bank, waiting for me to steal it. A lot of TV and direct mail advertising tells you how to get money out of your house while you are still living in it. Some of these ads are legitimate; many are not.

My mom asked me once how her friends could avoid these schemes. I told her two things. First, if someone is pitching a deal, ask yourself, What’s in it for him? A common ploy is to get you to take out a loan on your house and then invest the proceeds in a long-term annuity or any other investment in which the salesman makes a huge commission. It may not be a fraud, but it may be a lot better deal for the salesman than for you. Second, I told Mom that when it comes to your house, never sign any paperwork until your attorney—someone you choose, not someone the salesman refers you to—reads the fine print. As for gold and silver scams, we would sell gold coins at a 300 to 500 percent markup. So the victims would pay $25,000 for a bunch of coins, which they would receive, but years later, they would take them to a coin shop and learn they were worth only a few thousand dollars. This is a great hustle, because the coin industry is largely unregulated. Plus, because the victims receive the coins, they don’t realize until years later that they’ve been taken. With the bad economy, these scams are huge now.

OUT OF THE GAME, FOR GOOD
All those years I ripped people off, I knew it was wrong. But I was making so much money, I didn’t care. It wasn’t until those agents busted into my office in Miami that it finally hit me: What I was doing was really bad. I pleaded guilty and went to prison. I had a lot of time to think about my crimes. When I got out, I promised my mother I would never go back to my old ways. It wasn’t easy. The first year out of prison, I was asked almost daily to work as a closer for the latest scam. Finally, I changed my phone number so I wouldn’t be tempted. In 2013, I spoke at a Washington, D.C., fraud-prevention conference sponsored by the Federal Trade Commission. Since then, I’ve been working on the other side of the scam business: I gave a couple of television interviews and even did some role-playing with fraud fighters from the AARP fraud fighter call center.

Today I am over 45, and I live with my parents. I owe the federal government almost three  million dollars in restitution that I don’t have a prayer of paying back. Thanks to years of smoking and drug abuse, I have acute emphysema, and I carry around an oxygen tank. I’m on the waiting list for a double lung transplant, but the clock is running out. Can you spell karma?

People sometimes ask me about remorse. I do understand that innocent people got hurt as a result of my actions. I think about my victims. I pray for my victims. And even though I have spent the past four years trying to help people avoid monsters like me, I wonder if it has been enough.

As always, be safe !

-Bird

How to identify and avoid the most common scams plaguing all of us today :

Internet & E-Mail scams: 

You receive an e-mail verifying that your credit card account has been charged $453.29 for online purchases at www.something.com or maybe, www.something.net.  If you have questions you are instructed to call toll-free telephone number. Of course you never made such a purchase and cannot wait to call to complain about the charge. The only problem is that the number you are supposed to call is in the Caribbean or in the Middle East and is not toll-free. Sometimes you will get put on hold or have to listen to a long recorded message while the meter is running at an exorbitant international rate. 

Some people get charged $45 for a 5 minute phone call. 

Most credit card companies refuse and will not send you an e-mail message, regarding charges. Also, be very leery of dialing area codes that are unfamiliar to you.

Here are a few more examples that you should be leery of:

Sweepstakes

You've Just Won $25,000! Or you are told that you just won a boat, a car, or something else "valuable." So goes the pitch. But if you're asked to pay before you get your prize, it's a scam. Often these outfits claim the money is for shipping, taxes, or something like that. But legitimate companies rarely require any payment or purchase up front.

Travel Scams

Two Weeks in Hawaii for $350! Maybe it's a "certificate" for a bargain vacation. Claims of inexpensive travel are easy to believe, because real bargains are available if you shop carefully. Check out all travel offers with a reputable travel agency. If they want your money right away, before you can think the offer through, odds are it's a scam.

Gemstones

Invest in Gemstones with Low Risk and Great Return! Usually, you must rely on the seller and phony "grading certificates" or "appraisals" for information about what these investments are worth. Often, however, they're not worth the money you've paid and they have little resale value.

Recovery rooms

Been Ripped Off? We'll Get Your Money Back! These "recovery rooms" get the names of people who have been defrauded in other scams and then call, claiming to be federal attorneys or agents who can get your lost money back-for a fee. When the federal government sues scam artists, there is never a charge to consumers to return any money recovered.

Business Opportunities

Earn Big Money with Vending Machines! Or claims wealth by operating some other type of business that the promoter claims will produce big returns. These outfits promise all the support you need, and they may tell you to call others who have done well with their program. Too often the assistance is nonexistent and the references are "shills" who actually work for the company. Once consumers invest their money, they may learn that there is no market for the business. If the business is a franchise, special disclosure rules apply. These disclosures give some useful background on the company, including substantiation for any earnings claims the marketers make.

Telephone Solicitations

Do you often donate money or items to a good cause? You may think you are donating to a good cause, but often the telephone calls are from crooks. In many cases, these scam artists claim to be collecting on behalf of the police or the highway patrol officers. It's important to give money to charitable causes, but take all necessary steps to make sure the charity is legitimate. Get a phone number or better you look it up in the directory. Call the number at different hours to see who answers.

Advance Fee Loans

We Can Get You a Loan!... even if you have bad credit. These scams involve promises that, for an advance fee, you will get the loan you need. But then the paperwork stall begins and the loan never comes. Someone who knows nothing about you, but promises to get you a loan and demands money up front, is probably running a scam.

Toner Rooms

We're Your Office Supplies Company and We Have a Great Deal! Prices are going up soon, so place your order now. These scam artists ship low-quality goods at high prices and try to bully companies into paying for them. Typical come-ons involve sales of copier toner, copy paper, cleaning supplies, and light bulbs. If your company receives unordered goods, don't pay. But do complain.

Work at Home Plans

Earn Thousands of Dollars a Month Working at Home! Claims that you can earn a significant income working at home rarely can be supported. Very often, there is a "catch." Check these claims out carefully before sending any money. If it were possible to make the amounts claimed, the scammers would be doing the work themselves instead of engaging in fraud.

Credit repair

Remove Damaging Information from your Credit Report. These scam artists claim they can get truthful information removed from your credit report for a fee. Not true. Accurate information can be reported for five to 10 years. If your report has errors, you can get it corrected at no cost to you through the credit reporting agency. In addition, nonprofit organizations can help you rebuild your credit at no cost.

The FTC has published free consumer brochures on each of these scams. They describe in a little more detail how the scams work, and offer tips for recognizing and avoiding them. Copies of the brochures are available from the FTC's Public Reference Branch, Room 130, 6th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20580; 202-326-2222; TTY for the hearing impaired 202-326-2502.

Nigerian Advanced Fee Scam

An unsolicited letter from Nigeria arrives purporting to be from a high government official or officer of the Nigerian National Oil Company asking if your company can help him (or them) move tens millions of dollars from a contract "over payment" out of Nigeria. In return for the help, they offer to let you keep multi-millions of dollars. All you have to do is give them all your financial information and an "advance fee" to pay for transfer costs. You will never see your "advance fee" again if you fall for this one. See also Nigerian Money Transfer Scam, version 1 and Nigerian Money Transfer Scam, Version 2

This scheme has been going on at least since the 1980's. Local authorities seem to be helpless to stop this fraud, as it is based in Nigeria or another West African country where the legal systems are either corrupt, inept or controlled by dictatorship. The only recourse you have is to press your national and local governments to withhold business and investment from the countries sheltering this fraudulent scheme.

The Bank Examiner Fraud

Someone posing as a bank official or government agent asks for your help (in person or via the telephone) to catch a dishonest teller passing counterfeit money. You are to withdraw cash from your account and turn it over to them so the serial numbers can be checked or the money marked. You had your money over to be examined and it is switched or you are told that it is evidence and you are given a receipt. You are promised a reimbursement check and thank you letter in the mail that never comes.

The Pigeon Drop

A couple of strangers will discover a wallet with a large sum of money or other valuables near you. They say they'll split their good fortune with you if everyone involved will put up some "good faith" money while the con man exchanges the goods for cash. You turn over your good-faith cash, and you never see your money or the strangers again.

The Pyramid Scheme

Someone offers you a chance to invest in a up-and-coming company with a guaranteed high return. The idea is that you invest and ask others to do the same. You get a percentage share from each investor you recruit. They are supposed to recruit others, and so on. When the pyramid collapses (either the pool of new investors dries up or the swindler is caught), everyone loses, except the person at the top.

Charity Scheme

Scam artist advertise fake charities using similar names to those of well know legitimate charities. Good examples are using the name of National Cancer Society to cause confusion with the legitimate American Cancer Society to obtain your donations or the National Heart Institute to cause confusion with the American Heart Institute. If you call telephone information for 800 numbers you can obtain the names and phone numbers dozens of fake charities who try to scam away your dollars.

Yellow Page Advertising Scheme

The solicitation from an alternative business directory may have the appearance of an invoice. It may bear the "walking fingers" logo and feature the name "Yellow Pages." It also may falsely suggest that the publisher is affiliated with your local telephone company or with another bona fide Yellow Pages publisher you recognize. Further, the solicitation may lead you to believe that your business already has been listed in the telephone directory and you are now being billed when, in fact, you are only being solicited for placing an ad.

Typical language used on the ad solicitations, such as "present listing information;" "prompt payment is necessary to guarantee ad placement in the directory;" "renewal payment stub;" and "directory listing renewal invoice" also may appear on Yellow Pages invoices. This adds to the confusion.

Examine the piece of mail you have received and determine whether it is a solicitation or an invoice. If it is a solicitation, you should see a disclaimer required by the U.S. Postal Service. It states, THIS IS NOT A BILL. THIS IS A SOLICITATION. YOU ARE UNDER NO OBLIGATION TO PAY THE AMOUNT STATED ABOVE UNLESS YOU ACCEPT THIS OFFER. But whether you see this solicitation disclaimer or not, be wary.

Scams Nigerian:  Advanced Fee 419 Internet Fraud:

What follows is the exact e-mail text of a variation of a Nigerian Advanced Fee Scheme designed to separate you from your money. Read it carefully to see exactly what is being offered and what is not. The con men will attempt to get some sucker to front many thousands of dollars to buy the special solution that will clean the defaced money. I have heard from a man from the mid-west who flew to Amsterdam and paid $50,000 in good faith to get access to the millions offered. He claims to have been shown many 100 dollar bills covered in grease that would come clean after soaking in a special solution. The con artists even allowed the victim to change a few bills in a bank to prove that they were real. After being convinced (scammed), the Nigerians wanted the victim to pay $20,000 more in additional fees to complete the transaction and before transferring the millions. This is one of those offers that sound too good to be true...because it's a scam. They rely on your greed or financial desperation to hook you and draw you in. Don't fall for it. Fortunately, we helped the victim before losing everything.

Secret Service

The Secret Service calls these scams the "419 Advanced Fee Schemes" after the Nigerian Penal code fraud section. If you have been victimized by one of these schemes, please forward appropriate written documentation to the United States Secret Service, Financial Crimes Division, 950 H Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20223, or telephone (202) 406-5850, or contact by e-mail. If you have received a letter, but have not lost any monies to this scheme, please fax a copy of that letter to (202) 406-5031.

E-Mail received:

I am Mrs. Maryam Abacha, the widow of the late Gen. Sanni Abacha former Nigeria Military Head of State who died mysteriously as a result of Cardiac Arrest. Since after my husband's death my family is under restriction of movement and that not withstanding, we are being molested, policed and our Bank Accounts both here and abroad are being frozen by the Nigerian Civilian Government. Furthermore, my living eldest son is in detention by the Nigerian Government for more interrogation about my husband's assets and some vital documents following the resent discovery of my husband's Swiss Bank Account in which the huge sum of US$700 Million and DM 450 Million was logged. I therefore, decided to contact you in confidence through my lawyer Barrister Sule Kamal, since I have been able to move out the sum of US$30 Million Dollars somewhere abroad.

All the money are secretly defaced and are sealed in two metal Boxes for security reasons. Due to my experience in the hands of people. I have decided to do this with a totally new but trustworthy person who can keep this matter confidential. This is very important to me. It is to my consent here that my lawyer and I decided to personally appeal to you seriously and religiously for your urgent assistance to move this money into your country where I believe it will be safe since I cannot leave the country due to the restriction of movement imposed on the members of my family by the Nigerian Government. You can contact me through my lawyer s email address above and I shall get all document relating to the consignment changed to your name before delivery. 

Barrister Sule Kamal will on receipt of your response arrange with you for a face-to-face meeting outside Nigeria in order to liaise with you towards effective completion of this transactions. However, arrangements have been put in place to move this money out of the country in a secret vault through a security company, and as soon as you indicate your interest, my lawyer shall send you the Air-Way Bill of the luggage and other related document so that you can help to claim the luggage. Conclusively, we have agreed to offer you 25% of the total sum while 75% is to be held on trust by you for us until we can decide on a suitable business investment in your country upon our freedom. Please reply urgently and treat with absolute confidentiality and sincerity.

BEST REGARDS,

ARIAM ABACHA

Scams:  Nigerian Version 2

Nigerian Internet Scams

What follows is the exact e-mail text of another variation of a Nigerian Advanced Fee 419 Scheme designed to separate you from your money. Read it carefully so you can see how this multi-phase con will tempt some greedy people. The con men will attempt to get some sucker to front many thousands of dollars or provide a bank signature card to the con men so they can extract your money. After being convinced (scammed), the Nigerians will want the victim to deposit $25,000, for example, to open an account in Nigeria (to avoid suspicion of the bank) before transferring the alleged millions into it.

Other variations require the victim to pay a never ending list of advanced fees for money storage, transfer fees, or taxes before the funds can be transferred. This is one of these offers that sounds too good to be true...because it's a scam. They rely on your greed or financial desperation to hook you and draw you in. Don't fall for it. Unfortunately, this scam has worked many times and has been active for ten years. The Secret Service and Nigerian governments are well aware of these scams but to-date has not been able to do anything about it.

The Secret Service calls these scams the "419 Advanced Fee Schemes" after the Nigerian Penal code fraud section. If you have been victimized by one of these schemes, please forward appropriate written documentation to the United States Secret Service, Financial Crimes Division, 950 H Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20223, or telephone (202) 406-5850, or contact by e-mail. If you have received a letter, but have not lost any monies to this scheme, please fax a copy of that letter to (202) 406-5031.

Scams Sierra Leone:  Advanced Fee 419 - Version 3

What follows is the exact e-mail text of yet another variation of the Advanced Fee Scheme designed to separate you from your money. Read it carefully to see how people become tempted. The tale is always about some tragic circumstance where the government is corrupt or the family is in crisis and they are reaching out to only you...in a world of millions. Does that make sense? The con men will attempt to get some sucker to front $25,000, for example, to open an account in Nigeria before depositing their alleged millions into it.

Like all the African scams, these con artists will want to get personal information from you including your banking and financial details in order to allegedly affect the money transfer. Sometimes the telephone number presented to call is a toll number (like a 900 number) where you pay the fees to them. Usually the con men will present a never ending list of advanced fees to be paid for storage, bribes etc before the money can be transferred. This is one of these offers that sound too good to be true...because it's a scam. They rely on your greed or financial desperation to hook you and draw you in. Don't fall for it. Unfortunately, many people of been victimized by this approach to get rich quick or solve a financial crisis.

The Secret Service calls these scams the "419 Advanced Fee Schemes" after the Nigerian Penal code fraud section. If you have been victimized by one of these schemes, please forward appropriate written documentation to the United States Secret Service, Financial Crimes Division, 950 H Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20223, or telephone (202) 406-5850, or contact by e-mail. If you have received a letter, but have not lost any monies to this scheme, please fax a copy of that letter to (202) 406-5031.

E-Mail received

FROM: MR. Halid Nebo

Tel: 225 **65 **1 ( Ivory Coast)

Dear Sir,

Before reading my proposal, please note that it is not one of those funny letters from Africa. This is a genuine deal that you stand to benefit from. This transaction is about cash, and it's in the amount of Sixteen Million United States Dollars (USD $16,000000.00).

I am Mr. Halid Nebo from Sierra Leone. Before now l didn't have any problem, until l lost my father two years ago. He was a big time diamond dealer, his business was flourishing until the United Nation placed embargo on diamonds from West Africa. When the embargo was enforced, my father started having problems with bank transactions in respect of making deposits and receiving payments for diamonds purchased by his customers. Because of the problem he started storing cash in the house. One morning, he left as usual with his men to the diamond mining area of Sierra Leone. While there, they were attacked by rebels; during the attack, my father was shot. He did not die, he was rushed to the hospital where the bullets were removed. My dad returned home after a few days feeling well and okay.

But two months later, my father became sick. His situation deteriorated so much that he couldn't carry on with his work anymore. One day, he told me to prepare myself that we have to go to a Security Company in Ivory Coast to deposit the USD $16,000,000.00 for safe keeping. At the Security Company in Ivory Coast, my father deposited the funds as a bonded shipment and he declared it as family personal effects. My father made me the beneficiary of the deposit. In the agreement signed with the Security Company, my father instructed them not to release the deposit to me the beneficiary, until l am 35 years of age. Not too long we returned from Ivory Coast, my father died. 

After the burial rights, my late father's brothers came to the house accusing my mother of master-minding my father's death in order to inherit his wealth. With this accusation, they drove my mother and her children (my sister and l) away from the house. They did not allow us take anything out of the house. We then went to my mother's family house to live there. My mother went through everyday in sorrow, little did we know that she could take her own life. We returned to the house one day to meet her on the ground dead; she committed suicide. It was really painful. After this period, things became very difficult for us, so l decided to travel to Ivory Coast to meet with the director of the Security Company to see if l can get the deposit released since my father is dead.

Meeting with the director, he told me that he feels sorry about my father's death and everything we have suffered, including the death of my mother. But he can not go against the agreement reached with my late father. He said there is only one area in the agreement that l can explore. He said contained in the agreement, is a portion were my late father stated that, I the beneficiary (myself) has the right to nominate another beneficiary if l so desire, but the beneficiary must be a European or American, and the beneficiary must be at least 40 years old.

It is in view of this that l am writing you. Please see how you can help me; l would like to nominate you as the beneficiary. I and my sister needs money to take care of ourselves. We want to travel to the United states to live there. If you would help me, please contact me as soon as possible (Tel. 225 **65 **1). Also let me know what your fee would be. When calling, dial the numbers exactly as stated.

Thank you and God bless,

Halid Nebo

Scams Lome Togo:  Advanced Fee 419 - Version 4

What follows is the exact e-mail text of yet another variation of the Advanced Fee Scheme designed to separate you from your money. Read it carefully to see how people become tempted. The tale is always about some tragic circumstance where the government is corrupt or the family is in crisis and they are reaching out to only you...in a world of millions. Does that make sense? The con men will attempt to get some sucker to travel to Africa or Europe and front $25,000 to open an account before depositing their alleged millions into it. Like all the African scams, these con artists will want to get personal information from you including your banking and financial details in order to allegedly affect the money transfer.

Sometimes the telephone number presented to call is a toll number (like a 900 number) where you pay the fees to them. Usually the con men require that you pay a never ending list of Advanced Fees in order to receive the money that never arrives. This is one of these offers that sound too good to be true...because it's a scam. They rely on your greed or financial desperation to hook you and draw you in. Don't fall for it. Unfortunately, many people of been victimized by this approach to get rich quick.

The Secret Service calls these scams the "419 Advanced Fee Schemes" after the Nigerian Penal code fraud section. If you have been victimized by one of these schemes, please forward appropriate written documentation to the United States Secret Service, Financial Crimes Division, 950 H Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20223, or telephone (202) 406-5850, or contact by e-mail. If you have received a letter, but have not lost any monies to this scheme.

E-Mail received: 

PERSONAL AND STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL

DEAR SIR:

I am Mrs FATOU NSAKKA Ivorien widow with an only son DANIEL NSAKKA. My husband was the chief security officer to the ousted President Henry BEDIE of Cote d'voire. During the over throw of 24th December 1999, my husband was among the people that were killed by the military. Since after his death, I ran away with my only son, I do hereby wish to ask for your assistance in urgent business transaction that requires absolute honesty and secrecy.

Although I did not in any way disclose to my friend the details of this my proposal due to confidential nature of this transaction. By virtue of my husband's position. The former President(BEDIE) gave him US 20.000.000.00 Dollars (Twenty million US dollars) cash in US100.00 dollars bill stacked in a box when he got information that the militaries were planning to over throw him. Immediately my husband was confirmed dead, I made away with this box with my only son so that we can not be reached by Mr BEDIE.

I have really been waiting for a more suitable time and opportunity to contact you concerning this transaction. Right now, the money is in a safe place, I deposited it with a security company for safe keeping. I am using this opportunity to seek for your assistance to move this money to your country, to be invested on behalf of my only son.

For this business to be concluded immediately, all you need to do is to arrange to meet with me and my son where this box is been lodged, open an account in your name, pay in the whole money after clearing and transfering it to your chosen account. We can't do that on our own because we don't have account else where, moreover, we don't have any business to cover-up that is why we needed your assistance. I am ready to offer you 30% of the total sum and give you the full power to manage the remaining 70% on behalf of my son.

Contact my son DANIEL NSAKKA where we are currently staying in a sister's house in LOME-TOGO. This money we deposited it in the best security company in LOME-TOGO.

Upon conclusion of arrangement, we shall forward to you the certificate of deposit, and the phone and fax number of the security company for confirmation immediately you recieve this e-mail message or call me at this number (002XX-02-XX-86) Please I want us to finish this business as quickly as possible.

Yours faithfull MRS FATOU NSAKKA

Scams African Internet :  Lome Togo Nigeria Sierra Leone

Below is a sample collection of very similar sounding African Advanced Fee scams hoping to lure someone into handing over hard-earned money. There are hundreds of variations on the same theme since it has been in play for about ten years. All these scams have a similar hook as if there is a training school or organized management for these scammers. Most of the scams involve tempting the victim first with promises of millions of dollars and then setting the hook by handing over official looking documents representing vast sums of money stored in some security facility. The bite comes when they want you to pay the accumulated storage fees, transfer costs or taxes before starting the money transfer that never arrives.

The list of additional charges never seems to end until you are cleaned out. Oftentimes they want you to open up a bank account in countries like Holland, London, Canada or Amsterdam with various scenarios on how they will separate you from your money. There are many versions of how they will get you to pay advanced fees. The Secret Service calls these scams the "419 Advanced Fee Schemes" after the Nigerian Penal code fraud section.

If you have been victimized by one of these schemes, please forward appropriate written documentation to the United States Secret Service, Financial Crimes Division, 950 H Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20223 or telephone (202) 406-5850 or contact them by e-mail. If you have received a letter, but have not lost any monies to this scheme, please fax a copy of that letter to (202) 406-5031.

Even though these scams seem ridiculous on their face, I receive several e-mails every day from someone who was victimized or has a relative who has lost thousands of dollars. Please, DO NOT fall for these get rich quick schemes. Ask yourself: does it sound reasonable that a third-world citizen would possess all these millions, and out of all the people in the World they picked YOU off the Internet to enrich?

My advice is to not respond to these e-mail inquiries and simply hit the delete key. By responding, even for fun, you are validating your e-mail address, which will surely be sold to others. Government is well aware of these e-mail scams but so far seem powerless to stop them. The best you can do for now is to notify the U.S. Secret Service and the ISP of the offending scam artist to seek removing them from their service.

Actual E-mail Examples

The e-mails posted below are left largely intact (spelling, grammar, etc) except for removing names of victims and telephone numbers.

dear sir, i have been reading about the scams, i myself have recieved an email from lome-togo, this man claims hes a lawyer, and that he has been looking for relatives of a named person for two years, but had no luck, so he looked through the directories and found me, he says i am the new beneficior of ten million us dollars, me having 30 percent after completing the transaction, i have given my address, phone number and bank details over to this person. he has not asked me for any money, i recieved an approval letter from a named finance company, is this not real? they said an offshore bank would be in touch with me within the next couple of days, i do not have any money to give them, i am on benefits and a single mum with three children, so why have they picked on me, i have been phoning africa nearly every day, which will be a fortune on my phone bill when it comes, why do these people do this, i feel as if my life has been destroyed, even though i didn't hand any money over, i had made so many plans for me and my children. why are these people so cruel, i am so glad that i read your scam page. what can i do now that i have given out my bank details. can they touch any money in my bank, i dont get very much as it is, please help....

Greetings,

I have received all kinds of Documents showing that I have money in the Central Bank of Nigeria. The person or person's who have supposedly set this thing up. Say's he is involved in the Government of Nigeria. The Bank is ready to transfer my money to my account.

There is an attorney by the Name of Celestine Ugbekile of Celestine & Celestine I don't know if he is who he says he is. I don't know if there is a bank named Central Bank of Nigeria. I don't if the person who contacted me is who or what he claims to be. He has told me over and over don't tell anyone about this I don't want to get into trouble and lose my position with the government.

Now I am to come up with funds covering Fees and Taxes that have collected over the years. I am supposed to pay it in the next few hours. and the money will be in my account by morning.

I have talked with a man from Lagos and Accra for over a month now and he wants me to come to Accra and help him and his sister to come home to America with me. He has 18 million dollars which he has sent authentic looking documents transferring it to my name and states that once we are here I am entitled to 20% of this for helping him and his sister come here. They talk with me on the phone and sound so sincere. He has a man from "Trustee International" which is supposed to be a private security company handling this account of his late father and that is why he couldn't have it until he is 30 and he is only 26 and that is where I come in. This "Security International" representative has assured me that they are recognized by the UN, etc., and are kept confidential so they can handle these matters without attention from outside world. He also states that I must have $15, 000 US to pay for security while there and for transfer of money to a local bank to be put in transit account and then wired to American account. I told them I have no money since start of this talk of my coming to help them and I assure them I only wanted to see him and his sister be happy and free if that is the case. He is now supposed to have US $4,000 and I have to come up with the rest. I am a house wife of a small dairy farmer and I do not have this kind of money, but they think I can come up with it, I guess. What do I do? Being I have good rapport with them, is there a way to catch them? Are any of these people really real? Is he and his sister real? He says that the trustee representative has all the arrangements made for them to come to America with me when I come back. If this is a scam like I have read about on your site, I don't think that's very nice and I want to know what I can do to possibly catch these people if they are not real. Please answer my mail as soon as possible. I would be very grateful.

Sincerely yours, J.L.

Greetings,

My names is Rev. XXXXXXXX and received an email scam from LOME-TOGO. Thanks to friends of mine in California who came across your website and the scam information, it has saved us future heartaches and major disappointments. They even went as far as having actual certificates of documents faxed to me to come to their country to claim the 27.7 million dollars. If it would help your efforts to keep the public informed, I can send all of the emails I've received from this lady who calls herself ( Mrs. Brown ) to you. This is really amazing...

Thanks a million.....

Rev. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

I am very happy that the payment has been approved in your name and all documents is in place to effect this payment without any further delay. According to the Minister, you are required to go to Canada with the following requirements

1) Photocopy of your ID.

2) $ 16,000 USD official payment for Stamp Duty Charge and tax inheritance.

3) 2 passport Picture

I wait for your confirmation.

Yours,

Oscar.

Hi I think a friend of mine may have or is presently being scammed. he was dealing with this lawyer in Africa named steve martin who was to transfer 7.2 million dollars to him, it was an inheritance from a uncle who died in a plane crash in Africa. he has sent over 10,000 dollars for lawyer fees and opening the account fees. After all of this was done the money was suppose to be transferred into his account but now it is suppose to be done from Spain. first they gave us this magnum finance and security bank where the money is suppose to be at, but when i called spains information for the number directly they said they never heard of this before. Then we were given another name prudence banking and finance Spain also did not have the a bank in this name. my friend is still dealing with these individuals I hope the FBI can possible catch them please e-mail me back with what we should do. The lawyers name is steve martin in Africa and jeff hauruna in Spain what also didn't strike me as correct was when they used cell phones.

Thanks for your e-mail, together with your mutual understanding towards this my proposal. I suggest that you should go through my clarification for more understanding.

Anyway you are to forward your private information, like private phone and fax number, your personal address for the changing of the ownership of the consignment in the security company in London and immediately your information is receive by me, and I fax them to the security company in London. i will travel immediately to London to welcome you and once they fax the legal documents that will enable you stand for the claims of this fund you will come immediately to London to meet me in person for the transaction. and once we clear the money from the security company we will open a bank in one of the London bank in your name so that we will transfer the money straight to your personal account in country. also we will travel together to your country for the sharing and for the investment of the money. nice to meet a partner like you. call me for more information over this transaction on my private line 00228 90 xxxx. hope to hear from you as soon as possible.

God Bless.

George Nyerere.

Thanks for your urgent reply to my e-mail, to be sincere with you i dont just wake up and start writing to you. i was in deep spirit, after my three days of fasting and prayer to confirm your name. and the lady that introduce your mail to me, who works in the in the togo lais chamber of commerce and industry, who is a tourist that has a diplomatic passport, i personally did not disclose this transaction to him because i don’t want to do any mistake. and i will like us to work with one spirit like a family to hatch out this transaction. also my God never disappointed me even for one day. and i believe that you are the right person which my God introduce to me.

You see, what i want you to do for me is to come to London as my father's business partner, who will stand and sign for the release order of this money, which was deposited as a consignment in the security company. And every legal documents that will enable you stand for the claim of this consignment will be forwarded to you from London. and i am assuring you that this transaction is hundred percent risk free. and i have map out 10% from the original amount for every expenses that will incur in this transaction like transportation bill, telephone bill, hotel bill or any other necessary expenses that may rise during the process of this transaction.

Dear,

i have finalised with my family before I forwarded my proposal to you. and they are all in full surport of you. so you are to forward to me your private phone and fax number, with your personal address or company. so that i will fax them to the security company in London for the change of the ownership of the consignment. before you will prepare to come and meet me in London. hoping that you will not disappoint me. waiting to hear from you. also bearing in mind that this transaction require utmost secreat and confidentials till the money is cleared and transfered to your personal account in your country. call me on my private line for more clarification,00228 90XXXXX.

God Bless.

Mr. George Nyerere

I received an e-mail from a Dr. Kester Kadiri, (e-mail - "cr panel' cr_panel@mail.com this pertained to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation. It started out that he wanted to transfer $25,500,000.00 to my checking account. Than wanted me to send 4 laptop computers and a number of expensive watches as gifts. He would give me $5,500,000.00 if I would allow him to use my account. Next he requested $9,200.00, when I stated I did not have that kind of money he requested $5,000.00. I have again informed him that I still do not have that kind of money and that I am a working person. 

He asked if I ever had a company in my name. I told him it used to be JL Computers and where I had once had this company. It was only a personal company where I provided computers for use at my work place as there were none there. I had to have a company name inorder for them to pay me for the use of my personal computers. I have not used this company name for the past10 years or more. The letter with the heading NIGERIAN NATIONAL PETROLEUM CORPORATION Ref # NNPC/PED/75644/Vol-1/2014

Dated 5/23/14 - Signed by a DR I T Obsanajo, Group Managing Director NNPC, the second letter is Ref: FMF/AK/03229 dated 6/3/14. heading Debt Reconciliation Committee - The Presidency, Federal Republic of Nigeria. RE: Transfer of Funds for contract NO: NP/PED/9763/PH-REF31C/13. This letter requests $9,200.00 for processing and for the signing of a contractors Final Fund Release. This letter is signed by Alhaji Suleman Dangote, Chairman 3/6/13. On 5/28/14 I received another letter with the same heading - e-mail address drc_chairman2002@presidency.com. This letter recommends I contact a DR. Clement Isong (SAN), C.I.Isong, Orji & CO, 33 Toyin Streer, IKEJA-LAGOS, Telephone 011-234-1775-4890 - Fax # 011-234-1759-9278. This letter had attached a form called FMF/RX-15 form that I was to complete and send to this attorney. And I was to have the $9,200.00 within 5 working days of this letter or I could lose my money. Now, I did not consider the money mine, and I am not that greedy. So I talked to my banker who instantly stated that I would not have to pay to receive money that was rightfully mine and that this appeared to be a scam. A copy of a certificate of incorporation was made. It is headed - Corporate Affairs Commission - NO: RC73455DRS, Certificate of Incorporation Foreign Contractors. States this is to certify that JL Computers has been registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission in accordance with the Company & allied Matteres Decree of 2015, as a Limited Liability Company, Category "A". Issued his 14th Day OF August 2016. Than a form - NIGERIAN PETROLEUM CORPORATION, Reg NO: NNPC/PED/6707/2015 - Certificate of Registration, Supplies & General Contracts

Subject: URGENT ASSISTANCE NEEDED.

Date: Mon, 31 Dec 2013 01:50:04 -0800 (PST)

MR.GEORGE NYERERE
LOME-TOGO
TEL:00228 90XXXXX.

I do foresee the surprise this letter will bring to you as it comes from a stranger. But rest assured as it comes with best of intentions. However,i got your contact through a small paper containing your contact e-mail address given to by a Lady at the Togolies Chamber of Commerce and industries. But after due consideration from your profile, I became aware and assured of your credibility of handling this trust and my future. Thus, after my humble decision to solicit for your understanding and co-operation in this transaction, as it will be beneficial to all of us involved.

My name is Mr.George Nyerere, from Tanzania. I am the son of the Late President of Tanzania JULIUS MWALIMU NYERERE, who died about two years ago. My father used his position then to make for himself and us some fortune. My father died after a protracted illness. I was studying overseas when my father died and I was forced to return for the funeral. His attorney notified me and my family about my father's Will with his chambers. When I was going through the will, I discovered that my late father had used his position then to make some money, which he brilliantly transferred and deposited it with a Security Company in London. He deposited this consignment as valuables. The Security Company does not know that this consignment contains cash money, except the attorney and me.

The amount is FOURTY-FIVE million United States Dollars (USD $45 MILLION). However, my aim of contacting you is to help me and take this sum into your nominated account in your country or any other part of the world. Secondly, you will also help me look for a profitable investment overseas because I don't have knowledge of international investments. As a result of my present situation, I won't be able to conclude this transaction alone. If you are interested in helping me out, try and contact me with the above phone number.

strictly confidencial

OFFICE OF THE ACCOUNTANT
CONTRACT AWARDING COMMITTE
ECOWAS HEADQUARTERS
LOME, REPUBLIC OF TOGO
TEL.00228 91XXXXX.

Dear; Theresa

Forgive my indignation if this message comes to you as a surprise and if it might offend you without your prior consent and writing through this channel. I am Dr. Usman, The DIRECTOR OF FINANCE, Contract Awarding Committee of the ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES ( ECOWAS) with Headquarters in Lome, Togo. I got your information in a business directory from the Togolaise Chamber of Commerce and Industries when I was searching for a reliable, honest and trustworthy person to entrust this business with. I was divinely inspired and motivated to pick your contact from the many names and list in the directory.

This fund was a residue of the over invoiced contract bills awarded by us for the supply of hard/software's, pharmaceuticals/medical items, light and heavy duty vehicles, apparels and other administrative logistics etc for the ECOMOG in Sierria-Leone and Liberia during the Peace Keeping Projects.

This DEAL was deliberately hatched out and carefully protected with all concerned. As the DIRECTOR OF FINANCE of CAC, I arranged and over invoiced the contract funds supplied by different companies from different countries during the crisis. It was my consensus to seek the assistance of a willing foreigner who will come for the claims of the money which was deposited as a consignment in the security company in Togo.

SO, by virtue of my position as the DIRECTOR OF FINANCE of CAC, i transferred four trunk boxes which was deposited with the security company in Togo. The content of these is forty-five million united states dollars (us $45 m).

I need a trustworthy foreigner like you that will assist me to a logical conclusion of benefit earnestly, all i need from you is to stand before the security company and sign as my foreign business partner to enable you claim the money and pay it into your bank account.

Based on the laws and ethics of employment, we as civil servants working under this organisation, are not allowed to operate a foreign account. This is the more reason why i needed your assistance to come and stand as my foreign business partner who will stand and sign for the release order of this money which was deposited as a consignment in the security company. that can sustain this fund for safe keeping and my future investment with your comprehensive advise, assistance and partnership in your country.

I have however agreed, to compensate your sincere and candid effort in this regard with 30%(percent) of the fund after the transfer in your account and 10% (percent) will be set aside for any expenses both local and international, telephone bill etc. will be settled from this percentage, while 60% (percent) will be for me. This transaction will be successfully concluded within 7 days if you accord me your unalloyed and due cooperation. You should provide the followings;

YOUR NAME OR COMPANY`S NAME WITH COMPLETE ADDRESS,
YOUR PRIVATE TELEPHONE AND FAX NUMBERS. FOR THE
CHANGING OF THE BENEFICIARY OF THE CONSIGNMENT IN THE
SECURITY COMPANY IN LOME.

Upon the receipt of this information, the documents will be forwarded to you from Togo, for security reason. As a practice of all organised (sensitive) and conspired DEALS, i solicit for your unreserved confidentiality and utmost secret in this business.

I hope to retire peacefully and lead a honorable business life afterwards. There are no risks involved. If this deal interest you, call me immediately for more details on my private/confidential telephone

number.00228 91XXXXX.

With regards.

Chief.Gambo Dasuki.

15th JANUARY, 2017.

Dear Friend & Partner,

Following up to your response, i must express on behalf of my client (Mohammed) and myself our profound gratitude for your last reply. We choose you because we are looking for a capable partner who can open the door to off-shore market for our funds and help us invest our share in profitable investment such as real estate, property investment or any other variable venture.

I thank you most heartily for taking interest in my proposal to you. I have contacted Mohammed himself and we have once more deliberated on the possibility of doing the business with you, we are exercising great discretion so not to fall into wrong hands.

I would need personal assurance from you that you are going to be fair, cooperative and straight forward with me. What I really need is a tested and competent associate who will handle the fund for me when it is finally paid to him, I pray that I find such a person in you. Meanwhile, under no circumstances shall you divulge any information which you receive under this transaction to a third party; you have to make it a private deal between you and me. You must treat this project with utmost secrecy, apparent honesty and sincerity for security reasons. Note that this transactions is 100% risk-free. My assurance as a legal adviser is that your role is risk-free and the confidence of your capability and reliability in the prosecution of a transaction of this magnitude requires maximum trust and good faith

Firstly, however it is important that you understand how we intend to carry out this transaction to our mutual conclusion. Base on my first e-mail massage to you, these fund (US $24.5 Million) is presently deposited in a private security and finance company as an official consignment belonging to a foreign affiliate and put in a crate marked as antique. Thus, the content was disclose to the security firm as precious materials (Gold and Diamond).

It is important to note that this same security company has been helping my client's father (Late Gen. Sanni Abacha) while he was alive and his colleagues to move funds and items of this nature to Europe and other part's of the world without them necessarily knowing the actual content. However, they are ready to listen to us at this stage because of the long time trust, pleasant and professional relationship that they have maintained with my client's late father.

My friend, you must understand that because of the sensitive nature of this transaction, we must ensure that this transaction is 100% safe now and in the future, and also abide strictly and religiously within all laid down procedure and the transfer will also pass through all international transfer laws and regulations.

All that i want you to do is to act as the beneficiary to this shipment. Every necessary documents that is required are right now in my possession. I will provide you with the original copies of the following documents to enable us achieve this aim.

(1)The Certificate of Deposit which was issued when the initial deposit of the consignment was made.

(2) A Power of Attorney and the C of O (Change of Ownership) which will enable the security firm to recognize you as the new rightful beneficiary.

(3) The airway bill will also be provided to you.

With the presentation of the above documents, the shipment shall be delivered to you without hesitation. As soon as we claim the consignment, a professional banker will join us to assist in the area of lodging and transfer. This is a man in charge of all IMF and the world bank loans that comes to my country. He will assist us to open an off-shore account here in Amsterdam where the fund will be deposited before it can be gradually transfer to your nominated account wherever you may desire. We are going to need 2 working days to execute and conclude the first part of this business transaction and the clearance of the consignment and the transfer of the fund to your bank account. We only need your trustworthiness, honesty and your preparedness to execute this transaction with us. Thanking you once again on behalf of my client, i would want to assure you that this is just the beginning of a long lasting business relationship with us. You should call me immediately on my direct telephone line 31 612 6XXX XXX when you get this massage for more briefing regarding this business transaction and also forward your telephone and fax number

Hope to hear from you in ernest. God bless you.

Yours Truly,

Barr. Gani Soyinka

I am Brigadier-General Bibiola Waritimi (RETIRED); Residential Address-Plot 150 Wuse Zone 2, FCT, Abuja, Nigeria.

I am contacting you courtesy of an address listing which I obtained from your Embassy/High Commission in Abuja, Nigeria; THIS IS NOT A SPAM MAIL, and I appeal to you to exercise a little patience and read through my letter, and I guarantee you will not have wasted your time.

As you are probably aware, Liberia, a West African Territory was embroiled in a protracted civil war for many years. This war of attrition eventually attracted Worldwide attention because of the suffering of both the many warring parties which constantly changed alliances and allegiances, and the innocent civilian refugees. There were allegations of much atrocities committed and many human rights abuses.

Nigeria, under the leadership of General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida (retired Head of State of Nigeria), appealed to the United Nations for help. The later encouraged Nigeria to mediate between the many protagonists. Nigeria subsequently put together the coalition of 16 member Economic Community of West African States(ECOWAS), and the regional PEACE KEEPING FORCE KNOWN AS ECOMOG was born! I was privileged to be the first inaugural Nigerian Field commander of the Peace keeping force, and I immediately moved into the camp site at the outskirts of Monrovia, the capital city of Liberia to take my command.

The peace keeping exercise was a total success , and eventually the rebel, Samuel Doe was captured and the many lesser war lords contained. Eventually Mr. Charles Taylor, whose faction was recognized by ECOWAS was helped to establish an acceptable overnment; peace was restored; and the rest is history.

During the final onslaught which resulted in the capture of Samuel Doe, the campaign was meticulously planned and executed flawlessly; Samuel Doe's Headquarters was seized by my men, and much ammunition as usual were recovered; However, 5 large trunk boxes were also recovered and I immediately ordered them taken to my quarters because there were rampant cases of pilfering and outright looting by the Soldiers (the Soldiers came from different Countries and sometimes discipline was hard). When I examined the Trunk boxes, I got a shock! They were stacked full of 100 Dollar bills! To my inexperienced eye, I estimated that the boxes must contain over 50 Million Dollars! I was faced with an instant dilemma. I dared not declare this discovery to the Military High command; the money would promptly disappear into private pockets of the Military high brass. I immediately swore my ADC to secrecy and decided to transport the boxes into Nigeria. I used my powers to requisition a Hercules Military Transport Airplane under my Command and airlifted the boxes to Abuja, Nigeria. Needless to say, Our Aircraft's and military equipment/property do not undergo Customs checks

Accordingly I immediately took the trunk boxes and deposited them in a safe deposit box belonging to Bullion Security Company Nig. Ltd., located at Abuja. Of course no one knows the content of these boxes and I simply listed "VALUABLES" in the deposit form and I paid the storage charge of 2,500.00 USD per annul. The date was January, 2015.

I deliberately waited for the right political climate to move this money abroad for investment purposes. The time is now right because a properly elected Civilian Government is now in charge of Nigeria. I need your help because I am a highly visible personality, and any attempt by me to transfer this money to a foreign Country will fail. Also the law in Nigeria does not allow serving or retired Military Personnel to own/operate foreign Bank Accounts in their name. I have therefore thought out a perfect and 100% risk free method of transferring this money abroad, with your help. It is simple.

(1)You will provide one or more Bank A/Cs into which all the money will be wired (2)The Bank of origin, that is the, FIRST BANK OF NIGERIA,PLC where the wire transfer will be done will provide all the paperwork documentation, including the certificate of origin in order to avoid money laundering charges by the RECEIVING BANK. This is vital to avoid the money being seized by Government Agencies on arrival at your Bank Accounts).Also in view of the unfortunate incident at New York and Washington in America, it is vital that this money should not be seen as terrorist money or as being transferred to terrorists. (3)You will then come to Nigeria for a 2 / 3 day visit; on your arrival, we will then take the money to FIRST BANK of NIGERIA PLC and wire the money to your Bank ACCOUNT(S); My Banker has advised me that in transferring large volume money, it is best to use offshore (Bank Haven) Banks like the Cayman Islands where the tax incidence is zero or negligible.(4) After the wiring of the money, I will travel with you abroad to collect my share of the money which is 70%; You will keep 30% of the money for yourself (5)You could help me to invest my share of the money. (This is optional)

If you are interested in helping me, please reply immediately, giving me your phone and fax numbers and I will give you further details ; we will then establish a game plan to achieve our aim. Please bear in mind that as far as you are concerned, this transaction IS NOT ILLEGAL and we will NOT ENTER INTO ILLEGALITIES AT ANY STAGE OF THE TRANSACTION TO TRANSFER THIS FORTUNE ABROAD; EVERYTHING WILL BE TRANSPARENT, LEGAL AND PROPER; This is the word of a military officer. Thank you,

Brig-Gen. Bibiola Waritimi

(URGENT FUND TRANSFER)

(RE: TRANSFER OF ($ 152,000.000.00 USD)ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY TWO MILLION DOLLARS

Dear sir,

We want to transfer to overseas ($ 152,000.000.00 USD) One hundred and Fifty two million United States Dollars) from a Prime Bank in Africa, I want to ask you to quietly look for a reliable and honest person who will be capable and fit to provide either an existing bank account or to set up a new Bank a/c immediately to receive this money, even an empty a/c can serve to receive this money, as long as you will remain honest to me till the end for this important business trusting in you and believing in God that you will never let me down either now or in future.

I am Mr,Kingsley Emy, the Auditor General of prime banks in Africa, during the course of our auditing I discovered a floating fund in an account opened in the bank in 2015 and since 2016 nobody has operated on this account again, after going through some old files in the records I discovered that the owner of the account died without a [heir] hence the money is floating and if I do not remit this money out urgently it will be forfeited for nothing. the owner of this account is Mr. Allan P. Seaman, a foreigner, and an industrialist, and he died, since 2015. and no other person knows about this account or any thing concerning it, the account has no other beneficiary and my investigation proved to me as well that Allan P. Seaman until his death was the manager Diamond Safari [pty]. SA.

We will start the first transfer with fifty two million [$52,000.000] upon successful transaction without any disappoint from your side, we shall re-apply for the payment of the remaining rest amount to your account, The amount involved is (USD 152 M) One hundred and Fifty two million United States Dollars, only I want to first transfer $52,000.000 [fifty two million United States Dollar from this money into a safe foreigners account abroad before the rest, but I don't know any foreigner, I am only contacting you as a foreigner because this money can not be approved to a local person here, without valid international foreign passport, but can only be approved to any foreigner with valid international passport or drivers license and foreign a/c because the money is in us dollars and the former owner of the a/c Mr. Allan P. Seaman is a foreigner too, [and the money can only be approved into a foreign a/c. However, we will sign a binding agreement, to bind us together

I got your contact address from the Girl who operates computer, I am revealing this to you with believe in God that you will never let me down in this business, you are the first and the only person that I am contacting for this business, so please reply urgently so that I will inform you the next step to take urgently. Send also your private telephone and fax number including the full details of the account to be used for the deposit.

I want us to meet face to face to build confidence and to sign a binding agreement that will bind us together before transferring the money to any account of your choice where the fund will be safe. Before we fly to your country for withdrawal, sharing and investments.

I need your full co-operation to make this work fine. because the management is ready to approve this payment to any foreigner who has correct information of this account, which I will give to you, upon your positive response and once I am convinced that you are capable and will meet up with instruction of a key bank official who is deeply involved with me in this business. I need your strong assurance that you will never, never let me down. With my influence and the position of the bank official we can transfer this money to any foreigner's reliable account which you can provide with assurance that this money will be intact pending our physical arrival in your country for sharing. The bank official will destroy all documents of transaction immediately we receive this money leaving no trace to any place and to build confidence you can come immediately to discuss with me face to face after which I will make this remittance in your presence and three of us will fly to your country at least two days ahead of the money going into the account.

I will apply for annual leave to get visa immediately I hear from you that you are ready to act and receive this fund in your account. I will use my position and influence to obtain all legal approvals for onward transfer of this money to your account with appropriate clearance from the relevant ministries and foreign exchange departments.

At the conclusion of this business, you will be given 35% of the total amount, 60% will be for me, while 5% will be for expenses both parties might have incurred during the process of transferring.

I look forward to your earliest reply through my email address.

yours truly,

KINGSLEY EMY.

Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation
7 Kofo Abayomi Street, Victoria Island, P. M. B.
12701, Lagos.
Office Of The Presidential Contract Review Panel
Chairman: DR SMITH ESANI
Confidential Fax: 234-1-75XXXXX
Confidential Tel: 234-1-759XXXXX
Attn: The President/CEO

Dear Sir,

Proposal for Transfer Assistance

I am making this contact with you on behalf of my colleagues and I after the satisfactory information we gathered from the Nigerian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

We are members of the Presidential Contract Review Panel on foreign debt. We are contacting you as a trustworthy individual, into whose account we intend to transfer some funds.

Presently, we have in our possession, instrument of payment for US$10M (Ten Million U.S. Dollars), This amount arose from over-invoicing of some supplies and engineering works contracts which had been financed by the Petroleum Trust Fund. The Contractors have been paid in full for contracts executed. The fund are therefore free to be transferred overseas without any risk whatsoever.

Due to the nature of accrual of these funds, it has to be applied for by a foreign individual organisation, and payment can only be made into a foreign account: Hence this contacts is necessary to accomplish this deal. We are willing to compensate you with 20% of the amount for providing the account and all other relevant assistance to enable us accomplish this, 5% will be used for the reimbursement of all expenses that will be incurred by both parties during the course of this financial transaction; the remaining 75% is for my associates and I.

We shall require from you the following urgently, by fax or email:

1. Your name, contact address, telephone and fax numbers.
2. The name and full address of your organization or company.

My colleagues and I have had fruitful discussions with relevant top officials of both the Federal Ministry of Finance (FMF) and the Debt Reconciliation Committee (DRC) and they have agreed to co-operate in the transfer. An application for funds transfer will be made at the appropriate ministries in favour of you, the beneficiary. Thereafter you will be officially regarded as having executed the contract for the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation for which payments is being made. This process makes the operation legal according to the laws of the federal republic of Nigeria.

Please, treat this transaction as strictly confidential, we are civil servants who would not want our names tarnished, bearing in mind our positions. Because of cross interference of telephone calls in nigeria do ask my security code pciii before speaking to the person that pick up your call and do not go through the international telephone operator of (AT&T) when lines are busy at any time in the course of this transaction. Always dial direct. it is difficult to get telephone access to Nigeria. So you must persist when the telephone says "subscriber not available" or the number does not exist"; these responses are always given when there is no access. thanks for your anticipated co-operation, while I await your timely response.

Yours faithfully,

DR SMITH ESANI

NB: Please reply through e-mail for confidentiality

Dear Francisco,

I acknowledge with thanks the reply to my proposal earlier forwarded to you. I also understood the content for me to call you on the phone number you forwarded to me.

Please if you are to assist me in the transaction, do indicate on email first, I will definitely call you later but the problem is that Nigeria has a poor telecommunication problem due to the recent bomb blast in the military cantonment. Our ministry is using temporary telephone line for now until we fix a new line.

Francis, you are going to act as a foreign contractor whom I will pay this money (US$20.5M). All modalities about the transfer shall be completed by me and I will give you all information, that is, when the contract was awarded and completed, the ministry that awarded the contract and how much was involved. I know all these and I shall supply you with information about the contracts so that we get the fund transferred into your account.

I want you to also introduce to me any lucrative investment to venture into, because as soon as the fund is transferred to your account, I shall prepare to come to your country for investing it together with you.

Francis, please tell me if you can handle this for me, but know that this business is 100% risk-free. I am the Chairman of the Contract Award and Payment and as such have all it takes to transfer this fund. This business is also not a new thing because many prominent Nigerians do transfer funds which they get from Govt. coffins to abroad countries. This is my luck and chance to survive on my own because I will be resigning my appointment with the NNPC as soon as we finalize this business.

I promise you to please assist me and I will reward you and also build an everlasting business relationship with you.

If you have any more question about this, please feel free to ask me through e-mail, I am the only one having access to this email box, but do not call me on phone even if I give you my phone number because somebody may pick it up in the office and start asking you the purpose of calling. I will forward my private/confidential phone number for you to call me so that we discuss the possibility of this transaction.

Thank you very much and God Bless.

Yours friend,

DR. EMMANUEL SALEH
CHAIRMAN,
CONTRACT AWARD & PAYMENT COMMITTEE
NIGERIAN NATIONAL PETROLEUM CORPORATION (NNPC).

Attn: Francisco,

Thanks for the telephone conversation ,You can reach me on my telephone numbers 234-1-2xxxxx or 234-80xxxxxx. I await your response soonest.

Thank you.

Regards,
Oscar Olisa.

I am already call this number and Oscar Answered, and the first think he ask me was my bank account number. I hang up and I decided to investigate and I find your web page and also more information about this scam, this is horrible, how many people already felt in this situation. Anyway I just want to share this with you.

Francisco

Sir,

First, I must solicit your strictest confidence in this transaction. This is by virtue of its nature as being utterly confidential and top secret. I came to know of you in my private search for a reliable and reputable person to handle this confidential transaction, which involves the transfer of a huge sum of money.

I am the Attorney to Mohammed Abacha whose father Lt. Gen. Sani Abacha died sometime in 2016 in mysterious circumstance as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. My client who is still in detention for fraudulent activities, which he committed during his fathers reign desperately, needs a foreign partner into whose account he will transfer the sum of $32 m USD (Thirty-two million united states dollars).

This money is safely deposited in a security company here in Lagos before his detention. My client whose family properties have been seized and bank accounts frozen by the present Civilian Government cannot afford to loose this money, which he hopes to start a new life whenever he is released from detention. We have agreed to offer you 30% of the whole money, 60% for us and 10% for any eventual expenses. There is no risk involved in this transaction. Every arrangement has been concluded with the security company that as soon as you give me your positive response to this request, the money will be moved out of the country within 3-5 days.

Waiting to hear from you.

Please reply to xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

BARRISTER ROTIMI WILLIAMS

24th April 2016

Kabul, AFGHANISTAN

Dear Sir,

My name is Dennis Longe of the foreign legion special forces commando currently on covert search and destroy mission in the mountainous wastelands of Eastern Afghanistan impenetrable domicile of the dreaded Taliban Al Qeada terrorist network. Last week, my group of 4 agents' successfully overran a hard drug processing enclave and recovered a sum of US$36 million, which no doubt are proceeds from the illegal trade used for funding terrorist activities. We have since deposited this cash in a security luggage office in Kabul capital city. We do not intend to surrender this booty to our sector commandant for obvious reasons and we cannot take out the consignment from Afghanistan physically by ourselves as it is against military ethics.

I hereby solicit your assistance to enable me ship this money to your safe custody pending the expiration of our current regional anti-terrorist exercise. It may interest you to know that modalities have been perfected to move this funds to you through a security courier agency as soon as you respond in the affirmative, indicating your interest and capability to handle this transaction. We will thus send you the shipment waybill, so that you can help claim this luggage on behalf of me and my colleagues. Needless to say the trust reposed in you at this junction is enormous, we are willing to offer you an agreeable percentage of this funds.

Finally, I believe that I have been very concise and sincere in my representation to you and I look forward to consummating this transaction with you, but most importantly do acknowledge receipt of this mail using my email for further clarification on the M.O.

Awaiting your prompt response.

Yours Truly

Sgt. Dennis LONGE

Hello,

My 21 year old son has a businesses and he received an unsolicited email asking him to go to Holland and transport 16 million dollars out of the country for a lady and her son in Sierra Leon. This couple say they want to give him 20% of the money for his help. I am his mom, I see it as a scam and I am worried for his safety. He says it is different to the Nigerian scams posted. He won't listen to reason. I will give you the details as I know them and if you have been notified of a similar case could you please let me know.

(1) This money and its transaction is supposedly legal (not dirty money).
(2) This "Christian" family made the money in the diamond business.
(3) The father put it securely in Holland but then died.
(4) The mother and son have no way to get this money out.
(5) They want to come to Canada and invest this money in a business (agriculture) for this they need my son's advice. ( after he retrieves the money)
(6) He is to keep this information quiet. (not widely known)
(7) They will give him all the necessary documents and transaction phone numbers
(8) Time is running out so my son must decide quickly (it's been a week so far)
(9) She refers to him as " my dear"
(10) He must pay $2000 when he gets to Holland in order for the company to hand over this parcel containing the money.
(11) He must open up a bank account in Holland in his name to deposit the money. ( I think?)
(12) They would like him to write a letter of support for them to come to Canada with the money that they will ultimately invest.
(13) They trust that he is not going to take all the money once he gets the parcel from storage.
(14) They would do this themselves but they have no money...it is in Holland.

There is more and at this point I would ask you if you have stopped laughing yet but I am concerned that he will try to follow this through. We see so much devastation in places like Africa. This couples situation seems possible but highly unlikely. I am concerned that if he goes to Holland he will be robbed or worse... When I comment on the "suspicious facts" he has an excuse for it. Says he'll check the bag before paying any money and if it is all a scam he'll have a nice holiday in the Netherlands. I ask him if this is before or after they've robbed and shot him.

I am hoping that if he sees other letters like his than he will know it is a scam for sure.

Thank you for your help,

Scam with AIDS Hook and Adoption Spin

Your first reaction to this mail will be total rejection, scare and may be unbelief, owing largely to the atrocities people commit these days. But this mail comes from a devastated, sorrowful and emotional ladened soul that needs compassion from a kind and good spirited person to wipe away my tears, perhaps when I am gone beyond this sinful world.

I do not want this issue to be treated as an international subject, therefore, with due respect and apology, I want you to handle it very discreetly, confidentially and with utmost secrecy. For the sake of my children,who are the cardinal focus of this mail; for their future survival and to avoid embarrassment, I do not want our family name to be advertised or publicly discussed. Please, treat it as such and keep it permanently private. If you would not be in the position to co-operate, please, forgive me for disturbing your peace. Ignore and delete this message. I plead in the name of God.

My purpose of writing to you is to seek your assistance to handle and manage my late husband's financial assets and take adequate care of our young children, Duncan,12 years and Jennifer, 8 years. They are both studying in the American International School, Accra in Ghana. My name is Geneva Murphy Billings. I am an American, a widow of circumstance, married to a Swedish Engineer and business tycoon. My husband died in a plane crash while travelling to London to diagnose and seek medical attention for a sickness that defied medical treatment.

Presently, I am diagnosed to have a third degree HIV virus and therefore suffering a terminal sickness of ACQUIRED IMMUNE DEFICIENCY SYNDROME - AIDS -. I may die any moment but wish you to assist in keeping the family name and circle alive. This mail is written for me by the matron of this hospital as I am too week to engage in any other physical endeavors. Documented proofs for confirmation, on request, could be provided.

I have entrusted the sum of US$12,000,000.00 (Twelve Million Dollars), the accrued savings and life insurance gratuity of my late husband, with the custody of a Finance and Trust Company. It is handled by a Lawyer. See contacts below. I want you to liaise with the Lawyer and recover the money for your prudent care, management and safe keeping. Use it to secure travelling papers for my children to leave Ghana and train them as your adopted children. I place no conditions on your management except taking good care of my children.

(Contact): XXXX@yahoo.com
 (1) Taiwo, Olajumoke & Associates
New-Haven Chambers, Lome-Togo
Tel: (228)948 5186
E-mail: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX@consultant.com
(2) Magnum Trust and Finance Inc.
Madrid, Spain.
Tel: (34)XX 505 1376

At the moment and till I die, my correspondence with you will be through this e-mail. I may have the opportunity to speak with you while on my sick bed. You should contact the Lawyer to do the change of ownership from my name into your name and identity to enable you collect the money from the Finance and Trust Company in Spain. This is the only condition that will give you the right of ownership and full beneficiary status. I want this transaction to be handled with dispatch before I give up the ghost.

I will appreciate it the more if you give me your reply no matter your state of mind, negatively or positively, it is alright.

Thanks and God bless.

Geneva Murphy.

NEW-HAVEN CHAMBERS
241 RUE, RIMAS, RIGATU
LOME-TOGO.
TEL: (228) XX8-51-86
FAX: (228) XX2-11-49

To: SXXXX XXXX

Dear Mrs. BXXXX,
RE: GENEVA MURPHY BILLINGS.

We write to confirm the knowledge of the above named client. We are her solicitors and are in possession of her will and the order to bequeath the will to whomsoever she would instruct us. The documents of possession are in our custody. It is also her wish that the benefactor will adopt her two children.

I may not know her reasons of contacting you by e-mail. This could be addressed to her. I guess it must be because of her weak nature as a result of her pronounced illness. She wanted you to contact me so that I could work with you to transfer her belongings to your care and management.

You should reach her for authority to start with the paper work.

Thanks.

for:TAIWO,OLAJUMOKE & CO
TAIWO A. KAFAROU
SENIOR ADVOCATE OF TOGO
SENIOR PARTNER.

I am Donald Opia Bank Manager of Diamond Bank of Nigeria, Lagos Branch.I have urgent and very confidential business proposition for you. On June 6,1997, a FOREIGN Oil consultant/contractor with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Mr. Barry Kelly made a numbered time (Fixed) Deposit for twelve calendar months, valued at US$8,000,000.00 (eight Million Dollars) in my branch. Upon maturity, I sent a routine notification to his forwarding address but got no reply. After a month, we sent a reminder and finally we discovered from his contract employers, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation that Mr. Barry Kelly died from an automobile accident.On further investigation, I found out that he died without making a WILL, and all attempts to trace his next of kin was fruitless. I therefore made further investigation and discovered that Mr. Barry Kelly did not declare any kin or relations in all his official documents, including his Bank Deposit paperwork in my Bank. This sum of US$8,000,000.00 is still sitting in my Bank and interested is being rolled over with the principal sum at the end of each year. No one will ever come forward to claim it. According to Nigerian Law,at the expiration of 5 (five) years, the money will revert to the ownership of the Nigerian Government if nobody applies to claim the fund.

Consequently, my proposal is that I will like you as an Foreigner to stand in as the next of kin to Mr. Barry Kelly so that the fruits of this old man's labor will not get into the hands of some corrupt government officials. This is simple, I will like you to provide immediately your full names and address so that the Attorney will prepare the necessary documents and affidavits, which will put you in place as the next of kin. We shall employ the service of an Attorney to obtain the necessary documents and letter of probate/administration in your favor for the transfer. A bank account in any part of the world, which you will provide, will then facilitate the transfer of this money to you as the beneficiary/next of kin.The money will be paid into your account for us to share in the ratio of 80% for me and 20% for you. There is no risk at all as all the paperwork for this transaction will be done by the Attorney and my position as the Branch Manager guarantees the successful execution of this transaction. If you are interested, please reply immediately via the private email address below. Upon your response, I shall then provide you with more details and relevant documents that will help you understand the transaction. Please observe utmost confidentiality, and rest assured that this transaction would be most profitable for both of us because I shall require your assistance to invest my share in your country. Awaiting your urgent reply via my email:donaldXXX@lycos.com. Thanks and regards.

MR. Donald Opia

I am so sorry that I had not seen this before now. It would have save me a lot of trouble and heart aches. I would not be in the condition that I am now in. I hope other people get to read your web site before they too are taken for their hard earned money by these smart talking people. They make promises that is never going to be kept, but I did wake up when after all my money was gone and they stopped talking when I told them that there was not way to get any more money. They have now changed their e-mail address, or they want answer it, Please DO NOT print my name or e-mail address

These examples are scam...don't fall for them!

Scams African Internet :  Version 5: A Religious Twist

African Internet Scams

Below is an actual dialog of a religious version of the African Advanced Fee scam hoping to lure someone of faith into handing over hard-earned money. Some creative scammers search the Internet looking for religious websites and hope that using a religious approach will pay off for them.

There are hundreds of variations on the same theme. All these scams have a similar hook as if there is a training school somewhere for scammers. Most of the scams involve hooking the victim first by tempting the victim with millions of dollars and then reel them in by handing over official looking documents representing vast sums of money stored in some security facility. The bite comes when they want you to pay the accumulated storage fees, transfer costs, bribes or taxes before starting the money transfer that never arrives. There are many versions of how they will get you to front earnest money.

Even though these scams seem ridiculous on their face, I receive several e-mails every week from someone who been taken or has a relative who has lost thousands of dollars. Please, DO NOT fall for these get rich quick schemes. Does it sound reasonable that so many third-world citizens would possess all these millions to hand over to YOU?

My advice is to not respond to these e-mail inquiries and simply hit the delete key. By responding, even for fun, you are validating your e-mail address, which will surely be sold to others. The Federal government is well aware of these e-mail scams but is powerless to stop them. The best you can do for now is to notify the U.S. Secret Service and ISP of the offending scam artist to seek removing them from their service.

The Secret Service calls these scams the "419 Advanced Fee Schemes" after the Nigerian Penal code fraud section. If you have been victimized by one of these schemes, please forward appropriate written documentation to the United States Secret Service, Financial Crimes Division, 950 H Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20223, or telephone (202) 406-5850, or contact by e-mail. If you have received a letter, but have not lost any monies to this scheme, please fax a copy of that letter to (202) 406-5031.

Identity Theft Facts - The Fastest Growing Crime Worldwide:

Identity theft is one of the fastest growing crimes in the World. Approximately, 11.8 million Americans (one in twenty adults) have been victimized by identity theft as of April 2003, according to research by Star Systems. Credit card numbers, driver’s license numbers, social security numbers, date of birth, and other personal identification can net criminals thousands of dollars in a very short period of time. Most often, identity thieves will obtain your personal identification numbers and obtain credit in your name by having credit cards, goods or services delivered to their address or mail drop. Since the bills for charges incurred are sent to the thief's address, not yours, you will be unaware that debt is mounting up in your name until the collections department tracks you down. By then your credit report will already be riddled with late payment histories and show many accounts in collections. As you can imagine the credit reporting bureaus will be reluctant to change negative credit without proof that you didn't create the bad credit.

Types of ID Theft

Identity theft can take many forms. An illegal immigrant may use your social security number (SSN) and date of birth (DOB) for employment purposes or to obtain a birth certificate. Imagine the confusion that can be created when the IRS wants to know why you didn't declare the extra income reported to them caused by someone using your name and social security number. Sometimes personal identification numbers are sold over and over to hundreds of individuals who in turn attempt to obtain bogus credit in your name or establish utility services and run up the bills. Sometimes arrested criminals will use false names, DOBs, and SSNs that belong to another. Innocent persons have discovered that they have criminal records because of a misused ID. See how easy it is for you to explain to family, coworkers or friends that you are mistakenly arrested for an outstanding criminal warrant.

Restoring Stolen Identity

Identity theft can take months and sometimes even years to detect and can take about the same time to correct the damage. According to the California Public Interest Research Group (CALPIRG) and the Privacy Rights Clearing House, victims of identity theft spend an average of 175 hours and $808 in out-of-pocket costs (not including attorney fees) to fix their wrecked credit problem. Identity theft can significantly traumatize anyone because it is unnerving to know (or not know) the extent of the damage to your name, credit or reputation. There have been cases reported where it has taken victims years to restore their credit and good name, and had problems being able to cash checks, obtain loans or even rent an apartment.

Preventive Steps

•   Run a credit report on yourself to see if there are any unknown credit inquiries or unauthorized accounts

•   Reconcile your check and credit card statements in a timely fashion and challenge any purchases that you did not make

•   Limit the number of credit cards you have to reduce exposure, and cancel any inactive accounts

•   Destroy all unused pre-approved credit card and loan applications. The mailbox thief only has to fill them out and redirect the return address to start using your credit

•   Never give any important number out like from your drivers license, credit card, bank account, date of birth or social security number to anyone you don’t know over the telephone

•   Minimize exposure of your drivers’ license number, date of birth, social security number, and credit card numbers. If the numbers are requested for check cashing purposes, ask if the business has alternative options such as such as using a check-cashing card

•   Safeguard your credit, debit, and ATM card receipts and shred them before disposing of them

•   Shred your bank statements and any tax documents when you dispose of them

•   Before disposal, shred paycheck stubs and W-2 forms that contain your social security number and often your name and address. This is a common way for dumpster divers to obtain important identification

•   Scrutinize your utility and subscription bills to make sure the charges are yours

•   Destroy all checks immediately when you close a checking account. Destroy or keep in a secure place, any courtesy checks that your bank or credit card company may mail to you

•   Memorize your passwords and personal identification (PIN) numbers. Keep your PIN numbers somewhere that only you know

•   Don’t give out your PIN or write them on your credit cards or ATM cards

•   Keep a list or photocopy all credit and identification cards you carry with you, including front and back, so that you can quickly call the issuers to inform them about missing or stolen cards

•   Don't give away too much personal information on your family web site. Full names, date of births, and address is too much information to post. By obtaining your "place-of-birth," the identity thief can possibly get your duplicate birth certificate

•   Protect your mother's maiden name, especially when using family tree tracers and genealogy service web sites. Maiden names are often used as passwords to access accounts over the telephone

•   Never leave your purse or wallet unattended, at work, at restaurants, at health fitness clubs, in your shopping cart, at church or at social gatherings. Never leave your purse or wallet in open view in your car, even when locked

•    

If You Become a Victim

•   Report the incident to the police immediately. If you know where your identification was stolen, that would be the correct police jurisdiction to report it to. Insist on being given a police report number a get a copy to encloses in correspondence with credit agencies

•   Report all stolen cards to the issuers immediately and request that new card numbers. Always respond to written credit card receipt notifications received in the mail

•   Notify your bank in the event that your checks are stolen and request that your account be closed

•   In order to prove your innocence, be prepared to fill out affidavits of forgeries for banks, credit grantors, and recipients of stolen checks. They are joint victims with you and may suffer a financial loss

•   Be prepared to work with retailers who have been victimized by someone using your name to help mitigate their losses, if necessary

•   If you know the abuser, report them to the Federal Trade Commission

•   Go online to social security administration if someone is using your social security number to establish credit or new accounts. If SSN fraud is suspected, call the SSA Hotline: (800) 772-1213

•   Obtain copies of your credit report periodically to see if there are any unknown credit lines in your name. Credit reports costs less than $10. All three major credit reporting agencies in the United States have toll free telephone numbers. Equifax (888) 532-0179; Experian (800) 311-4769; Trans Union (800) 680-7289. Each agency has a consumer fraud division. Call them.

•   Report suspected fraud to the credit reporting agencies and request that your account be red flagged with a fraud statement posted at the top of your report to all three credit reporting agencies. This will stop future credit from being issued until you are contacted and will remain in place for seven years or until you cancel the request. These agencies will also help clear up negative information on the reports due to fraud.

Scam and con artists are more prevalent than ever before because of the advent of the internet. It is far easier today to anonymously reach out and trick someone into relinquishing private information or access to bank accounts. 

Since our society has evolved into a credit-based culture, identity theft has taken on a whole new meaning. With just a few strokes on the computer keyboard, a person can unwittingly provide all the personal identifiers necessary for someone to steal their identity and good name.

Other scams may temp you with offers of millions in unclaimed foreign funds or a rich inheritance that can be yours if you can be coached into paying a never-ending list of transaction fees first.

As always, stay safe !

- bird

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