An internet romance scam took an unexpected turn, writes Adaobi Tricia The next phone call was to tell her that he was in a Lagos hospital.
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These fees may even start out as quite small amounts. If paid, the scammer may make up new fees that require payment before you can receive your reward. They will keep asking for more money as long as you are willing to part with it. The request includes a long and often sad story about why the money cannot be transferred by the owner. This typically involves some type of conflict or inheritance and they may want to move the money straight into your account.
I went to Nigeria to meet the man who scammed me
You are offered a financial reward, such as a share in the amount, for helping them access their 'trapped' funds. The amount of money to be transferred, and the payment that the scammer promises to you if you help, is usually very large. They will claim that a bank, lawyer, government agency or other organisation requires some fees to be paid before the money can be moved.
The scammer will often ask you to make payments for the fee via a money transfer service. If someone is claiming to be from a particular organisation verify the identity of the contact by calling the relevant organisation directly — find them through an independent source such as a phone book or online search.
Nigerian scams | Scamwatch
Do not use the contact details provided in the message sent to you. If you think you have provided your account details, passport, tax file number, licence, Medicare or other personal identification details to a scammer, contact your bank, financial institution, or other relevant agencies immediately. Do not send money if you are in a similar situation because it is probably a scam. Again, most often these scammers will pretend to be a Western man but in reality they will be scammers based in Africa.
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This breed of scams has been around for a very long time and is known as the advance fee fraud. It has various names such as the Nigerian , Nigerian money offer, the Spanish prisoner etc. Similar to the Spanish prisoner scam where the scamster promises to share his fortunes with the victim in exchange for money to bribe the prison guards, the Nigerian has fully come into its own thanks to the availability of email. A scam victim will usually receive an email making an offer of a large sum of money.
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The subject lines often read something similar to "From the desk of Mr [name]" or even "Your assistance is solicited". While the stories may vary slightly, the general plot then talks of a person usually a corrupt government employee who has come across a large sum of money and needs your assistance to get the funds out of the country.
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The money could be cash, gold bullion, blood diamonds, gold dust, checks etc. The sums usually run up to millions of dollars with the victim being promised a huge chunk of it for their "help". Like all scams, there is a last minute problem and you will be requested to send some money to ensure everything goes smoothly. Needless to say that is the last you will hear of your apparent fortune. Sometimes scammers figure out you are onto them but instead of backing off, they take advantage of the situation by pretending to be the police.
So say you have been duped by a Nigerian scammer and you contact the Nigerian police for help.
You might get an email apparently from the Nigerian police telling you they have closed in on the scammer and need a payment from you before they can arrest him. This is definitely a scam because the police no matter which country will never request money to catch a criminal! Have a look at the email address — something like nigerianpolice hotmail.
As opposed to some of the other scams, in this type of scam the fraudster takes their time to build a relationship with their victim. After a few months when the scammer is convinced they have formed a bond with their victim, they request the victim to cash some money orders and wire transfer the money to t hem usually to Nigeria or Ghana. We receive inquiries every day from people who have been defrauded for hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars by Internet contacts they thought were their friends or loved ones.
Internet scams are attempts by con artists to convince you to send them money.
Nigerian scams
In Nigeria, these scams are also referred to as scams. Click here for scam resources. The most common scams involve someone allegedly in Nigeria who is in some sort of trouble, ranging from detention to extortion or hospitalization.
Inevitably, the sender is making an appeal for money. If this is someone you have not met personally, we urge you to stop corresponding with whoever sent the message, and please do not send any money to Nigeria. Do not believe any offers that require a fee to be paid up front. In many cases, scammers troll the Internet for victims, and spend weeks or months building a relationship.