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Woman loses $400,000 in Nigerian e-mail scam
Associated Press
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
SWEET HOME, Ore. ? An Oregon woman who is out $400,000 after falling for a well-known Internet scam says she wasn?t a sucker or an easy mark.
Janella Spears of Sweet Home says she simply became curious when she received an e-mail promising her $20.5 million if she would only help out a long-lost relative identified as J.B. Spears with a little money up front.
Spears told KATU-TV about the scammers? ability to identify her relative by name was persuasive.
?That?s what got me to believe it,? She said. ?So, why wouldn?t you send over $100??
Spears, who is a nursing administrator and CPR teacher, said she mortgaged the house and took a lien out on the family car, and ran through her husband?s retirement account.
?The retirement he was dreaming of ? cruising and going around and seeing America ? is pretty much gone for him right now,? she said.
She estimates it will take two years to clear the debt that accumulated in the more than two years she spent sending money to con artists.
Her family and bank officials told her it was all a scam, she said, and begged her to stop, but she persisted because she became obsessed with getting paid.
The scheme is often called the ?Nigerian scam? and it?s familiar to many people with e-mail accounts. It still exists and it still works.
Spears first sent $100 through an untraceable wire service as directed by the scammers. Then, more multimillion dollar promises followed so long as she sent more money.
The scammers sent Spears official-looking documents and certificates from the Bank of Nigeria and the United Nations. President Bush and FBI Director Robert Mueller were also involved, the e-mails said, and needed her help.
They sent official-looking documents and certificates from the Bank of Nigeria and even from the United Nations, saying her payment was ?guaranteed.?
But it wasn?t and now Spears is paying the price for her costly lesson.
?The hope is [other people] are not going to fall as hard as I fell,? Spears said.
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A Leamington man has fallen prey to international scam artists who strung him along for more than a year with the promise of millions in cash, but ultimately bilked him and his family of $150,000.
John Rempel said he quit his truck driving job, lost friends, borrowed money and crossed the globe in pursuit of a non-existent inheritance, after he was contacted by e-mail in what is known as a Nigerian 419 scam.
Rempel said he borrowed $55,000 from an uncle in Mexico and his parents gave him $60,000 on credit to cover fees for transferring $12.8 million into his name.
"They're in it now because of me," said Rempel, 22, breaking into sobs. "If it wasn't for me, nobody would be in this mess. You think things will work out, but it doesn't. It's a very bad feeling. I had lots of friends."
"I never get calls anymore from my friends. You know, a bad reputation."