No, not a new TV show like Punk'd, this blog tells the time where I was scammed by a Nigerian through eBay. We have all got them emails, in fact give me 2minutes and I'll check my junk mail for one.....
Okay I couldn't find one, which is annoy, why is it when you are looking for something you can never find, but when you aren't looking, it is always there?!?!?! Ahhh! That's a whole new blog, anyway basically the emails I sometimes find in my junk says crap like 'You have inherited $1,000,000, please reply with your bank details' or something along those lines.
These types of scams are called Advanced-fee Fraud, where people are usually talked into paying sums of money in hopes of getting larger outcomes. Such as, you pay them $1,000 to 'process forms and legal fees' and you end up with $530,000. Basically it is all a bunch of lies, and as the scam progress', you are persuaded into handing more money over to hopefully end up with much more.
Now, here is my tale of my 419 Scam....
Back in 2008, I was making some good decent money working where I was, so I thought I'd look into buying a new phone outright, off eBay. I found a nice phone, so I placed a bid, won it, and had the phone on my doorstep a few days later. It turned out the phone didn't work in Oaklands, because Oaklands is a isolated village, so I decided to just sell it back on eBay to hopefully recover the money I spent. Oh boy, I did not know what was just around the corner.
So I had someone who bought it straight away, which was good because it meant I was getting my money back. Turned out this person's address was in Nigeria, South Africa, and back then I was unaware of the scams and frauds occurring from this part of the world. I actually dug up the emails from everyone involved in the scam, so I will be pasting snippets, and keep in mind, I was 19 and never left the big world of Oaklands.
The buyer, "Emily Nelson" wanted me post the phone off first, before she paid me, because she didn't want to be scammed. Ha! If I only read eBay's terms and conditions harder, I could of told her money is needed before a buyer had to send the product, but I sent it off before I had any sort of money, and this is where it all turned to poo.
"what is happening?did you post the parcel?I will be reporting you to the police"
Now reading a email like that is enough to get you scared, but got even more scary was the email that appeared next in my inbox.
I got a email from the "Australian Federal Police" with the email being australianfederalpolice911@rocketmail.com (turned out was not the real Federal Police, duh) who said I could be facing loss of job, money or jail time because apparently I didn't give a tracking number, although I did. At the end of the email, there was a bit that said 'if you believe you were set-up for fraud, please reply and mention'
Them scammers must of been confident, because A) They were pretending to be the Australian Federal Police, and B) They mentioned about stopping fraud, which was exactly what they were doing.
Before you question, 'Wait, surely you knew that was a fake email' I did get that suspicion, so I looked up the Australian Federal Police, and none of the emails matched. So I replied back questioning why their emails weren't the same as the website, and they replied back saying how the server was down or some crap. I also told them that I was a victim of fraud, and in the response, the "AFP" said "We want you to know that you are not a victim of fraud, as the investigation is still in progress"
A few emails were exchanged between me and "Emily" questioning why she got the police involved, and then why I told the police she was scamming me. We ended up reaching an agreement of not involving the police anymore.
I later received an email from the "Nigerian Customs" saying my parcel was pretty much held hostage. In order for it to reach it's final destination, I had to pay $150 to have it cleared, or $250 to have it sent back, or if I didn't pay it in 3 days, it would be destroy. Keep in mind, at this point of the story, I still had no idea I was being scammed. The money had to be sent using Western Union, which all the scammers use to get money.
After some hesitation, questioning and the like, I got an email from "Emily" asking for me not to betray her, and pay the money so the phone can be released. I finally caved and paid $125, then an emailed popped up saying I owed $100 more for the phone to be released, oh golly!
I got an email from Emily begging me to pay the $100 and she would pay me back when she got paid from work, and being the nice guy, I decided to do so. What came next was a bit of shock....
An email from the same Nigerian Customs email, stating I was a victim of fraud, and that Emily was a scam artist. I was told she (who was a he) was arrested and was going to be on trial. I was informed that the phone would be returned, and my case would be held in court. Apparently, if the case won, I could be compsentated between $7,000-$80,000, and a resperesentive from Nigeria was going to plead my case for me.
Now I was planning on moving in a couple months, so to see an email to say I could potential have $7,000+ got me a wee-bit excited. Even at this point, I didn't suspect this part was a scam.
Just reading what happened next, I can't help but laugh that I actually believed it. I got an email from my 'lawyer' who said we won the court case, and I was going to be awarded $9,000 compensation. All we had to do was pay $900 for documents to be processed, and since he was my lawyer, he had to pay half, so I had to pay $450 to receive $9,000.
Notice how this scam is starting to sound a lot similar to what I talked about at the start?
I didn't have $450 laying around, so I talked to a friend, told her my situation, and she said to go see the police first, and if it ended up legit, she would lend me the money. So I visited the local police, and he did some background checking on the emails, characters, addresses and that.
Being a cop, I was expecting databases and that, but nup, simple Google. We googled names, business', emails, and tried matching pictures. Nothing was adding up, and when told about the Australian Federal Police, right then he knew it was a scam.
While I didn't end up sending the $450, there is still a little bit more left to tell of the story.
The policeman said not to reply to anymore emails from the lawyer, and I got a couple saying "Where is the money, I need it for you to get the $9,000" But I ignored them. I got a email from "Emily" asking where her money was (thinking I owed her) and saying she was going to sue me and the Nigerian Customs. What was funny about this was she said she sent me money, which she clearly didn't. The previous email I sent her, I must of been angry because I said "I paid the Customs $100 to get that phone to you, now you pay me the $500 you owe me!!"
The email which I sent to her after she said she I owed her money and she was sueing me, I got real angry. What's annoying about this blog is the lack of copy and paste, but I will type out my reply because it was a real beaut.
"your money? what money do i owe you? NOTHING! I PAID ALL THE MONEY THE "CUSTOMS" TO HAVE IT "RELEASED" DICKHEAD! YOU OWE ME $500!
What about your son's court case? About fraud? Oh wait, because there was no real customs, you made that up. Also, went and saw the local police, the emails from the Australian Police Federation you made up as well because they don't operate under that email.
So don't bullshit me, you are the scam artist. I didn't owe you any money either, mainly because you bidded on my item in ebay, which means you were under contract to pay me. But don't worry, if I don't receive the money soon, I will track you down and have you arrested by the real police, not the fake ones you made up."
Her reply was,
"What? you did not pay any money to the Nigeria Custom they asked me to stop contacting you that you are a scam... they also stated that they have contacted PayPal service about the money that you have received your money. Now they charge me the sum of $3000 us dolls to Pay which I have Paid $2,400 from the money I was told i will be compensated that you have scammed me....Now what are you telling me..Let me know something if there will be anything for us to do about this. Now I have Lost $2,400 and i don't have any ideal of what is goin on."
After that, I gave up, I was in Melbourne, and didn't want to deal with scams anymore, or waste energy tracking her down. I never heard from her again.....
There is my story, the end loss was $100, and a phone worth about $500, so $600 total. Could have been a lot worse if I didn't speak up and see someone about it. I have read stories about people losing not only thousands, but hundred's of thousands. Even read a story where a man was kidnapped and killed as part of a 419 Scam.
Looking back, I kind of shake my head, for being so stupid, and for the scammers being pretty stupid. While I will never see that money, it has given me the ability to spot scams a hundred-mile away. If you do get any emails that promise big money from just a small payment, delete it, or report the email address to the police.
These scammer pretend to be high officials, like the Australian Federal Police, Nigerian Customs, Federal Court, lawyers and the like, to either scare us into transferring the money, or giving us faith and believing them. I have thought about contacting "Emily" and see what response I will get, but I am guessing none, but hey, may as well give it a try, could make for an interesting blog in the future. I'll just leave you with one final piece of advice, if something sounds too good to be true, 99.99% of the time, it is fake....
From The One They Call Anthony, This Is The Life & Times
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