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Nigerian Money Scams
A Washington woman was sentenced on Wednesday to two years in prison and five years of supervised release for her role in an Internet counterfeit check scheme.
Edna Fiedler pleaded guilty in March to attempting to defraud U.S. citizens in a scheme known as a Nigerian check scam.
Fiedler helped her accomplices in Nigeria send fake checks to people who had agreed to cash the checks on behalf of the sender, keeping some of the proceeds and sending the rest back.
The Nigerians found people willing to cash the fake checks via e-mail. They would send their names as well as fake documents that looked like Wal-Mart money orders, Bank of America checks, U.S. Postal Service checks and American Express traveler's checks to Fiedler. They told her how to fill out the checks and where to send them.
The recipients most likely thought they were helping out someone who needed a person in the U.S. to cash a check for them, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. They were able to get the money by cashing the checks, and sent most of it to either Fiedler or her Nigerian accomplices. However, once the checks were discovered to be fake, the people who cashed them were responsible for the full amount.
All told, Fiedler sent out US$609,000 worth of phony checks and money orders. When U.S. Secret Service agents investigating the case searched Fiedler's house, they found additional fake checks worth more than $1.1 million that she was preparing to send out.
At a recent conference in Seattle, a representative from the U.S. Postal Service and Washington State Attorney General Rob McKenna described ways they're working to shut down these kinds of scams, particularly because they often involve people who don't realize that they're taking part in illegal activities.
The U.S. Postal Service recently sent 15 postal investigators to Lagos, Nigeria, and during a three-month period there, they helped intercept counterfeit checks, lottery tickets and eBay overpayment schemes with a face value of $2.1 billion, Chris Siouris, a cyber investigator at the U.S. Postal Inspector, said at the recent conference. Siouris, McKenna and others are pushing for ways to better educate Internet users so that people don't unwittingly help out in these kinds of e-mail scams.
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| June 27, 2008, 03:46 |
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Re: Nigerian Money Scams
I just can't believe people still fall for this scam...but they do.
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| June 27, 2008, 06:36 |
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funlovingpair
59 / couple
Frozen Tundra, Minnesota, US
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Re: Nigerian Money Scams
No kidding. I thought that this one was long gone. 
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| June 27, 2008, 06:45 |
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Re: Nigerian Money Scams
The hubs likes to watch Judge Judy, and there are many times when the case is about someone who got the scam check, knew it, but used it to scam someone else...usually a friend or relative.
I'm sure there are similiar cases in small claims courts all over the country.
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| June 27, 2008, 07:14 |
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Re: Nigerian Money Scams
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| June 27, 2008, 07:17 |
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Re: Re: Nigerian Money Scams
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| June 27, 2008, 07:23 |
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Re: Nigerian Money Scams
I have read the opposite, that the statistics say it's usually women that fall for it, men are thought to be far more skeptical.
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| June 27, 2008, 07:25 |
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Re: Re: Nigerian Money Scams
QUOTE (Chazzy @ June 27, 2008, 07:25)I have read the opposite, that the statistics say it's usually women that fall for it, men are thought to be far more skeptical.
Chazzy, I've had two encounters with this (one with a woman, and one with a man), like JC said, I'll play the game, get the info I need, and Whack, Splat, they're reported, I won't tolerate that form of crap!!
tica... 
xox
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| June 27, 2008, 07:28 |
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Re: Re: Nigerian Money Scams
QUOTE (funlovingpair @ June 27, 2008, 06:45)
On the contrary, I was getting these emails about the Nigerian money scams just a month ago. I still get quite a few others. They are of similar theme. The format of these are very, very similar. Bet cha they are from the same woman. Man what a scam.
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| June 27, 2008, 08:52 |
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Re: Nigerian Money Scams
I still get them too, I knew they were still circulating, just hard to believe there are people left who don't recognize the scam, and still fall for it.
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| June 27, 2008, 08:57 |
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funlovingpair
59 / couple
Frozen Tundra, Minnesota, US
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Re: Nigerian Money Scams
Well maybe I have gotten them also, but if I don't recognize the e-mail addy, it gets deleted. 
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| June 27, 2008, 09:48 |
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Re: Nigerian Money Scams
Oh man..does this mean I'm going to have to sell my villa and my hummer???? I just got another one of these things this morning and it always amazes me that me, yes me, a US citizen lacks the English grammar skills that these fine fine people seem to possess. I received one a few weeks ago advising me that my phone lines were being tapped by the FBI because my check had been intercepted by the US government..lol Occassionally if my mood is somewhat tempermental I will respond by asking for detailed information on their supposedly legitimate company, requesting names of CEO's, board members, etc as well as publications where I may do research on such and it's amazing that I never seem to get a reply..lmao
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| June 27, 2008, 10:26 |
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Re: Nigerian Money Scams
i was scammed once, almost...  i got an official looking email from Yahoo, telling me i had to re-activate my account within 24 hrs, or i'd get deleted. it looked official, so i did...the next day, i couldn't get logged in. turns out, someone had stolen my id, sent email to everyone in my address book, claiming to be me, saying that i was stranded in Nigeria, asking for $1500 to be sent, but not directly to me, cuz the Nigerian Government was keeping an eye on me...i realized that my id had been stolen, right away. i got new address, sent out an alert to all my contacts...alerted my credit card companies (in case they wanted to steal my maxxed out cards).
one of my friends got the scam mail before i alerted her, she replied with...."gee that's too bad, but you made your bed, now lie in it!" to be followed by "please, HELP me, i promise to pay you back, when i get back to the states.."
EVERYBODY knew it was a scam. all my contacts know i've never been out of Minnesota....let alone NIGERIA...
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| June 27, 2008, 11:38 |
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Re: Nigerian Money Scams
It's amazing to me that the authors of these scam mails are so original in their reasons for choosing me to help them collect the $25mil and nobody else!! It's funny, really! 
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| June 27, 2008, 11:39 |
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Re: Re: Nigerian Money Scams
QUOTE (hotnsexyagain2 @ June 27, 2008, 10:26)Oh man..does this mean I'm going to have to sell my villa and my hummer???? I just got another one of these things this morning and it always amazes me that me, yes me, a US citizen lacks the English grammar skills that these fine fine people seem to possess. I received one a few weeks ago advising me that my phone lines were being tapped by the FBI because my check had been intercepted by the US government..lol Occassionally if my mood is somewhat tempermental I will respond by asking for detailed information on their supposedly legitimate company, requesting names of CEO's, board members, etc as well as publications where I may do research on such and it's amazing that I never seem to get a reply..lmao
You may have to sell your vila, but don't worry about the Hummer. I can always use one of those. 
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| June 28, 2008, 00:22 |
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Mooant
41 / male
New Britain, Connecticut, US
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Re: Nigerian Money Scams
They do the same thing for people looking for roommates, but its usually a really hot oversees model...
I tell them my bank needs 60 to ensure the check clears, then ask the bank directly to verify the check BEFORE they cash it, they call a simple phone number and we know within 5 minutes that its a fake.
Seriously, if you're going to make a fake check, I know a million and one ways to make money much faster and legally than something this stupid... Although, I kinda understand doing it mostly for the thrill of things rather than the money as I remember my days as a Hacker...
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| June 28, 2008, 03:14 |
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BatterysIncluded
71 / male
home, Nebraska, US
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Re: Nigerian Money Scams
ghana is another country thats into this
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| July 1, 2008, 20:14 |
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Re: Nigerian Money Scams
I ran a classified ad for some extra used furniture I needed to get rid off...and even on a very small, local classified site I got an email scam..
She claimed she wanted to buy the furniture and her company was going to pay for it as part of her relocation in this area so she would have a $1500 check from them, she wanted me to cash that check and take my $200 from that and give her the balance.
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| July 1, 2008, 21:19 |
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