Nigerian E-mail Scam - Don’t Be a Victim

Thu, Nov 20, 2008 at 2:11:00 pm PDT

It happened again. In recent news, a woman in Oregon, who thought she could get something for nothing, fell victim to what many people know as the Nigerian e-mail scam.

Unfortunately, people are duped every day. We can’t be too careful. Those who are tricked into participating in an e-mail scam are one step away from becoming victims of identity theft. The same person who blindly accepts urban legends, e-mail hoaxes, and Internet schemes as true will eagerly provide thieves with information that could compromise her identity.  We simply cannot afford to be so naïve as to believe everything we read.

If you’ve had an email address for any length of time, you’ve probably received one of these scam proposals, too. The email starts by asking you to consider a confidential business proposition. The sender, often claiming to be from Nigeria, needs your help in accessing a large sum of money, and will give you a generous percentage if you will assist him. Often due to “war” or “civil unrest,” the sender cannot receive the funds directly. So he is requesting your bank account information because you’ve been found trustworthy to receive this deposit on his behalf.

Most people don’t get through the first paragraph or two of this e-mail without suspecting something is amiss. It would be unwise to provide a complete stranger with personal information such as your bank account number, let alone wiring them money as the woman in Oregon did. Many of us hit our “spam” or “junk” button and move on. Sadly a few people still fall prey to this Internet scam. 

In the case of the Oregon woman, the initial e-mail she received claimed she would be helping her long-lost grandfather, and for that reason she could not be swayed from participating. Despite warnings from both her family and her bank that this was a scam, she ended up losing $400,000. 

When she initially decided to accept the “business proposal,” this woman sent the first $100 as directed by the scammers because she believed she would soon receive $20.5 million dollars in return. But two years passed, and she still had collected nothing. Instead, she was constantly providing the scammers with money. With each request for more funds, these thieves assured the woman that was this last fee to be paid in order to release the funds.

As a result of her choices, she completely exhausted her husband’s retirement account and mortgaged her house. She told a local television station in an interview, “The retirement (my husband) was dreaming of—cruising and going around and seeing America—is pretty much gone for him right now.”

How sad—and avoidable. The same caution we take in protecting ourselves from identity theft applies when we’re doing business with people via the Internet. Do a quick Google search to see if there are any warnings about the company or individual with whom you’re about to make a transaction. People love to share when they’ve been wronged, and you’ll probably find plenty of information about dubious dealers. Only conduct business with those who have a verifiable and trustworthy history.

But how about those e-mail hoaxes and urban legends? Would a quick Internet search have saved this woman from being ripped off? Probably. There are some easy ways to verify if something you read on the Internet or receive in your inbox is true. I know of at least two websites the Oregon woman could have checked regarding the Nigerian scam.  Bookmark snopes.com and truthorfiction.com in your web browser. These sites are invaluable in helping you determine if an unsolicited e-mail has any merit. Whether it’s a story on the Internet, or the latest e-mail virus, these two websites can probably help you figure out what’s true and what isn’t.

Of course, never, ever share personal information on the Internet unless you are at a secure and trustworthy site. E-mail is not the place to be revealing your bank name and account number. Use caution—don’t be the next victim of an Internet scam.