More Nasty Stuff - that Nigerian Guy

These so-called Nigerian scams (because a lot of them originate from Nigeria) are usually pretty obvious, yet people loose millions of dollars every year to these thieves.

Basically, the thief says he needs help to collect a large sum of money in this country and needs a U.S. bank account to do it. He promises to share his "wealth" with the victim in exchange for using their bank account. Of course, all the thief really wants is that bank account number and some personal information to be used to break into the account.

Variations on this scam target vacation rental owners. The thief is planning a trip for a "client" and says he needs to send just one check to cover all the expenses. He asks the victim to take out their portion of the funds and write a check for the balance and send it on to the next hotel or next destination. The thief then sends the victim a fake cashiers check drawn on a foreign bank. By the time the victims bank finds out that the check is a phony - the victim has already sent a large sum (in a good check) to the thief's other address.

Bottom line is still the same - if it sounds too good to be true, it isn't.