Beware: 419 nigerian/west africa scams

[ErichZ26]

4-1-9 is the nigerian law code for scams.   I am not going to fill in all the details, but these are notorious for large amounts of money.   We NORMALLY would not see this for small dollar purchases(under $200) but it appears like we found one.

There was an attempted scam made for something we posted on another board.   The person offered to pay DOUBLE our asking price.  

"Hello,

I am saw your advert on the web and i am intrested in your  >>

I am based in west africa

I am ready to pay you $300

Kindly get back to me if my offer is okay,i have made arrangements with a shipping company that will be on ground for the pick up at any location of your choice.Hope to hear from you soon.

Regards"

Stephanie actually recieved this letter and was "happy" but I am familiar with some of the happenings in West Africa.

We made a a simple reply

"Thanks a lot for your mail it is highly appreciated.Yes i am
still interested in the  >>
like i said earlier i am based in Africa in Abuja.
As regards shipping i have made arrangemnts with a shipping company that will be on ground for the pick up at any location of your choice  and they have agreed to come for the pick up as soon as we conclude our own part of the transaction.So you dont need to bother asper the shipping.
As regards payment,this is what i am going to do,i have a Customer in the US who is owing me $2500 i would instruct him to make
out a cashiers check  to you in that amount and as soon as you clears your
bank,you can let me have my balance via western Union Money Transfer,I will be usin part of the money you will be sending me to pay the shipping company an upfornt of there totla charges before pick up is made,all you just need do is for you to be at the location where pick up is made so you can sign for it.I will be using part of the balance you will be sending via western union to pay the shipping company an upfront of there total chareges before the pick up is made.
The reason why i am doing this is because if i decide to send
payment from over here it might take a long time before it goes
through,but a check sent from over there withing US would clear
between 2 and 3 days. Although the value of the cashiers check is more than the >>
i think i can trust you with my balance considering the fact that i still have to trust you with the item. Pls if you are interesetd in selling to me,i would appreciate it if you could get back to me so that we can proceed.
Pls i would need for you to provide me with your name as you would want it to appear on the cashiers check and your address and phone number so that i can have my Customer contact you asap.
Thanks in this regard and i would be expecting to hear from you
soonest.But i think i can trust you with my balance considering the fact that i still have to trust you with the item. Pls if you are interesetd in selling to me,i would appreciate it if you could get back to me so that we can proceed.

Pls i would need for you to provide me with your name as you would want it to appear on the check and your address and
phone number so that i can have my Customer contact you asap. Thansk in this regard and i would be expecting to hear from you soonest.
Regards


Obviously you can see by the second letter its bogus and a classic 419 scam.

[TeamZGTZ]

I recieved a phone call from a nigerian scammer last year. Supposidly one of my family members dyed 10 years ago and it took that long to find us, being the only living family left. Which we would recieve 40% of 10 mil. The family member was supposidly the owner of a oil refinery. I went all over the internet to get a hold of the bank he was dealing with and then found it was bogus.

[JOKERZ26]

Those out of country/i'll send you a check 4 times what they owe you etc...scams are notorious all over the internet.

[Guest]

Exactly why I wont deal with people from Canada.

[ettore]

hah ... come on, we're nice up here.