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Sellers Beware: Nigerian 419 Scams

Beware of "Alex" - this scammer has been on our classifieds. Emails he has used are alexcoolfm2002@yahoo.com and alexwilsons@outgun.com

If you are selling ANYTHING online-- a horse, saddle, boat, car, real estate-- you need to careful and aware of the Nigerian 419 scam letters. A person will usually email you (and the letters are notorious for their poor spelling and punctuation), and request for more information about your 'item', the 'condition of the item' (even if you are selling a HORSE), and ask you to confirm the 'sum' or 'price of item'.

They will then tell you that they are willing to pay you, and often send you MORE than your asking price. Sometimes they will say this in the first email.

How the scam works is the scammers will tell you, say, they will send you $4,000 for your horse that you are asking $2,000 for. They will send you a money order for the price, and they want YOU to then send the difference to their friend, the hauler, or other person that they supposedly owe money to... They will 'trust' you to send the extra $2,000. It's a confidence scam.

What happens is YOU get a FAKE money order or cashier's check for $4,000.... and you only discover that it is fake AFTER you've deposited it, and then it's too late, because YOU are responsible for the balance! Or, you've already sent the $2,000 difference to their "hauler" or "client" or other 3rd party and it's too late. Some scammers use wire transfers.

The money orders and cashiers checks are NOT real, although they may look real. Do not deposit them.

Things to look out for:

• Although it's called the NIGERIAN SCAM, these people are not often claiming to be from Nigeria. I have seen scam emails from all over - Africa, London, UK, Hong Kong, Iraq, Afghanistan, etc.
  
• Although the money orders or cashiers checks LOOK REAL --- real enough to deposit -- they are NOT real. The scammers are good at what they do, that is why they look real.
  
• Beware if anyone offers you MORE MONEY that you are asking. Most scams involve sending several thousand dollars more, then telling you to return the balance to their "shipper" "client", etc.
  
• Tell-tale signs of these letters include POOR SPELLING and PUNCTUATION. Not all of the letters are the same, but frequently the language sounds unnatural, like a foreigner wrote it.
  
• Keywords that these people often use are "ITEM" -- even if you are selling a horse, they'll refer to it as an ITEM. Some are dumb enough to ask you how much your "car" costs, even if you are selling a HORSE. Not all scam letters do this, but I've noticed "item" and "item's condition" and "send pictures" are often used. The scammers only care about the scam. They send out who knows how many emails requesting information on the sale "item".
  
• Even if you don't send them photos, if you email them asking "Did you get the photos I sent? What did you think?" they will reply, "yes, the photos were good, let's get going asap"... etc. These people are just in it to scam you. They don't care about photos, they just ask to sound real.
  
• Beware of people "buying for a client", especially for a client overseas. A common line is that they are "buying for a client". Sometimes they are buying for themselves, in which case the 3rd party involved is a shipper, a hauler, or someone else they want you to send the excess money to.

Here are some samples of scammer's letters:

"From: alexcoolfm2002@yahoo.com

Below is an inquiry about your classified ad
Dear Seller,
I got your advert on the web about selling of a horse stated at the sum of $1,500.00 obo,could you please get me the full details of the horse,it runing down price,it general conditon,how offen has it been used and a closer veiwing pics of it.I await your reply soon.
Regards,
Alex. "

"Hello, i am a car and horse dealer based in Nigeria and i saw your Horse advertised,i have a customer that wants to buy your horse ,please acknowledge this request and
forward us the following about the Horse so that we can arrange to have our shipping agent come over to your place for the inspection; Once our customer is satisfied with the present condition,we will instruct him to make payment to you in a cashiers check .We look forward to a quick response from you.

Thank you,
Larry Smith"

"From: alexwilsons@outgun.com
Thanks for your response,my production manager is very intrested in buying your horse which is ready to pay you with a certisfied cashier's cheque which will include the shippment cost and some other bills.And the cheque will be $4000 when you do receive the payment you deduct your $900 money for the horse and send the remain balanceof $3,100 sent to the shipping company that will come to the state for the picking up of the horse.If you are satisfied with the arrangement you can e-mail me your FULL NAME and ADDRESS inorder for my production manager/finacial company to issue a cheque to you.Hope to hear from you asap.

Best regards
Alex"

 

Here is a GREAT website on the Nigerian 419 scam letters. This woman scams the scammers back -- it's hilarious to read! She even has tips on how to scam scammers.
Scam The Scammers!

Learn More about the Nigerian Scam Here

 

Beware - 419 Scam Letters Don't Always Involve Selling!

Similar scams don't even involve selling anything-- you will get an email from someone in Nigeria (usually, although other countries are used!), and they will tell you so-and-so died leaving them a fortune, usually several millions, or some other story, and they need YOUR help. Just send them your bank information, telephone numbers, address, etc. and they will use you to get the money out of the country, and reward you with a nice part (usually around 20%). Unfortunately, what REALLY happens is the scammers will first tell you they need X thousand dollars to get their paperwork or whatever done... then after that, it's another fee... until they've ripped you off. Some scammers are very dangerous and will request that you fly to Africa or they will expose the whole affair, and I've heard some scammers will actually smuggle you in to Nigeria (very illegal) and will then hold you hostage or even kill you in attempt to collect ransom.

So... if someone emails you and wants to give you some percent of a huge fortune, watch out. It's a scam and it can be dangerous.

If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. If it sounds fake, it probably is.