Oregon Woman Loses $400,000 to Nigerian E-Mail Scam

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,453125,00.html

SWEET HOME, Ore. — An Oregon woman who is out $400,000 after falling for a well-known Internet scam says she wasn't a sucker or an easy mark.

Janella Spears of Sweet Home says she simply became curious when she received an e-mail promising her $20.5 million if she would only help out a long-lost relative identified as J.B. Spears with a little money up front.

Spears told KATU-TV about the scammers' ability to identify her relative by name was persuasive.

"That's what got me to believe it," She said. "So, why wouldn't you send over $100?"

Spears, who is a nursing administrator and CPR teacher, said she mortgaged the house and took a lien out on the family car, and ran through her husband's retirement account.

"The retirement he was dreaming of — cruising and going around and seeing America — is pretty much gone for him right now," she said.

She estimates it will take two years to clear the debt that accumulated in the more than two years she spent sending money to con artists.

Her family and bank officials told her it was all a scam, she said, and begged her to stop, but she persisted because she became obsessed with getting paid.

The scheme is often called the "Nigerian scam" and it's familiar to many people with e-mail accounts. It still exists and it still works.

Spears first sent $100 through an untraceable wire service as directed by the scammers. Then, more multimillion dollar promises followed so long as she sent more money.

The scammers sent Spears official-looking documents and certificates from the Bank of Nigeria and the United Nations. President Bush and FBI Director Robert Mueller were also involved, the e-mails said, and needed her help.

They sent official-looking documents and certificates from the Bank of Nigeria and even from the United Nations, saying her payment was "guaranteed."

But it wasn't and now Spears is paying the price for her costly lesson.

"The hope is [other people] are not going to fall as hard as I fell," Spears said.

Dear God these poor stupid people!

Makes me so glad I have no money! But if I did - I'd rather spend it on toys, books, music and movies and not necessarily in that order. Gee with that kind of money - a new car, a down payment on a house of my own, an outrageous stereo system (whole house system) and money in the bank. I'm also glad I am selfish and want it all for me - fuck those scam artists and the starving people elsewhere. Okay I will stand in a serving line for those last words but would much rather spend the money right here then send it anywhere.

I am an active member of www.419eater.com a group who actually bait these scamming bastards and get THEM doing the runaround! I have been responsible for sending one such scammer on 'Safari' (which is basically a cross border journey of 250 miles plus) 4 times and I have had another build a Pyramid out of sandbags in celebration of the church of TWAT. These deeds the scammers (lads) have carried out through borrowing monies from their bosses (ogres) to try and scam money from gullible women (mugu's). We aim to waste a lot of their time at immense cost to them to try and disuade them from continuing with this line of 'business'.

Some of the feats of scamming the scammers have to be read about to be believed, but there are a lot of people out there who give up their own time trying to stop these lowlife scum from succeeding. This poor lady fell foul of the standard 419 'advance fee' scam. It is amazing how many otherwise intelligent people fall foul of these confidence tricks.

Where do I sign up JC? Seriously!
The ones that really piss me off are the ones that play on vulnerable women looking for a relationship or life partner. BBW's are often targeted - many don't have high self-esteem.

Oh...I won another UK lottery...oops...there's ANOTHER one!
(sigh)

I'm sorry, this may be very simplistic, but what an idiot...anyone who falls for this deserves all they can get...I mean, have they never heard of "to good to be true" ?...incredible how people fall for this...it never fails to amaze me........as for scammer baters, well....fine whatever.....I'm sure they are terrified....sorry...this is absolute nonsense....

Thank you Alan - my thoughts exactly!

However... having said that and what I did earlier - I do realize several things:
#1 When you are a newbie to the Internet you have no idea people do things like that!
#2 She must really hate her husband to send off all of his hard earned retirement
#3 And where in the fuck was he while she is sending off all their money, mortgaging the house and liening the car, probably out fucking some 25 year old?
#4 Just because she has some education in her background doesn't mean she has any common sense. I've known some nursing administrators and CPR teachers - that they can do a job doesn't mean there is any real knowledge there. I handle the school's budget but I have never had any bookkeeping or bugeting experience! Well, other then in my own personal life and yet here I am.
#5 My intuition tells me as I read their profile when something is whanky but as we know those are easy enough to copy from someone else. So then you listen to what they say and how wrong they say it (not literally listen, just by reading their replies). They usually can't spell and can't put sentences in proper order. And yeah I am really picky about that. I think its one reason I don't like all the short cuts until I get to know the person well.
Oh enough... I also feel she deserves what she got...

Subject: MARLA & ALAN...Please take time to read this. Thu Nov 20, 2008 5:47 am

Sorry Marla and Alan. You would be surprised at just how many otherwise normal intelligent people are conned each year by these thieving bastards.

It is a growth industry in Nigeria! the 419 scam refers to a section of the Nigerian Penal code. The types of scamming that go on are the straightforward advance fee fraud - the 419. This is where a person is lulled into a false sense of security by a scammer. This does not happen over days, the successful scammers take their time in building the confidence. Monies are always transferred by Western Union so no trace.

Then there are the Love Scammers. These are the ones that I tend to target as they tend to pray on the weak who as TC says have a VERY low opinion of themselves. Again, they will build up a rapport with a gullible person initially posing as an Amaerican who is an engineer working in Nigeria under contract to some Oil company. They will have a very credible ID with photo's of a reasonably good looking maybe slightly overweight white male. The convincer is that their command of the English language is VERY good, and would pass for a person with average education levels. They build up a rapport and will arrange to be coming back to the States. By this time the poor mark is so convinced that she has found a new lover that she is ready to move heaven and earth to be with him. Then surprise surprise, he gets to the airport to collect his ticket, and the company have got the date wrong. He sends an e-mail saying that he hasn't got enough moneyto buy a ticket as he has just had to pay his local workers, could she send some money by WU. The money of course flies out so quickly, and our lad is now a few hundred dollars richer...and so the saga will continue.

These scammers are not just Nigerians, the Russian scammers all tend to be Love Scammers and all work VERY closely to a script. The Phillipino scammers all tend to use webcams and IM chats...spot the chick with a dick!!

Believe me Alan and Marla, when I first became involved with 419eater, I was VERY sceptical and thought well, they deserve all they get, BUT when you read about the heartache that these bastards cause, and you realise that the next mug could be someone you know...well, it made me want to do a bit in trying to keep the scammers busy with a person who KNOWS what he is up against!

Please, take a few minutes out, go to www.419eater.com have a browse around, take a look at the forum...you will find me there if you look hard at the writing style!! My forte is as I have said Love Baits. My two baiting personnae, Melanie Frontage and Paddy O'Doors are presently resting having caused several months of abject confusion abongst the West African and Russian Love scammers!!

I don't know if I can get on board with "she deserves what she got."
No one "deserves" to be a victim of crime.

I was just telling Bobby, crime and fraud is up for us right now.
Much of that is out of desperation. Eldery are being preyed upon right now to sign up for a life insurance policy - in return, they are paid a chunk of money 5-10k, and think they are getting a policy (fake). The broker who sets this up insures them for 1-10 million - making up assets on the application that don't exist to warrant such a high policy. These brokers are banking on someone's death!

The brokers don't realize that people like me verify assets, employment, etc.
We are sending cases to the FBI weekly.

Now, I don't consider the elderly "stupid" and I certainly don't think they deserve this. These fraudsters are very good at what they do.
Ignorant and trusting doesn't necessarily equal stupid.

The nigerian scammers continue to exist because it pays - someone somewhere bites. I'm all for efforts at:

1. Educating the public
2. Busting these scammers.

My roomate - a very intelligent and lovely woman, didn't know about the Craig's list scammers. Now that I made her aware - she is onto them in a heartbeat. Yet, she knows someone who just got scammed in that way.

Oh come on TC - let us be responsible for our own stupid mistakes. I am. While I agree with you that the elderly are often hit upon for scamming and they don't deserve it, and yeah John I do know many are taken in by these. Believe me, we have all been hit with them and have had our own experiences with them. I am just trying not to be that trusting nor that mindless (unless of course I'm in bed with a man that has magic hands and tongue... then yeah, I'm pretty mindless... and if he asks me for money at the moment I'm over the edge into a screaming O then yeah I just might hand him some. "For a nickle I will".)

These articles are very good for several reasons - getting the word out there. Letting us know what to look for, who to protect ourselves from and that these problems really do exsist. But ultimately we do need to be responsible for our actions.

Okay enough from me because even after my shower all I can be is sarcastic, condesending and grumpy. Reading about scam artists and pregnant men with women's organs makes me that way.

Never said to not be responsible for our mistakes.
I said I don't think anyone "deserves it."
Not like I'm calling for a government bailout for her!

The trick is, to learn from our mistakes and to be as informed as we can be.
But everyone has different levels of awareness and ignorance.

Number of posts : 74 Registration date : 2008-10-30

John C wrote:: Sorry Marla and Alan. You would be surprised at just how many otherwise normal intelligent people are conned each year by these thieving bastards.

It is a growth industry in Nigeria! the 419 scam refers to a section of the Nigerian Penal code. The types of scamming that go on are the straightforward advance fee fraud - the 419. This is where a person is lulled into a false sense of security by a scammer. This does not happen over days, the successful scammers take their time in building the confidence. Monies are always transferred by Western Union so no trace.

Then there are the Love Scammers. These are the ones that I tend to target as they tend to pray on the weak who as TC says have a VERY low opinion of themselves. Again, they will build up a rapport with a gullible person initially posing as an Amaerican who is an engineer working in Nigeria under contract to some Oil company. They will have a very credible ID with photo's of a reasonably good looking maybe slightly overweight white male. The convincer is that their command of the English language is VERY good, and would pass for a person with average education levels. They build up a rapport and will arrange to be coming back to the States. By this time the poor mark is so convinced that she has found a new lover that she is ready to move heaven and earth to be with him. Then surprise surprise, he gets to the airport to collect his ticket, and the company have got the date wrong. He sends an e-mail saying that he hasn't got enough moneyto buy a ticket as he has just had to pay his local workers, could she send some money by WU. The money of course flies out so quickly, and our lad is now a few hundred dollars richer...and so the saga will continue.

These scammers are not just Nigerians, the Russian scammers all tend to be Love Scammers and all work VERY closely to a script. The Phillipino scammers all tend to use webcams and IM chats...spot the chick with a dick!!

Believe me Alan and Marla, when I first became involved with 419eater, I was VERY sceptical and thought well, they deserve all they get, BUT when you read about the heartache that these bastards cause, and you realise that the next mug could be someone you know...well, it made me want to do a bit in trying to keep the scammers busy with a person who KNOWS what he is up against!

Please, take a few minutes out, go to www.419eater.com have a browse around, take a look at the forum...you will find me there if you look hard at the writing style!! My forte is as I have said Love Baits. My two baiting personnae, Melanie Frontage and Paddy O'Doors are presently resting having caused several months of abject confusion abongst the West African and Russian Love scammers!!

......JC ! great information I have been talking to a man from PO for about 3 days I suspect he is also a sacammer because he sais he is from LA but works for a construction company wich he is now in London.But ..lol he gave me some bad news last night about his boss sending him to work to Nigeria and he was very sad about it. lol I said good luck to you then he asked what do you mean by that? I said well be careful with the scamers. He asked me if I knew about them I said yes and that they would never get a penny out of me.I swear God that just as I wrote that he stoped texting and hasnt done it again.

Suze...whereabouts did you find this guy? Was it on a dating site?? If so, do you have an e-mail address for him? I can easily resurrect one of my characters to have a go at him and get him on Safari! I am sure that he would like to meet the nymphet Porn star Mary Huff!! If you have any details, send me a PM, and I will see what I can do with this bit of lowlife!

Number of posts : 83 Age : 63 Registration date : 2008-11-04

Paddy O'Doors????? I think May Hem went to school with that gal

I thought it was Mae Hemm

and Patty O'Furnature

Number of posts : 83 Age : 63 Registration date : 2008-11-04

Sure You aren't thinking of Peppermint Patty & Mae West? scratch

I got an E-mail today thats a spin I haven't seen on the scams from Africa..puppy for adoption..wth
I started marking anything that had to do with Africa as spam a long time ago and anytime I get mail from anyone who suddenly is going to or already works in Africa but wants to know me better i throw it in the oops file...as in oops you made a big mistake if you think i'm falling for that one!

Oooh Angie...if you haven't got rid of it yet, you might care to send it to me...Puppy adoption scams are brilliant! I have twisted one round to get him to send me a Unicorn! They never seem to get their money though. I will pm an address for you to send it to if you still have it!

Suze I hope that you don't mind me sharing this latest offering from J0hn M00r3 (The obfuscating is just to prevent any google searches picking his name up!).

This chap was trying it on with our Suze. She has very kindly passed him over to me, and my character L0l@ R0ss0 (a bit of a red luttuce our girl!) is now 'enjoying' the early stages of an on-line relationship with him.

This is the latest offering from him after L0l@ slapped him for getting pushy about marriage! L0l@'s late husband was killed in a tragic wood burning Pizza oven backblast, leaving the poor sweet thing worth $7.5m after his chain of Pizza restaurants was sold off a couple of years ago!

Quote :: Hello My Sweet Angel,
How are you doing babe, thanks for your mail,
I am really sorry if my message about Marriage made u uneasy, i have to slow down. I am a rushy type, it's worth the wait. I want you to know that i have been thinking much about you lately, I really want to be with you soon.
I am a Civil Engineer, i am into construction. We travel alot for work, i have been to different countries for work, i need to settle down, that is why i want to open a restaurant. I want to settle down to have time for my lady. I want to spend the rest of my life around her and making her happy as i know she will make me.
Honey, i would have love to be around for your thanksgiving party but i am not home now, I am in London and probably wont make it home for the party. I will be visiting an orphanage for the thanksgiving and will be giving them gifts. I know it will be fun
I will mail you more in the morning.
I care
Hugs

This guy is such an absolute dick...I really do believe I will get him travelling around Africa to meet L0l@ when she goes on a safari holiday in January!!! Watch this space!

Forgot to mention that he will be enjoying some phone calls from L0l@ in a week or so's time! I have a fellow lady bater who lives in Oregon who will be phoning him on his cell phone at about 03.00 his time two or three days on the trot...our lad is going to wish he had never ever made contact with Suze!!

Fascinating saga! Keep us posted - I'm rather enjoying it JC!
Sheesh - everyone KNOWS restaurant owners have barely any time for their lady!
lol!

yeah if anybody wants me..I'll be spending the morning at the orphanage as well...and the afternoon at the animal shelter ...before serving dinner at the old folks home

I understand loneliness can sometimes make someone a little desparate

but come on...................

Number of posts : 83 Age : 63 Registration date : 2008-11-04

At the orpahage in London???? Did know y'all celebrated Thanksgiving over there in the UK

auntie tagonist wrote:: At the orpahage in London???? Did know y'all celebrated Thanksgiving over there in the UK

Methinks you will find Mr M00re NOT in London as he claims doing good works in an orphanage, BUT according to where the IP address resolves to, he is sitting in a grubby Internet Cafe in sunny downtown Lagos!!!

Well the ever so lovely L0l@ has just sent our John a reply...

Quote :: Good afternoon John

Although I guess in London, it is now good evening!

I am sorry for being so hard on you in my last e-mail John. I was really worried that I might have lost you. Mel said that I was being silly and that you would understand! She is my still small voice of reason! We are chalk and cheese, but perhaps that is why we have always been so close!

I am sad that you won't be able to make our Thanksgiving party, but I am very impressed with the work you are doing at the orphanage! I am sure that you will have a lot of fun!

You want to open a restaurant? Why John? Do you know just how hard running a restaurant is? Poor dear Gi@ncarlo ran himself ragged getting the first three restaurants up and running. It is not just the finding the right place and the right chef, but also getting the bright team behind you. Gianc@rlo was fortunate as he has plenty of family connections that helped ease the passage of planning and staffing! Perhaps I can introduce you to his 'Uncle' Guiseppe. He was not really Gianc@rlos Uncle, but he took Giancarlo under his wing so as to speak and made sure that his operation would be successful.

How long are you going to be in London John? Just Mel is a mad keen sailor, and as it is her birthday this Saturday, we are flying over to the Earls Court Boat Exhibition and I a paying for the trip as her present. We are staying at the Dorchester Hotel and flying back home on Monday afternoon from Heathrow.

It would be fantastic to meet up for dinner on Saturday evening, maybe we could then all go on to Stringfellows and dance the night away. You will LOVE Peter...he is such a character!

Let me know John.

Take care of you because I care about you!

L0la
xx

Any bets as to the fact that he will be flying out of London about the same time L0l@ and Mel fly in?? Watch this space!

Number of posts : 74 Registration date : 2008-10-30

JC !!!!! I LOVE YOU !!!!!!! GREAT JOB!!

And so the saga continues...and he STILL hasn't asked for money!!

Quote :: Hello Sunshine,
How are you doing this evening. from this mail, i can see you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Thank God for that.
Baby, how many days are you spending in London, would be of great pleasure to meet you here.
The orphanages were so happy i visited, i had breakfast and lunch with the kids. One of the kids asked if i was married, i told her NO that i have been seeing a loving and wonderful woman named L0la, Another asked me, " does she make u happy?" I told him "EVERYTIME"
L0la, Having you in my life will make me a complete man. I have hopes and dreams of a brighter future with u. I just hope you understand this.
I got a gift for Mel's birthday but i didnt have an address i could forward it to.
I hope you girls are having a nice trip and hope she is having fun

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MEL!
GREAT THANKSGIVING TO BOTH OF YOU!!!
I CARE SO MUCH
JOHN

So following on from the big Thanksgiving party that L0l@ and Mel. had, the girls are getting ready for their trip to London! It will be so exciting for them meeting up with John! I really do not see how he manages it...the above mail emanated again from an Internet Cafe in Lagos...he must have popped back there after celebrating Thanksgiving at the orphanage!! I do hope he will be back in London in time! I am really surprised that Alan has never bumped into this jet setter!!!

Quote :: Good Morning John

We are in London until Monday morning and we are on a 10.05 flight back to O'Hare.

Will you be able to meet up with us babe?

It must be about 15.00 in England now. If you do pick this mail up, please mail me back to confirm that you can meet us.

I do hope so. I told you that we are staying at the Dorchester didn't I? It is a lovely hotel that brings back such sad sweet memories for me. It is where Giancarl0 and I used to stay when we came to England.

Hopefully it can start to have some new meaning for me after meeting you!

Melanie has just arrived at the house complete with her weekend case! I haven't even started packing mine yet!

I have booked a table at Sm0lensky's on the Strand for the three of us for 20.00. Giancarl0 knew the manager of Sm0lensky's in NY, and as such we have a lovely table booked! Have you ever eaten there? Their steaks are amazing!

Mel and I look forward to seeing you on Saturday evening!

Laters

L0la

Watch this space for developments...we will be phoning him next week...that is when the fun will really start!

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