Jacqueline MoodyJammin’ Jests, Jukin’ Jives, & Jolly Roger Justice

Duping people into giving money using the Nigerian scam has proven to be highly successful. This scam grew by sending unsolicited spam to your mailbox.  The scammers dupe you into wiring them money to pay for fees, bribes, etc. and promise you a portion of large sums of money for helping them out.

After many years, this scam has grown and transformed into new ways of duping people. And now it is even more insidious. They make themselves appear legitimate by perpetrating their scams using legitimate web sites such as Monster, eBay, and Craig’s List.  They may offer buy your item and accidentally overpay, or in the case of Monster, they may even hire you.  While the details around the scam vary, there is one core item that stays the same.

You send them your money, and they keep it.

Don’t be fooled!  Here are some examples I’ve heard of Internet scams.

Someon lists an item for sale on eBay or Craig’s List. Someone buys the item and accidentally overpays. They come back with, “I’m so embarrassed! Please send me back the overpayment, and keep 10% of it for your trouble. Send it via wire transfer and out of the country, please, so there’s no way you’ll ever get your money back.”  Of course about six weeks later, it turns out their payment to you was bad. This means you are out the money you sent them and the item you were selling as you already shipped it to them.

Someone posts their resume at Monster and gets hired to work at home.  They perform the duties of the job and receive payment for the entire job. They keep their portion of the job and wire transfer the rest to the employer, most likely out of the country.  This can happen multiple times before the scam is caught. Of course, you are being paid by money stolen out of someone else’s bank account that they ‘hired’ and got their bank details to pay them with. So basically, they steal money from someone and give it to you. They have you keep a portion and wire transfer the rest to them. Then they steal money out of your bank account to pay the next victim. And if you’re very unlucky, the job they had you do was pack and ship stolen goods. They basically turn you into a criminal when you think you’re workng in a legitimate job.

Somene lists a hard-to-sell item such as a car for sale on Craig’s list. They get a communication from someone saying they’ll sell the car for them for the low fee of…  Of course, they never sell your car or whatever else it is, they just keep your money.

Bottom line - do not wire transfer money to anyone you don’t know.  Be safe out there!