Jul 3 2009 by Kenny Barr, Dumfries Standard Friday

IT WAS an e-mail that was too good to be true.

For anyone willing to help a Nigerian transfer $300 million into a UK bank account they would receive up to half of the fortune.

But for leading consultant surgeon Fawzia Ashkanani the temptation was irresistible.

The breast cancer specialist remortgaged her house and borrowed thousands of pounds from friends and family to invest more than £350,000 in the get rich quick scheme which turned out to be an internet scam.

Nigerian conman Chinaenye Mokelu, 44, was jailed for five years for his part in the phishing spam e-mail which was said to have “ruined” the consultant’s life.

Describing the impact of the fraud on the surgeon at Dumfries Infirmary, Michael Fraser, prosecuting, told Basildon Crown Court: “She said how this whole episode has left her feeling upset with a huge feeling of guilt because she has let down members of her family and indeed close friends.

“She is struggling to cope with repaying the £210,000 remortgage.

“It has also had a profound psychological impact on her. She has considerable difficulty in relating and talking to her patients because this matter has caused her considerable embarrassment.”

The court was told “gullible” Miss Ashkanani saw the opportunity, presented when the e-mail landed in her inbox in August 2007, as a way to finance her dream of setting up clinics in the most deprived areas of Africa.

Mr Fraser said after making contact with the sender, she was asked to pay £4,500 to broker Mokelu, to enable the transfer of funds.

As part of the elaborate fraud, Kuwati-born Miss Ashkanani travelled twice to London to meet several of the gang of fraudsters – who have never been traced by police.

During one meeting in a Holiday Inn she was shown a suitcase full of fake $100 notes. In September 2007, Miss Ashkanani was told the sum of £210,000 was required to release the funds.

So desperate was she to get hold of the promised £75,000,000 reward she raised the amount by remortgaging her house.

The conmen even mocked up and dispatched a document which appeared to be a £150,000 transfer to her account purporting to be from US Citibank Group.

Then came a phone call demanding £750,000 in tax. When Miss Ashkanani said she could not find that amount, the court heard, she was told “raise as much as you can” and threatened with police investigation if she pulled out of the deal.

She convinced her brother to lend her more than £50,000 which was paid into a Lloyds bank account controlled by Mokelu.

The married father-of-two – whose wife and seven and 14-year-old daughters have returned to Nigeria – was arrested as he withdrew £20,000 in cash from the fraudulent account. When police searched his home in Grays, Essex, they found a suitcase full of fake cash and a counterfeit Nigerian passport.

They also found a mobile phone with Miss Ashkanani’s work, home and mobile numbers saved under the names “Miracle 1, Miracle 2 and Miracle 3”, the court was told.

During some 18 months, Miss Ashkanani handed over £352,937.

Mokelu was sentenced to a five-year jail term – four years for conspiracy to defraud and another year added on for using a fake Nigerian passport to set up a fraudulent bank account.

He is expected to be deported at the end of his sentence.

Police are searching for two men they believe caught the woman in a confidence scheme. By SEAN EMERY THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER Comments | Recommend IRVINE – Authorities say two men scammed an Irvine woman out of $60,000 in cash and more than $16,000 in jewelry this week, promising her a profit in return for helping them access “inheritance” money in what police describe as one of the oldest cons in the book. Police believe the woman is a victim of what they refer to as a “pigeon drop,” a confidence scheme in which someone is convinced to give up cash or valuables in return for even greater sums of money. The woman was first approached by one of the men while leaving a restaurant in the 14000 block of Culver Drive at around 11 a.m. on Monday, police Lt. John Hare said. The man, who identified himself as “Mabue,” told the woman that a rich uncle had left him a conditional inheritance, which required that he make a donation to a charity, Hare said. He asked the woman to help him find a charity, Hare said, implying that she would get a piece of the inheritance in return. The woman took “Mabue” to a church in the 5000 block of Alton, Hare said, where she intended to talk to the priest about the charity donation. But shortly after they arrived, a second man, who identified himself as “Frank,” struck up a conversation with the two. “Frank” then left briefly and returned with what the woman believed to be a large sum of money, Hare said. The two men convinced the woman to help with their “donation” as well, Hare said, and she dropped them off at a shopping center parking lot as she drove home to pick up several thousands of dollars in cash and jewels. The woman picked the two men up, and drove them to her bank, the Downey Savings and Loan on Culver Drive and Walnut, where she took out more money while “Mabue” and “Frank” waited in the parking lot, Hare said. The woman gave the two men the $60,000 in cash and more than $16,000 worth of jewelry, Hare said. Once she handed over the money and jewels, the men asked her to drive around the parking lot one time as a “test of trust,” Hare said. The men were gone by the time she returned, Hare said. The woman went into the bank to report what happened, and employees called the police, Hare said. Police have released descriptions of both men. The man who identified himself as “Mabue” is described as being in his early 40s, 5 feet 6 inches tall, about 180 pounds, clean shaven with short hair and dark brown skin. He had a thick French accent. “Frank” was described as a black man in his early 50s, 6 feet tall, 180 pounds, clean shaven and curly black hair with a little gray in it. Confidence scams like the pigeon drop have gained a new notoriety in recent years, thanks to its more tech savvy equivalent, the “Nigerian E-mail” scam in which a “wealthy foreigner” asks victims for help moving a large sum of money from their homeland in return for a percentage of the cash. “Part of the problem with the Nigerian E-mail scam is that it is not tangible money right there in front of you,” police Det. Joe Monroe said. “It is a lot easier to delete an e-mail than walk away from someone in front of you with this great scheme. Unfortunately greed kind of takes over.” Unlike scams such as identity fraud which can require more people and expertise, confidence scams can be pulled of with less manpower, Monroe said. “This is a very basic, easy scam that two or three people can put together and pull off,” Monroe said. “The way a lot of crooks think is ‘more people, less cut.’” While the number of incidents are still relatively low – Hare could remember only a handful in the past few years – they can have a devastating financial impact on the victims. A 71-year-old Anaheim widow in January lost $5,332, her life savings, when a man asked her for help finding an attorney to interpret a letter he claimed said he won $200,000. As in the Irvine case, another man who police believe was in on the scam showed up to donate his own money, and once the woman turned over her share of the cash the men took off. The con artists often prey on elderly victims, Monroe said. When watching out for the scams, Monroe said the simplest advice is still the best. “They need to be cautious with any investment they make. Just don’t let greed overtake your common sense,” Monroe said. “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”

01:00 AM EDT on Friday, April 24, 2009
By Katie Mulvaney

Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE — A federal judge on Thursday sentenced a Coventry woman to a year in prison for

her role in a Nigerian mail-fraud scheme intended to target more than 900 victims.

Nancy Alexander, 67, wept as Chief U.S. Judge Mary M. Lisi gave her a sentence of one year

plus one day, and placed her under three years of supervision following her release. She was

ordered to undergo mental-health counseling, pay $9,420 in restitution, and was forbidden to

use the Internet without court approval upon her release.

“There’s no question in my mind that this defendant clearly understood what she was being

asked to do,” Lisi said in U.S. District Court. Alexander, she said, agreed to engage in a

scheme with an out-of-country mastermind in exchange for the promise of a $600 monthly

paycheck.

Using a cane and appearing feeble, Alexander apologized to her family. She cast herself as

the victim of a conniving scam artist who preyed on the vulnerable over the Internet. Her

lawyer, Mary S. McElroy, said Alexander was plagued by illness, financial troubles and

depression after her son’s death at the time the Nigerian wooed her into a false romance and

subsequent scam online.

“I didn’t realize how many people I hurt,” Alexander said, crying. “I couldn’t hurt anybody.

It’s just not in me.”

Alexander, of Victory Highway, had faced 37 to 46 months in prison under federal guidelines.

Prosecutor Lee H. Vilker had asked for 37 months, saying such schemes were increasingly a

blight on society and that the sentence should serve to deter other Americans from being

enlisted in similar conspiracies. Alexander sought one-day imprisonment and home confinement

with electronic monitoring in light of her age and health issues, including diabetes,

arthritis, depression and fibromyalgia.

Alexander in November pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud involving about $1.6 million

in counterfeit checks and money orders, admitting she made fraudulent checks and forwarded

others that had been shipped to her from Nigeria.

According to a Secret Service affidavit, agents intercepted a parcel last April addressed to

Alexander that contained 119 counterfeit checks and money orders, prosecutors said. The

package originated in Nigeria and had been shipped through France.

Agents found that Alexander and her accomplices approached victims and intended victims in

several ways. For instance, they contacted one after she posted a résumé online; another had

advertised a pool heater for sale in a local newspaper; and a third was seeking a work-from

-home job. All were asked to cash checks sent to them of various amounts. They were

instructed to keep some of the money and wire the balance to other accounts, prosecutors

said.

All the checks turned out to be counterfeit and victims lost money they had wired back —

ranging from $2,000 to $5,000. Other targets either waited for the checks to clear — which

they did not — or did not respond at all. In all, Alexander successfully scammed $9,420,

though she received none of that money before her arrest last year, according court

statements.

Lisi referenced Alexander’s two-decade criminal history in sentencing her. Previous charges,

for which Alexander always received probation, included passing bad checks and most recently

stealing a coworker’s personal information and then using her credit card, Lisi said.

It is clear that leniency by previous judges did not deter her from engaging in the Nigerian

fraud and lending it the legitimacy of an American address, Lisi said. “She did it with her

eyes wide open.”

Alexander is scheduled to surrender voluntarily May 14.

A Perth man has reportedly been jailed for six years for his role in a Nigerian-style scam campaign that netted $132,400 from four Australian victims.

The West Australian newspaper reported this morning that 30-year-old Tuoyo Clement Nikaghanri had been sentenced to six years in prison for his part in the scam, which reportedly drew in victims via emails and internet sites between 2005 and 2008.

The newspaper reported that the sentence was handed down by District Court Judge Phillip Eaton. WA Police Detective Senior Constable Jamie McDonald, who works in WA Police’s Technology Crime Investigations Unit, confirmed the report was accurate.

The West Australian reported that Nikaghanri became involved in the scam to pay off a $96,000 credit card debt. He reportedly held four passports and was sentenced on fraud and passport violation charges.

This article was originally posted on ZDNet Australia.

A LEADING eye surgeon was conned out of £350,000 in an internet scam.
Nigerian fraudster Chinaenye Mokelu sent out a spam email asking UK bank account holders to help him transfer his “$300million fortune” to Britain.

Consultant Fawzia Ashkanani replied, and was duped into transferring £350,000 into Mokelu’s bank accounts in return for a slice of his wealth.

She even travelled from her home in Dumfries, Scotland, to meet Mokelu in London, where he showed her a suitcase full of fake cash.

Mokelu, 44, of Grays, Essex, admitted conspiracy to defraud.

He was remanded in custody for sentencing in June.

Basildon Crown Court heard cops traced just £30,000 of the £350,000.

Other conspirators are still at large.

By Henry Ojelu

A first class honours graduate of Geography, from the University of Lagos, Lawal Adewale Nurudeem, wept uncontrollably yesterday, at the Ikeja High Court, as he was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment for defrauding an Australian woman of over N8 million. Adewale was alleged to have, in November, 2007, under the pretext of being a British national involved in a fatal accident, defrauded Rosalene Sunna, an Australian, who, because of his unfortunate fate, kindly opted to extend financial assistance to him via the internet. According to the information on the charge brought against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Adewale posted a pathetic picture of a Briton involved in a motor accident in Nigeria on the internet, with the aim of soliciting financial assistance from any kind individual. Kind-hearted 56-year-old Rosalene fell for the scam and initially sent some money to Adewale who was hale and hearty in Lagos. To further milk Rosalene, Adewale appealed for more assistance and she subsequently sent more money thinking she was helping someone in genuine need. Adewale’s fraudulent acts brought him opulence, making him to open fat accounts with several banks, acquired landed properties and a car. Adewale’s cup was full when an official of the internet intelligence agency in Australia discovered the irregularities in the correspondence between him and Rosalene. The EFCC was duly notified via a petition and Adewale was picked up at Ikorodu, a suburb of Lagos, while he was about to pick up another package from his benefactor in a bank in Ikorodu. On arrest, Adewale made a confessional statement acknowledging his fraudulent acts, but later pleaded not guilty when he was arraigned in court. He later entered into a plea bargain changing his plea to guilty as charged. He wept in the dock all through the court proceedings. After listening to Adewale’s lawyer, Mr. Omolaja’s emotion-laden plea for mercy, the presiding judge, justice Obadina, while condemning Adewale for choosing to follow the infamous path of internet scam, sentenced him to a 12-month jail term. The judge also instructed him to prostrate and apologise to his father who was present in court, for embarrassing him and soiling their family name.

News that hackers breached the UK Justice Minister’s constituency email account and used his contact list for a bizarre fraudulent spam attack might have raised a few smiles, however, behind this story is a reminder of the serious threat that we face on a daily basis.

The burlesque character of this story suggests it may have been more aimed at political embarrassment than at financial gain. Hackers gained access to Jack Straw’s Hotmail account, which he used for constituency, but not government business, stole his contact list and sent spam emails to about 200 contacts asking each to send $3000 to Nigeria so he could get home, having lost his wallet while doing charitable work in Africa.

The recipients were his constituents, Labour Party members and Ministry of Justice officials. The reference to Nigeria echoes with the well-known ‘Nigerian Money Laundering’ attacks, although this incident is not about money laundering. Today, hackers are often expert at tailoring their ‘social engineering’ attacks, but this message was pushing credulity to its limit, particularly as the news media routinely report his travels. One person replied to the email, and nobody sent any money, although several people did phone his home to check the information.

The unsurprising failure of this attack as a criminal financial fraud should not hide the ‘successes’ of the attackers. It is likely that the attackers will make further use of the contact list, to launch future scams or to sell it on to the criminal fraternity through the sophisticated market it has for stolen information of all types. They have also achieved a significant coup in the political embarrassment area. Jack Straw is not just a senior government minister, but the head of law and order and a champion of moving the balance towards more government control and surveillance. He is therefore likely to be a target for this kind of attack. This makes it surprising that he had taken so few steps to secure his Internet activities. We do not know how the hackers gained access to his Hotmail account, but the likelihood is that they used a mundane method to steal his password such as guessing it, downloading spyware, shoulder surfing or intercepting an insecure Wi-Fi session.

A contact list in Exchange contains names, email addresses and optionally phone numbers, addresses and other information such as employment details. This is small fry both qualitatively and quantitatively, compared with the numerous leaks from government databases or incidents in the commercial world such as with the retailer TKMaxx. However, the hackers now have enough information to launch spam attacks, and other low-level identity theft attacks, on 200 people who did not even know their information was being held in this way or in this place. All such attacks highlight the danger of aggregating information into a single place.

Jack Straw is reported as saying that “there is no evidence that confidentiality of constituents was affected”. This may be true, but he would have to admit the likelihood is that their confidentiality has been affected. We may never know how far down the criminal line this information will pass. It is possible that the hackers also downloaded the contents of his mailboxes, which could contain some very sensitive information. Hotmail should be able to clarify the extent of the breach by examining its logs but this information is unlikely to be published. It could have happened, and the victims will be the last to know.

The moral of this story is that everyone has a duty to protect the information they hold online, and particularly when it belongs to, or refers to, others. This duty of care includes maintaining a high standard of cyber hygiene, refraining from using authentication credentials in insecure environments, protecting mobile devices from theft and misuse, and ensuring secure communications.

Some scams are linked to organized crime in both the U.S. and overseas, said Brian Hale, spokesman for the FBI in Washington, D.C.

He said one scam continuing since last year targets the FBI itself. E-mail spam messages claim to be an official order from the FBI Anti-Terrorist and Monetary Crimes Division unit in Nigeria, telling recipients they have been named beneficiary of millions of dollars. The messages ask for personal information and threaten the recipient with prosecution if they fail to provide it.

In December, the FBI issued an alert about the scam, stating it does not send such unsolicited e-mail.

For 2007, the most recent data available, the FBI and the Internet Crime Complaint Center received 206,884 scam complaints. That’s down slightly from 2006.

The Internet Crime Center, a joint program by the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center, said more than 90,000 cases nationwide involving estimated losses for the complaints in 2007 at $240 million were referred to law enforcement – up $40 million from the year before.

In Illinois, the national complaint center received 6,214 complaints in 2007. The top dollar-loss complaint to the national center from Illinois that year involved a confidence fraud with losses of $700,000.

Statewide, total scam losses from complaints to the national center for the year were more than $9 million.

Nationally, the most common kind of scam complaint involves online auction frauds, according to Craig Butterworth, spokesman for the National White Collar Crime Center.

So called “work-at-home” scams are also common, he said. That’s where a supposed job listing is a hook to lure victims who are “hired” to receive and redistribute money via wire transfers.

That’s similar to overpayment scams, according to Butterworth. One example is known as the “super-shopper scam,” in which victims think they are getting a legitimate chance to work by shopping or dining out and submitting evaluations of their experience.

Victims receive bad checks, which they are told to deposit, and further instructed to wire a percentage to a third party while using the rest to “complete their assignment,” Butterworth said.

“This scam is successful when the (scammer) is able to convert the victim’s wire transfer into cash before the bank realizes the initial payment is counterfeit,” he said.

Natalie Bauer, spokeswoman for Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s office, said about 20 percent of complaints to the Consumer Protection Division in 2007 involved identity theft. That year, there were 32,577 complaints; of those, 6,388 related to identity theft.

“We expect that trend to continue,” Bauer said. “The economic recession is likely a factor in the steady flow of identity theft complaints.”

She said the attorney general’s consumer complaint hot line has had increased calls about mortgage fraud.

“Some people claim to work with lenders to help you keep your house, but they ask for money up front,” Bauer said.

Under Illinois law, the mortgage services have to perform their service first before collecting any money, she said.

By Steve Bauer

A simple plan to sell a television turned into a case for local law enforcement and the FBI.

Aiken residents Cliff and Jamie Cole posted an ad on Craigslist.com on Feb. 9 to sell a Hitachi 52-inch 2004 refurbished projection TV. The asking price was $600, to be paid by cashier’s check or money order and to be picked up in person at their residence.

A few days later, they received an e-mail from “Shelly” claiming to be from Las Vegas but currently traveling. The person requested the Coles to hold the television for two weeks until they could arrange for pick-up. The e-mail correspondence offered to send a $100 deposit to hold the television. 

The Coles agreed, telling the person to send a certified check; they didn’t hear anything for over a week until last Wednesday. The buyer sent an e-mail saying they dropped a check in the mail for the deposit. 

On Friday, the Coles received an unscheduled delivery. Tucked inside a UPS Next Day Air envelope was a check made out to Cliff Cole in the amount of $1,450. 

The Coles were immediately suspicious and started investigating the check’s legitimacy. First, they Googled Bridge Bank and DF Sales Co., because both names appeared on the check and were listed with addresses in San Jose, Calif. The business name checked out as an electronics company and the bank is an actual financial institution, making everything appear legitimate on first glance.

However, the Coles decided to make a few phone calls. Cliff Cole spoke with a man at DF Sales who told him several checks had been issued recently on an account that was closed a couple years ago. In addition, Cole contacted security at Bridge Bank and confirmed the account had been terminated.

The UPS envelope also revealed a few avenues the Coles investigated. The sender’s name appeared as Cappadonna Inc., which they discovered is a Texas-based business. UPS advised the Coles the package had been mailed from Las Vegas, which corresponded to the address provided by “Shelly.” A Google map search of “Shelly’s” address showed a substantial brick home near a school in Las Vegas. 

The Coles contacted Aiken Public Safety and a report was filed. On Saturday morning, “Shelly” made contact again. 

“I received a somewhat threatening e-mail from Shelly demanding payment via Western Union to Las Vegas, Nev.,” said Cliff. “Since the e-mail was somewhat threatening and demanding, and obviously a scam, I called Aiken Public Safety, who sent a uniformed officer to my house … (who) stated that the APS investigators will be making further inquiries. I have not and will not deposit the check.”

The Coles have also contacted the FBI in Columbia.

“The agent said this appeared to be a typical Nigerian scam and that sending money Western Union would allow the scammers to pick up the money in Nigeria. He requested that I go to www.ic3.gov and fill out a complaint form,” said Cole.

The biggest concern the Coles have is spreading the word so others don’t fall prey to similar scams. “We want others to be alert,” said Jamie. 

While the couple’s cautiousness prevented them from cashing the check, they still expect “Shelly” will send further e-mails with increasing threats. 

The case draws similarities to a recent “Secret Shopper” scam reported by Karen Daily in the Aiken Standard.

In that scam, the scammer mails a check and then requests the receiver to cash a portion of the money and wire the rest back to them via Western Union. The checks are fraudulent and, when the bank realizes this, the money in the victim’s account is frozen.

Police advise citizens to be careful of anyone seeking to give them money.

Anyone who has received similar correspondences is asked to visit www.ic3.gov and fill out a complaint form detailing the incident. In addition, the AARP keeps a list of scams and offers advice on what you should do if you think you have been, or might be, scammed. Visit www.aarp.org/money/wise_consumer/scams. 

A Nov. 25, edition of NPR’s “Talk of the Nation” discussed the latest generation of scams. To listen to the show, visit www.npr.org and search “Elderly Scammed by ‘Relatives’ Seeking Aid.” The program discusses evolving scams originating from Nigeria and Canada, and fetures callers sharing their firsthand experiencess. Many of the scams aren’t targeted strictly to the elderly; there are numerous phishing schemes, overpayment and check fraud scams.

Credit union official concerned more individuals will get scammed.

MANITOWOC — UnitedOne Credit Union wants “Jack Richards” to pay up, about $2,700 by Wednesday.

Otherwise, the credit union may take the Lakeshore-area man, in his 20s with a wife and child, to small claims court.

In retrospect, Richards — not his real name but with a real story — realizes he shouldn’t have been gullible, greedy or naïve when he received an e-mail promising him a 10 percent cut.

All he had to do was cash money orders and forward 90 percent on to the company that hired him, via e-mail, to serve as their “payment representative.”

Manitowoc Police Department Lt. Paul Schermetzler’s “Scam File” just keeps getting thicker.

UnitedOne’s Tammy Pelletier, vice president of operations, said her credit union in cases like this is a victim, too. “And with the economy the way it is, scams will be on the rise,” she said.

One thing the scammed man, the cop and the credit union manager all agree on, and said, “If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.”

‘I needed extra money’

“Part Time Job Offer” was the heading on the e-mail Richards received in early December from T&N Fabrics Textile in London.

The Manitowoc man had been looking on the Internet for opportunities to supplement his regular earnings.

He had been off work for several months, with medical bills, a wife and a child to think about.

“I needed extra money, like everybody else in this world,” Richards recalled.

“I would like to offer you a part-time job as our payment representative with which you can earn twice your monthly salary depending on your speed, accuracy and devotion to your work,” trumpeted Steve Moore in the e-mail Richards received.

Moore said he was the chief executive officer of one of the biggest and most successful textile and fabrics companies in the United Kingdom.

Moore told Richards they needed a representative to cash checks “in a timely fashion” from its U.S. customers.

He told Richards, “Receive payments on behalf of the company, cash the payments in your bank, deduct your 10 percent commission and forward the balance …”

It seemed logical and an easy way to make money for his family, so Richards agreed to serve as a payment representative.

It wasn’t more than a couple days before Richards received three money orders for $875.15 each. His cut would be $262 for forwarding about $2,350 on to an address in Nigeria.

Richards put the money orders in the tube in United-One’s drive-through lane, said the teller appeared to look at an authenticating watermark, received the cash, went to a Western Union location and put an international money order in an envelope, headed for Ikeja, Nigeria.

The next day eight more money orders arrived, again all of them for $875.15. “This time, when I tried to cash them the teller told me they were fake.

“I jumped to the conclusion the first three had probably been fake, as well … a good Christmas present, huh?”

Within a week, Richards said UnitedOne sent a letter telling him he needed to pay back the initial $2,625.45.

“I didn’t have it then, and don’t have it now,” Richards said last week.

He had opened the account when he was a teenager, with his father as the co-signer.

The father also has received a letter from UnitedOne. “We strongly encourage you to take care of your negative obligation … call to make arrangement for payments,” it reads.

‘Just not going to happen’

Schermetzler directs the community policing function in the police department. Richards’ case isn’t special, at all.

“A number of individuals come down here scammed out of $2,500, $3,000 off the Internet … with the scams from overseas or other parts of the country,” Schermetzler said.

“For us to use our resources, track down these individuals, it’s just not going to happen,” the lieutenant said. “People need to be aware of who they are dealing with … they are talking to a computer, not a real person.”

In his bulging scam folder are un-cashed checks, like the one for $2,800 payable to a Manitowoc woman for supposedly winning a foreign lottery, which are illegal for Americans to play, Schermetzler said.

The officer said individuals shouldn’t hesitate to visit him and check out the authenticity of the check or offer.

Schermetzler said unscrupulous individuals can buy check stock from office supplies stores and create financial documents appearing quite authentic, oftentimes using logos of national banks.

Identity theft scams can be via phone. “Be on your guard … if a bank or credit union calls you, they will never solicit personal financial information over the phone.

“They’ll never ask you for your computer passwords, personal identification numbers or Social Security number,” Schermetzler said.

He urges individuals to tell the caller, “Put me on the No-Call List … that way they know you are educated (about possible phone scams including identify theft). Then simply hang up,” Schermetzler said.

‘Don’t Get Ripped Off!’

Pelletier is concerned that many of her credit union members may underestimate the constant activity by scammers.

“We try to catch them … but that doesn’t trump his ultimate responsibility,” she said of Richards’ legal obligation to pay the credit union back for the three money orders he did cash.

Tellers at credit unions and banks go through extensive “Loss Prevention” training. This includes examining checks and money orders for required information.

But scammers issuing money orders and checks with security features similar to genuine documents can fool tellers.

That’s why UnitedOne has posted a flyer at its branches — “FBI Fraud Alert — Don’t Get Ripped Off!”

It lists 10 questions that if the credit union member or bank customer can answer “Yes” to should tip them off they might be involved in a fraud or are about to be scammed, including:

March 3rd, 2009

IN hard times holding on to a job let alone your money is hard enough, yet Queenslanders are falling for Internet scams to the tune of $8.5 million in the past year.

In a quest for easy cash Queenslanders are sending thousands of dollars overseas every week with more than $700,000 per month being sent to countries such as Nigeria and Ghana and Europe.

advance fee fraud, the process of people being contacted and asked to pay money for access to a business opportunity or to release an inheritance is costing the community both financially and emotionally, say police.

Detective Inspector Jason Saunders of the State Crime Operations Command Fraud and Corporate Crime Group said this crime is having a huge impact.
“We are constantly being contacted by Queenslanders who have sent thousands of dollars overseas only to discover they have been scammed.

“This past year alone, in excess of $8.5 million has been sent to countries such as Nigeria and Ghana in addition to syndicate members based and operating out of Europe,” he said.

The Queensland Police Service has set up a web-based reporting system for the scams.

“The Advance Fee relationship scam operates by an offender contacting a victim and engaging them in a friendship or relationship. After some time the offender will disclose they have a problem and ask that money be sent to them or a third party to resolve it.

“These scams have evolved over time and recently there have been examples of advance fee fraud using online dating and romance sites. Victims become emotionally involved in their relationship and believe that sending money to the other party will strengthen their relationship.

“We have victims approaching us each week. Usually they’ve been promised a great return on a small investment or an inheritance.

“These scams are based on the same premise – victims being lured into the promise of fast or easy money. We are constantly telling these victims or potential victims that if it sounds too good to be true, then it generally is,” said Detective Inspector Saunders.

Detective Inspector Saunders said the police website alleviated the embarrassment some people often felt when reporting these crimes.

“It is a non-confrontational and an effective way for law enforcement agencies to work together to address these crimes,” Detective Inspector Saunders said.

RCMP warn of fraudulent phone call from ‘Officer Miller’
By Jesse Ferreras

Whistler has been no stranger to fraud in recent months.
Most reported incidents have surrounded housing – or a lack thereof – when aspiring Whistler residents have looked a little more closely at those peddling a place to live.
But there’s a new fraudster in town, according to the Whistler RCMP.
The Mounties got three separate calls on Jan. 9, all of them reports of attempted fraud. Each of the callers themselves were contacted by a male calling himself “Officer Miller, badge #3625.” He asked all three of them separately to wire between $3,000 and $3,800 in bail money to the Wal-Mart in Squamish.
The fraudster said this, despite the fact that there’s no Officer Miller in any Sea to Sky Detachment. As well, RCMP badge numbers are five digits, not four.
“What they did was they called somebody, they called three people and said, ‘Your relative has been picked up and needs money for bail,’” said Sgt. Steve LeClair with the Whistler RCMP.
None of the prospective victims were taken in by Officer Miller’s story. They all contacted the RCMP, which has said that police “will not call” relatives of people in jail to solicit bail money.
“Police certainly don’t start calling relatives saying, you need to get some money together to raise bail for your loved one who’s being held in custody,” LeClair said.
“If the Justice of the Peace said they’ll be released on $500 bail, then the person would raise that money, either by having somebody go to a bank machine for them or coming up with the cash and bringing it to a police station for them to be held in trust.”
Thus far the police haven’t turned up any leads or made any arrests in connection with this incident, but LeClair said they believe it’s an isolated one. Anyone who has information regarding this attempted fraud is encouraged to contact the Whistler RCMP at 604-932-3044.
In other instances of attempted fraud, people have posted housing opportunities online in a bid to scam money from people needing places to live.
In one instance, an employee at Whistler’s Camp of Champions saw a Craigslist posting for a three-bedroom suite in Creekside. He contacted the landlord, who said he was in Nigeria on a “Christian mission.”
The prospective renter was then asked to wire money via Western Union to a man named Lucas Adeyemo in Sango Ota, Nigeria, a man whose name came up online in connection with “puppy fraud” schemes.
The renter visited the suite mentioned in the posting and discovered people living there. The occupants had no idea about any landlord on a Christian mission.

By Jeff Waters, Democrat Reporter
A local woman is under investigation for her alleged role in an international scam, according to Det. Sgt. Ron Shaw of the Live Oak Police Department. The woman, whom Shaw did not name, may be charged in connection with the “Nigerian reshipping scam,” LOPD reports indicate.

Under the scheme, a computer hacker, often based in Nigeria or other nations known for lax law enforcement, makes large purchases using stolen credit card numbers. Since some U.S. retailers are wary of credit purchases destined for Nigeria and other locales, the hacker will often find a U.S. intermediary to accept the goods. The intermediary – sometimes an innocent dupe, sometimes a willing participant in the scam – will then repackage and reship the goods overseas for a fee.

According to reports, several such purchases were recently shipped to a Suwannee County address. Upon investigation, Shaw learned a female resident of the home was preparing to reship the goods to Ghana, Africa. According to Shaw’s report, a complaint against the woman will be sent to the state attorney’s office for review.

EXCLUSIVE I WAS LONELY AND HE SEEMED SO NICE TRAGIC VICTIM OF INTERNET ROMANCE FRAUDSTERS
By Gareth Morgan
Lonely divorcee Kerry Day thought she had found the man of her dreams when she met American hunk Tony Wright on a dating website.

He wooed her with red roses every day, wrote her love poems and promised to marry her when he came to Britain.

But Kerry’s new-found happiness turned to horror when she discovered “Tony” didn’t EXIST – and that she had been set up by an international fraud gang who conned £80,000 from her.
Kerry, 50, lost her life savings, her job and will soon have no house after falling for the elaborate sting which is believed to have snared dozens more women across Britain.

Last week Michael Friskey, 40, was jailed for three years for his part in the scam but the masterminds are still free.

Kerry, who tried to kill herself after discovering she had been duped, said: “I can’t believe I was so foolish.

“Tony seemed such a nice and genuine guy. I fell in love with him quicker than I fell in love with my previous two husbands.

“He had our lives mapped out. He said I could go and live with him and his son in America. He was offering me everything I didn’t have – love, security and a family. I was very lonely and he pressed all the right buttons.

“Now I’m left with debts I’ll never pay off and all my life savings are gone. I was also asked to leave my job at a bank and I’m having to sell my house to survive.

It’s a nightmare.”

Kerry’s ordeal started in June 2007 after she bought a laptop to keep in touch with her sister in Crete. Feeling lonely, she thought she’d also use the inter net to find some male company.

And just days after joining the dating arm of Friends Reunited, she met “Tony”, who said he was a 49-year-old divorced dad in Minnesota.

Kerry said: “We clicked immediately and within a couple of hours we were talking online about everything.

“He said his son was in private education and that he was a mineral surveyor for the US government. We sent each other photos. He was so good looking. It was the first time in ages I felt attractive.”

For the next month, smitten Kerry chatted to “Tony” online every day. She tried to phone him but couldn’t hear him – supposedly due to a faulty line.

Kerry said: “He had been talking about flying me over to see him in the States so asked me to send over my driving licence and passport.

“I know alarm bells should have started ringing but he seemed genuine.

“Then he said he had to go to Saudi Arabia and would I visit him there instead? He said he would pay.

“But he then said that because of his diplomatic status his money hadn’t been cleared properly by officials and he asked me to send £3,000 for my flight and insurance and he’d give it back when he saw me. I had no hesitation and wired over the money. But then he said the insurance was higher because I was a woman going to Saudi Arabia so could I wire another £3,000?

“A day later he emailed saying he had to get back to the US and promised to come and see me on the way.

“But as he still couldn’t access his money, could I lend him £10,000? At the time it all seemed so feasible.”

Meanwhile ‘Tony” started sending Kerry poetry, calling her “Mrs Wright” and bombarding her with a dozen red roses every day for two weeks.

She said: “It was the most romantic thing anyone ever did for me.”

Then “Tony” cranked up the scam. He asked for £76,000 to cover the cost of a private jet from Saudi to the UK. Kerry sent the rest of her £35,000 savings – £19,000 – plus a £16,000 bank loan.

Claiming he was held up in Saudi, “Tony” arranged for an assistant to meet her at a hotel in London’s Canary Wharf to give her some cash back.

This man was Londoner Michael Friskey who told Kerry he had brought Û12.5million from Tony but there was a customs fee of £42,500. So Kerry handed over another loan for £30,000.

Friskey and an accomplice then turned up at her home in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, with a bag full of money but said the notes had diplomatic marks which could be erased with chemicals costing £50,000.

When Ker ry tried to raise another loan at the bank where she worked the manager realised she had been duped and called police.

Friskey pleaded guilty at Maidstone Crown Court, Kent, to fraud. Although “Tony” was based in the US, police think he could be part of a Nigerian crime network. The man and boy in the photo are unknown.

Judge Jeremy Carey said: “Miss Day was the victim of a very simple and alarmingly easy fraud. The impact on her was substantial.”

Kerry, who spent two days in hospital after a suicide attempt with tablets, said: “The judge got it spot on.”

The bank where she worked asked her to take early retirement because she handled large sums of cash.

Kerry said: “Financially I’m ruined – I have to pay £600 a month in loan repayments and I’m selling my house to help.

“But I am trying to rebuild my life. I have even met a newman online – although I haven’t told my relatives because they’d probably think I’m mad.”

Life’s Like That – Jan. 25, 2009

By Jerry M. Bullock
Daily Record Columnist
My Great Uncle Nathan, the early Texas circuit-riding preacher, loved to sit by a campfire during roundup time and share the gospel with the hands. He told about Jesus saying that it wasn’t easy for a rich man to get into the kingdom of Heaven. It would be easier, he said, for you to get a camel through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to get to heaven. “Well, that may be,” said old Jake, “but, you know, parson, I would give a thousand dollars to be one of them millionaires.“

During this past week I received about 20 offers to become a millionaire. Craigslist will give me a DVD, usually a $99.95 value just for paying the postage on the disk. I had only 15 minutes to make up my mind. If I accepted their offer, I could start making $500 to $1,000 every day and have fun doing it. Someone else is selling the secrets of becoming an instant eBay dealer.

Those offers are not so bad; at least they are legitimate deals. Very few participants will make much money but so far as I know they are legal and won’t cost you a lot to participate. The offer I have a problem with comes in e-mails from people I don’t know and almost invariably begin, “My dear or my precious friend.” They always involve informing me of the death of someone who has left tons of money that they don’t know what to do with, so they have looked me up to help them out.

The prize may vary from 500,000,000 rupees to half a million dollars, All I have to do is send them my life story and pay them some earnest money before they will deposit this fortune in my bank account.

This extract from TruthorFiction.com describes the operation: “Watch out for people who say you’ve won contests or lotteries that you never entered, have funds for you from a transaction that you never arranged, that you have won a prize but you need to pay for the shipping, or who say they need your credit card or other financial information in order to complete the transaction.

“There are hundreds of other variations on those themes and, according to the U.S. Secret Service, thousands of people who have lost hundreds of millions of dollars.

The Secret Service receives an average of 100 phone calls and 300 to 500 pieces of correspondence per day about the advance fee scams and says that in 2001, there were reports from 2,600 Americans who said they’d been scammed. Sixteen of them lost more than $300,000. Many people who’ve lost money don’t report it.

“In August, 2006, Fox news reported that a Nigerian Advance Fee scam may have been a part of the money troubles between Tennessee minister Matthew Winkler and his wife Mary, who is accused of killing Matthew, allegedly after a heated argument about finances.”

Just remember that if a deal sounds too good to be true, it probably is false and you should run as fast as possible away from it.

A lot of people have learned this the hard way and lost a lot of money. They were willing, like old Jake, to pay a thousand dollars to be one of them millionaires. They never saw their money again. Life does not have to be like that.

Jerry Bullock has written his weekly column for the Daily Record for more than 20 years. Jerry is a retired Air Force colonel, an ordained Baptist minister, professional counselor, military historian, speaker, and writer. He is a native Texan tracing his Texas roots to the days of the Republic.

Shane Symington

Published Date: 

15 January 2009

By Gareth Bethell

A MAN was cheated out of more than £130,000 when he fell for a woman in an internet chatroom – who turned out to be a Nigerian conman.

Shane Symington handed over thousands of pounds thinking he was helping the ‘woman’s’ sick mother.

The 32-year-old, from Southsea, was then tricked out of even more cash when he received e-mails from men claiming to be FBI agents.

They said he had been conned by the woman and that they would take on his case if he would fund their trip to Nigeria, and any subsequent costs they incurred, which the man agreed to.

Police say they have received a lack of support from the Nigerian authorities, and the money will probably be lost forever.

Detective Constable Jon Knox said: ‘This is a very sad situation, and this man has now parted with a huge sums of money through his own good nature – in trying to help others and then to recover some of what he had lost.’

Mr Symington told police he was first contacted by a woman in Nigeria via an internet chatroom in the summer of 2007.

The pair struck up a friendship and continued e-mailing each other. She then began asking for money to help her sick mother, which he sent over.

The ‘woman’ then claimed her mother had died and she needed cash to pay for her funeral, which he agreed to.

Mr Symington then received e-mails claiming to be from the FBI, saying the woman was in fact a Nigerian man who had been lying to obtain money.

The supposed FBI agents then said they would take on his case if he paid them. This went on for months before it transpired it was another con.

Police in Portsmouth are now warning people to remain vigilant when they are approached for money over the internet, or via their emails.

Det Con Knox added: ‘We do not want anyone else to fall foul of this kind of shocking activity, and I would warn anyone who is asked for money over the internet by people they do not know to refuse.’

Postman loses £130,000 savings to Nigerian internet scam after being duped by a friend he met on MySpace

A postman told today how he sank into depression and debt after losing £130,000 in an internet scam involving Nigerian fraudsters.

Shane Symington described how an apparently innocent friendship that he formed with an American woman through the MySpace website turned into a ‘nightmare’ as he started handing over money.

The 32-year-old said he was friends with the woman for several weeks in the spring of 2007 before she suddenly started asking for money to pay for her mother’s funeral and medical expenses.

He said the requests then carried on for money to pay for legal fees so that the woman, who called herself Angela Gates, could free up land that she had inherited apparently worth $2million.

The requests continued throughout the year and, by last year, Mr Symington had handed over his bank details and more than £100,000.

He said that he became suspicious when the woman stopped communicating with him and contacted what he thought was a website run by the FBI in America but which turned out to be another scam.

Mr Symington, of Portsmouth, Hampshire, said he then got a text message from his ‘friend’ Angela who revealed that it was all a fraud.

‘It said that it was all false and that Angela was actually a man from Nigeria’, Mr Symington said.

‘I guess he came clean because he thought he had taken all the money he could.’

But his problems did not end there as he was then contacted by another woman, again from America, claiming she had also been caught in the scam.

He said that he then helped pay her legal expenses and the cost of hiring two ex-FBI agents in an attempt to regain the lost money for both of them.

Mr Symington said that he now believes that these people are also involved in the scam. He said that he had paid out more than £30,000 to them, bringing his total losses to more than £130,000.

He said: ‘I feel sick from it all, I feel disillusioned, they have just played on my good nature. I’ve lost my life-savings, I have two loans and credit card debts, I’m in huge debts because of all of this.

‘Before this happened, I used to go out every night, now I just stay in because I’ve lost all the self-confidence in my life and I don’t have the money to go out any more. I’ve also had five weeks off with depression from work.’

Warning others to be extremely careful before handing any money over to people they have met through the internet, he said: ‘It’s just wicked people getting everything they can get out of people.

‘You just can’t trust anyone on the internet. I want to warn people but I know I won’t be the last to fall for something like this.’

Detective Constable Jon Knox, of Hampshire Police, added: ‘This is a very sad situation, and this man has now parted with a huge sums of money through his own good nature – in trying to help others and then to recover some of what he had lost.

‘We do not want anyone else to fall foul of this kind of shocking activity and I would warn anyone who is asked for money over the internet by people they do not know to refuse and not put yourself at risk.’

A police spokeswoman added that there was little police could do to help Mr Symington get his money back.

She said: ‘The money cannot be recovered due to the current political situation in Nigeria, resulting in a lack of co-operation from the police in the country.’

January 7, 2009 – 4:03PM

Two Queenslanders have been charged over recruiting people to a Nigerian scam which netted the fraudsters more than $4.3 million.

Police said the Sunshine Coast man, 48, and woman, 40, were initially victims of the operation, having been invited to take part in a bogus contract involving the Nigerian oil industry.

They began sending money to the scammers in September 2003.

Police allege they later invited others to become involved in the scheme.

It’s believed 12 people sent more than $4.3 million overseas.

The pair have each been charged with two counts of fraud and will appear at Maroochydore Magistrates Court on Wednesday.

Police Minister Judy Spence said people needed to be more wary of potential scams, with people continuing to be stung despite warnings.

She said some people who had already sent money even continued to send cash after speaking to police.

“In this global financial crisis, people looking for an easy way out of their financial and mortgage stress can make for easy victims for these fraudsters who promise a quick return,” Ms Spence said.

“People, even those doing it tough, need to realise there is no such thing as easy money and any scheme that promises massive returns for a small investment will inevitably turn out to be a scam that could cost a victim their entire life savings.”

Meanwhile, police are warning businesses against scams using fake credit cards and identification to buy gift cards.

Fraud and Corporate Crime Group Detective Superintendent Brian Hay said four Malaysian men were arrested on Tuesday over the ’shopping gang’ scam.

“This is becoming a crime that is increasing nationally at an alarming rate,” Supt Hay said.

“Shopping gangs will target retailers and purchase multiple gift or store cards or multiple quantities of high end goods.

“The gangs will use fake driver’s licence, usually from NSW or Victoria, and credit cards with skimmed data to purchase the products.”

He asked retailers to report suspicious behaviour to police.

By KAYLA BUNGE
LAKE GENEVA — An overseas scam turned scary for a Lake Geneva woman.

A 49-year-old woman called police Dec. 20 after receiving a “death threat” call to her cell phone, according to a press release from the Lake Geneva Police Department. While she was telling a detective about the incident, she received another call, and the detective listened to the conversation, the release said.

The caller with a foreign accent told the woman that someone close to her had paid him $12,000 “to do the job.” He told the woman that if she paid him $6,000 he would not kill her and instead would give her the name of the person who wanted her killed, the release said.

He told the woman to check her e-mail for further instructions.

The woman and the detective checked the woman’s e-mail and found a message from “Don Kill,” the release said.

The e-mail instructed the woman to send $6,000 to an address in London. The e-mail also said the name of the person who wanted the woman killed would be sent via DHL or FedEx.

Police traced the cell phone call to Turkey or Nigeria and the e-mail to Nigeria, according to the release.

Lake Geneva police now believe the call and e-mail are the latest in a series of scams originating in Nigeria.

The incident marked the first appearance of this type of scam in the Lake Geneva area, according to the release.

People who receive similar phone calls or e-mails should immediately contact authorities, police said. People also may file a complaint with the Internet Fraud Complaint Center by going to www.ic3.gov.

Grandparents lose $33,000, urge caution of new scam
by Susan K. Treutler | The Muskegon Chronicle
Sunday November 23, 2008, 6:57 AM
GRAND HAVEN — It started with a phone call from someone they thought was their teenage grandson.

As the story went, he was in Canada with friends. He’d been caught fishing without a license. He needed $3,000 to pay the fine. And, by the way, he said: Please don’t let his parents know he was in trouble.

What followed was a series of phone calls — up to five or six a day over a six-day period — from “police,” describing their “grandson’s” escalating troubles.

Before it was over, the elderly couple had wired $33,000 of their life savings to Canada, money they don’t expect to ever see again.

 
The Grand Haven couple, who did not want to be identified, had fallen victim to a con so common it has a name: “the grandparent scam.”

Like many others who’ve been duped, they were victimized by their love of their grandchildren, their trusting nature, and their lack of knowledge about such scams.

“We had never heard of this. We want people to know this is going on,” the grandmother said. “They can’t do these things to people who are in their 80s.”

The Internet is full of warnings about the scam. State attorneys general, organizations like the Better Business Bureau, newspapers and TV stations from coast to coast have all warned to be wary of calls of distress from grandchildren.

Yet many people apparently are still falling victim.

In the Grand Haven couple’s case, the teen’s fictional troubles started with a fishing violation, which led to the alleged discovery of drugs in the teenagers’ boat. According to the phone calls, the grandson was then jailed and needed bail money.

The scam finally unraveled when felt so bad about leaving the boy’s parents in the dark, they urged him to come clean.

They called their grandson’s cell phone and left a message. They told him to call his parents and tell them everything.

The grandson, a high school senior in Florida, subsequently heard the message and told his family that something was wrong with his grandmother and grandfather. He said they’d left a weird message on his phone that made no sense to him.

The Grand Haven couple have since been in contact with the FBI and the Ottawa County Sheriff’s Department, but there appears to be little anyone can do.

The grandmother said she has heard that scammers get names of potential victims from places like family tree sites on the Internet.

The people on the phone were concerned, helpful and convincing, she said. One of the scammers effectively impersonated her grandson. On another occasion, they said they were agents of the Internal Revenue Service.

The grandparents had questioned why their grandson would be in Canada in the middle of the week when he should have been in school in Florida, but surmised that he may have needed to get away. A good friend had just been killed in a motorcycle accident, and he had been a pallbearer at the funeral.

The couple have spoken to church groups in person, and to friends and acquaintances about the scam, but want their story to be told far and wide, so that others can be aware.

Ottawa County Sheriff’s Sgt. Valerie Weiss said the department can’t comment on the case because it’s under investigation. She said the department gets many such reports every week.

“There are hundreds of these scams,” she said.

The Grand Haven couple lost more than money. They lost their faith in the inherent goodness of people.

“We don’t trust anybody,” the grandmother said.

Armadale man loses $130,000 in computer dating scam
John Chan
November 8, 2008
An Armadale man has been defrauded of more than $130,000 by several women on an internet dating website who professed their undying love to him.

Police spokesman Sergeant Greg Lambert said that the man was approached by West African women on the dating site.

He said that over an 18-month period, the man had sent over $130,000 by money transfer to the women. He will attempt to get his money back.

“The victim became involved in the romance scams after being approached through the website by women who were professing their love,” Sergeant Lambert said.

“He has parted with the money after being told a variety of hard luck stories.”

Police have issued a warning for people to heed the warnings posted on these dating websites about such scams.

Anyone who believes themselves to be a victim of an internet scam, they can contact Scam Net on the WA Government website or the police computer crime squad.

Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has recorded yet another breakthrough in its resolve to check the incidencesof                                                                                                                                                                                                                             economic crimes in the country
It has arraigned fifty-eight (58) persons in connection with advance fee fraud before the Federal High Court in Kaduna presided over by Justice Shuabu Mohammed.
The suspects who were all male, according to a statement signed by EFCC’s Head of Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Bbafemi, were arrested in an operation tagged “Operation Cyber Storm1” carried out in the nation’s three geo- political zones of South West, South East and South-  South.
 The accused persons, according to Babafemi, include Kalu Agwara, Emejuru Prince Patrick, Mang Agbai Ude, Mukaila Aina, Maduka Nnamdi sStanley, Oti Gabriel Arinze, Precious Kalu, Onyekwelu Peter Ndigwe, Anan James, Okunwa Christian Udeh, Kazeem Adewale, Abiola Samson, Adigwe Ngozi, Okpere Pullen, James Momoh, Ese Irohoboinose, Yisa Adisa, Odion Kevin, Ojo Solomon Taiwo, Abiodun Bashorun, Churchill J. Essien, Adewunmi Aringbola, Sanusi O. Abdulwasiu, Babajide Lukman, Okeke Oscar Nkem, Elisha Osughe.
Others are, Olasaide Dare, Koiki W. Adewale, Adebowale Muyiwa, Akinde Samson, Imoh Idiong, Ezechukwu Samuel, Sagunwero Allen Ihama, Sunday Oladunjoye, Ubani Felix Uzor, Imonima Kingsley, Emeka Asoanya, Prince Onyechere, Hak Azu Kalu, Muyiwa Odusonya, Anthony Ugwude, Ibini Kayode, Balogun Otaigbe,Prince Iheoma Esionu,Nnachi Ephraim,Dadi Ike ,Chigozirim Nwafor, Adenuga Lateef Olatunji,Ekwebelem Promise, Sorunke Odunayo Smith,Obasi Nwankwo Irem,Presely Omorogbe, James Momoh,Oame Benjamin, Olumide Aluko, and Titus osita Okeke.
They  were cumulatively slammed with more than eighty-five count charge all predicated on internet related fraud, offences based on obtaining by false pretences between Wednesday and Friday last week.
Seven of the accused persons were arraigned on the ground of failure to obtain full particulars of customers, permission of their business premises for the commission of the offences and non- registration of their cyber cafes with the EFCC.                                                                
The offence attracts a term of not more than 20 years and not less than seven  years without an option of a fine if an accused is found guilty.
All the cases have been adjourned to different dates from Friday 5th November to Tuesday 16th  December, 2008 while the accused were ordered remanded in prison custody.

Hi.

this was in the papers in Nigeria today. please read and give your comments.

alan. www.elovedeceptions.com

A staff of a new generation banks, Tobi Adebayo, has been arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over his role in a marriage scam involving two undergraduates of Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago Iwoye and a Malaysian lady who was swindled of $21,600.

The prime suspect, Oyewale Jide Akeem, claimed that he met the victim, Susan Choo, on a dating site on the internet and they started chatting. Soon, their chat blossomed into a love affair.

The 18- year old undergraduate who had assumed the identity of a non-existent Mark Park Lofton, an American national resident in Nigeria, said the only condition that the lady gave for the consummation of their romance was that he must be a Christian which he readily met. And to convince his prey about his identity, he downloaded the picture of a tall American from the internet and sent it to the victim in Malaysia.

Choo who is a divorcee with two children was fascinated by the photograph of the white man she saw, and she started dreaming of an enduring relationship. Unknown to her , she was being conned. She stepped up her chats with the ‘white lover’. The online romance got so hot that the victim contemplated coming to Nigeria so they could solemnize the relationship.

She was so carried away that she promised to take her ‘fiance’ to Pastor Temitope Joshua of Synagogue Church of All Nations because, as she claimed, the pastor was known to her. The suspect also promised to take his ‘fiancé’ to a fictitious Pastor Mathew Kalejaiye of non- existent Lifedon Christian Church Lagos.

Now conscious that he had the victim under his spell, Akeem began to release the tricks from his rich arsenal. He started by telling the woman that he would like to visit her in Malaysia before she arrives Nigeria for the marriage and that he would need money for ticket and other travel expenses. Choo swallowed the bait and agreed to send money through Western Union.

At this juncture the fraudster realized that he would need to recruit more people to perfect the scam. He got a ready accomplice in 18- year old Idowu Olukunle Joseph, his childhood friend who is also an undergraduate of Olabisi Onabanjo University. Idowu’s duty was to present his identity card to collect the money being sent by the sucker and take it to Akeem for a commission.

When they realized that the ID card might give them away because of the frequency with which they visited the bank, they changed their strategy. The second suspect, Idowu stole his father’s driver’s license which they used to collect more money in the bank.

Hi. here is another scam story. This one took place in Singapore. read on.

alan. www.elovedeceptions.com

She had gone on the Web to search for a life partner but his web of lies left her nearly $12,000 poorer.
Last Friday night, the 37-year-old accounts executive, who declined to be named, made a police report after she was cheated by a man she ‘met’ on international dating website match.com

The divorcee with three children told The Sunday Times yesterday she had put up her profile on match.com after hearing success stories from friends and colleagues.

She, too, thought she had found love when two months ago, the man, who went by the username tony7407 and who claimed to be Taiwanese, sent her an e-mail message.

They chatted online daily, occasionally calling each other over the phone too.

The man, claiming to be working in an investment company in Hong Kong, was ‘caring and knowledgeable’.

‘He said we had a future together and I believed him. He even said he was going to visit me in Singapore within the next two weeks,’ she said.

Just as she began to let her guard down, he told her he had lost heavily in the recent stock market crash.

Now eager to help him, she invested $5,500 through a ‘VIP account’ of his client. He promised her it would ‘definitely make money’.

Last Monday, he told her the stock market had rebounded, she had made a huge profit, and that his company would reinvest the profits.

Twenty-four hours later, more good news came: She had made a million dollars.

But to get her money, she had to remit $10,000 in administrative fees. Smooth as ever, when she said she did not have that sum, he said he would borrow it from friends.

Later that day, he claimed to have borrowed about half the money. He also said he would get into trouble if his company knew he had illegally used his client’s account.

Not wanting to see her ‘boyfriend’ in trouble, the woman called her sister, who works in China, to remit $6,100 to him.

But the man failed to log in that afternoon, as he usually did. Now suspecting a scam, the woman called him on the phone. He denied receiving the money.

She then tried to get her sister to stop the fund transfer but it was too late.

Last Friday, she made a police report in Singapore and in Hong Kong but was told that her chances of getting the money back was slim.

‘I was too engrossed in the relationship, and I used my heart to think instead of my head.’

She added: ‘Things on the Internet can’t be trusted. You must be 110 per cent on guard.’

New Delhi, October 17 : A Nigerian national and his accomplice, a local woman, have been arrested by the Crime Branch for allegedly duping a Mumbai-based businessman to the tune of close to Rs 2.5 lakh through what is known internationally as the “black dollar scam”.
Chima John Kenneth (28), a Nigerian national residing in Gandhi Vihar, and Nirupma Tiwari (32) were arrested by Delhi Police’s Crime Branch after a probe into a complaint filed by Shailesh Singh of Mumbai.

Crime Branch officials said the Nigerian national pretended to be a senior diplomat and his accomplice a customs official to dupe Singh.

Singh’s complaint claimed the accused gang had gotten in touch with him through e-mail on October 5 and identified himself as one Dr Martin Pedro. The complainant was told that he had won a prize money of US $ 850,000.
“The accused asked for Singh’s details for transferring the prize money to him. The mail also contained a warning: “Do not tell people about your prize until your money is successfully handed over to you to avoid disqualification that may arise from double claim,” a senior police officer said.
Singh sent his details via email to “Pedro”. A few days later, Singh received an email from one Tony Alexander, posing as an executive of the Foreign Remittance Department, Natwest Bank, which informed that a senior diplomat Johnson Smith would deliver the consignment to him in India on October 9. He was asked to pay US $ 950 (Rs 46, 590) towards Indian Airport Authority charges.

Singh transferred the money in the account mentioned. An hour later, Smith asked for Rs 2 lakh more for registration with the Custom Registration Department at Delhi.

On October 10, Singh met Johnson Smith at Hotel Ashoka who delivered a bag containing the prize money. When the complainant checked the bag, he found black paper notes. When contacted, Smith claimed these notes were defaced dollars which could be restored by applying certain chemicals, the cost of which was put at another Rs 1.25 lakh.

Singh then contacted the Crime Branch, who laid a trap at Gandhi Vihar in Timarpur and arrested Chima John Kenneth, alias Johnson Smith, along with the woman Nirupma Tiwari.

PADUCAH, KY – A McCracken County woman has become a victim of a Nigerian shipping scam. The McCracken Sheriff’s office says Terry Carnes of Lebanon Church Road contacted them Friday about a package of 250 one gigabyte memory cards she received from a man named John Mark who she had been talking with on Yahoo Chat for almost a year. Carnes told the man that she had been having financial problems, so he offered her $1,500 to received the packages at her residence and then send them on to him in Nigeria. John Mark told Carnes that he lived in the U.S., but was working overseas. Carnes agreed to the deal and accepted the memory cards from Fed Ex. The man told Carnes to send the packages, but she couldn’t until he sent her the money to send the packages. Carnes received repeated threats on the phone from John Mark, which led her to call the sheriff’s office. Officials called Silicon Mountain, where the memory cards came from and spoke with Account Manager Cy Munoz. He said the memory cards were purchased using an online credit application under the company name Commtech, Inc. in Wichita Kansas by David Nicholas. This application required references from other vendors the purchasing company had previously had business with. Munoz says the references were verified by phone, but after learning of this incident believes the application and possibly the vendors listed as references were false. The package was recovered and Munoz made arrangements with Federal Express to pick it up and return it to Silicon Mountain. Carnes was advised about Nigerian scams and how they use people to get stolen merchandise out of the country this way. She was told to stop all correspondence with the man. Both, the phone number and the yahoo chat account were traced to Nigeria. There is not a means to identify the suspect David Nicholas/John Mark, therefore there are no criminal charges filed in this case at this time.

Queensland police have helped the Nigerian Economic Financial Crimes Commission catch a 23-year-old man who is alleged to have defrauded a Queensland resident of $20,000.

The Queenslander was caught up in a romance scam, where the Nigerian allegedly posed as a female and convinced the 45-year-old man to send money.

Romance websites have become fertile breeding grounds for internet scammers, who can use the sites to prey on the vulnerable and lonely.

Queensland Police Service Fraud and Corporate Crime Group Detective Superintendent Brian Hay told The Australian there had been 10 arrests as a result of joint operations conducted with Nigerian authorities.

“It’s getting better than it was,” he says. “It’s not where it could be, but a it’s darn sight further down the track than it was a couple of years ago.”

Secure Computing Magazine

Nigel Morris
BBC News

Prospective tenants are being conned out of thousands of pounds in an elaborate internet scam, a BBC London investigation has found.

Conmen put exclusive properties at low rents on advertising website Gumtree then trick payments from would-be tenants via money transfer agencies.

BBC London found the e-mail addresses of the scammers originated in Nigeria.

A spokesman for Gumtree said it was working with the money transfer agency Western Union to prevent the fraud.

Sisters Alexandra, 19, and Zaire Sheppard, 18, from Holloway in north London, have been victims of the scam.

They spotted an advert on Gumtree for a two-bedroom apartment in Belgrove Street in Camden. The cost was £650 a month, plus a deposit of £700.

They e-mailed the owner, who called himself “Lin Dong”.

He claimed he had had trouble with tenants before and wanted proof the sisters could afford the rent and deposit.

Lin Dong asked Alexandra to send a payment of £1,350 through Western Union, not to him, but to a trusted friend or relative of her choice.

He then requested a scanned copy of the transfer payment receipt so that he could verify that she had the available funds.

Some time afterwards, a fraudster using fake identification, pretending to be Zaire Sheppard, walked into a Western Union office with the scanned receipt and took the money.

Alexendra said: “I was put off my guard because I was not asked to send the money directly to Lin Dong – I sent the money to my sister.”

BBC London found a similar scam in which a fraudster was offering a two-bedroom flat for rent in Wigmore Street, Marylebone Village.

The fake owners, who identified themselves as “Katie” and “Benson”, claimed they were on holiday in France and needed a quick deal.

As in the scam which hit the Sheppard sisters, they wanted £1,350 to be forwarded through Western Union and then to be sent a scan of the receipt.

‘Suspicious activity’

But BBC London checked the origin of the e-mails and found they were all sent from Lagos, Nigeria.

During a telephone conversation, a man who called himself “Ben” said the flat was still available.

He was asked for an exact address in Wigmore Street but refused to give it. He then said he was in Paris.

When asked if he meant Lagos he hung up.

A Gumtree spokesman said: “We strongly discourage users from transferring money in advance of seeing a flat, or anything else they may see advertised on the site.

“We also operate a community reporting system whereby users can easily alert us to suspicious activity so that we can take action, and furthermore we are working with Western Union to try to put a stop to this sort of fraudulent activity.”

Western Union said it was investigating the scam, but could not offer refunds to the people who have been defrauded by it.

hi.

here is another scam story. please read and leave your comments.

alan www.elovedeceptions.com

By Chris Norwood
10-02-2008

About Chris Norwood

hi.

this is another news item. please read and make your comments on this issue.

alan (www.elovedeceptions.com )

Daily MailAdditional Reporting By Jane Barrie

MUM Gillian Mchendry thought her luck was in when she spotted an advert offering a puppy free to a good home.

But the dealer scammed £1800 from her then failed to deliver the Cavalier King Charles spaniel, for her gutted children Caitlin, eight, and Ben, three.

Heclaimed to be in Dundee but turned out to be a conman from Cameroon.

Gillian, 26, of Kilmarnock, said: “I have been to the police and the Serious Organised Crime Agency.

This has crippled us. We are struggling to pay the mortgage.”

The Mchendrys are the latest victims of a global puppy scam which is rife on the internet.

Fraudsters from Africa place the ads, claiming to live locally, then demand cash then cut off contact.

Gillian and husband Steven, 29, had spotted the advert offering a free spaniel on ukclassifieds.co.uk a fortnight ago.

She said: “I emailed the breeder, who gave his name as Moore Wilson. He offered to arrange delivery to Kilmarnock.”

Gillian and Steven, an assistant manager in a sports shop, sent £200 via Moneygram at a Post Office to a Roger Juse in Cameroon..

Gillian said: “Wilson said it was an international firm. The lady in the Post Office was suspicious but we were excited about the pup.”

Then Wilson wanted £380 for a delivery cart, which the Mchendrys sent by Moneygram to a Roland Neba in Cameroon.

Gillian said: “It was to be refunded when the dog arrived.”

Wilson then demanded £400 for a pet permit, £175 for a vaccination card, £480 for insurance and £200 for food and vet bills.

Housewife Gillian said: “He said the dog would be with us at 9am on Saturday. We’d bought a bed, toys and food.”

But when there was no sign of the puppy by 9.30am she phoned Wilson and the penny dropped.

Gillian said: “He wanted another £200 for microchipping.

“He said if I didn’t pay the pup would be put into quarantine. Yet it was only coming from Dundee.”

Gillian called in the police.

She said: “The kids are devastated. Now we can’t afford a pup.”

I got on toUK Classifieds, based in Perth, Australia, and owned and run by Spencer Culpin.

He said: “I am sorry to hear about this. I run UK Classifieds on my own and try to stop fraudsters by banning IP addresses from known scammers and countries like Cameroon and Nigeria.

“But they use free proxy servers to hide their location.”

The Serious Organised Crime Agency said: “People involved in puppy scams target the less well off and the vulnerable. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.”

Don’t let conmen sell you a pup chances are, it doesn’t exist.