Posted on 11/18/2008 5:05:14 PM PST by JoeProBono
A woman from Sweet Home, Oregon is mired in debt after losing nearly $400,000 to Internet con men in a scheme called the Nigerian scam.
Janella Spears, a nursing administrator in Lebanon and church volunteer, took the bait of the e-mail scammers in August 2005 by wiring them $100 on the promise she will get $20.5 million for helping straighten out the finances of a fake relative.
Spears continued giving small payments despite warnings from banks because she thought the people communicating with her were honest and real relatives and representatives of banks, credit companies, the police and the FBI. She also wanted to recover the money she had wired to the con artists claiming to be from Texas, Canada, Africa and other places.
Spears has mortgaged her home and car as well as used her husband's retirement savings to pay her debts.
Darwinism at work.
62 Million stupid people that we know of, so one more is not breaking news.
The Nigerian scam is almost as bad as the Kenyan scam.
A fool and thier money are soon parted. What I want to know is how the fool got the money in the first place.
I’m sorry but I just can’t find sympathy in my heart for anyone who falls for this. In 2008 there are a few things that if people don’t know they are just stupid: 1. Don’t drink and drive. 2. Smoking gives you cancer. 3. Don’t buy a house on an ARM. 4. Don’t answer emails claiming they will give you millions of dollars after you give them money first. 5. Do not place the burden to bail out multi-billion dollar industries on $28.00 hour workers.
Sheesh.
Can we take bets on who she voted for?
There is a great website where people scam the scammers. I got one going saying I ran an ivy planting company called Soriano, Johnson and Fukudome Enterprises and that my law firm was the firm of Dempster, Zambrano, Harden, Marquis and Lilly. And I got him to hold up a sign proclaiming DERREK LEE IS GOD!
This is just sad.
But if any of you would like to purchase some carbon credits, 1/2 off. Today only. No checks. Freepmail me your pin #.
I think I first heard of this scam around ‘95 or ‘96. How stupid can people be?
And how many times?
The best was the guy who had the scammers acting out the Monty Python dead parrot skit.
Remember the fellow who explained how he became wealthy?
“I bought apples for five cents each, polished them up and then sold them on the street corner for ten cents each.......
Then my father died and left me a fortune”
look on the bright side, she had $400,000 just laying around collecting dust.
So it actually works; amazing.
This type of scam only works because of greed. I have no sympathy for loser like this, especially when the banks and other people were telling her not to.
And you do not have to be elderly to get taken. The finance officer of one of the cities in New Mexico used city funds a few years ago to try to get the $5 million promised to the city if they would help the finance officer of a city in Nigeria get his fortune away from the government.
Guess who lost his job?
wait, thats a trick?! I need to call the bank right away.....
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