Cons, Frauds and Scams
Nigerian Letter Scam
Another twist has been added to the Nigerian money scam. The
con artists send a letter, fax or e-mail to victims claiming
they have millions of dollars to get out of their country. They
ask the victim to give them their bank information so they can
deposit the money into their account to get the money out of the
country, and in turn the victim will receive a percentage of the
money.
The new twist is that the con artists are sending
checks as an advance and telling the victims to wire most of it
back to cover expenses to transfer the rest of the money. The
check then bounces, the crooks get the money and the victims are
left owing the money to their banks. This same scheme is used in
fraudulent sweepstakes.
One version of the Nigerian letter
scam is from a woman who claims her husband was killed in the
September 11 attack leaving her with millions of dollars that
must be deposited in a U.S.-based bank account. She promises a
good sum of money for helping her.
Be very careful of e-mails,
faxes or letters you receive with this type of information --
it's one of the oldest scams around.
Mesa Police Department
PO Box 1466
Mesa, AZ 85211
480-644-2030