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People DO Fall for Email Scams
AmentsChick
Posts: 6,969
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.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,453125,00.html
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.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,453125,00.html
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I'd say she's the very definition of a sucker or easy mark.
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I once sent money to a Russian beauty who claimed she wanted to come to America to meet me......in the end, she had to stay in Russia to tend to her ill mom. I was happy to send her monthly checks to help out, cuz I knew one day we'd really meet. It really was love.
WAIT, I JUST REALIZED THAT I WAS SCAMMED!....DARN!
she probably thought Nigeria was the female equivalent of Viagra.
Your girlfriend must've been pissed!
Nah, at that time, my girlfriend lived in Nigeria.....I was sending her $$ to get out of the country so she could come meet me. She was never able to leave, but we gave it a shot!
you're smoooooooooooooooooooth
boy is she DUMB! one of her reasons for continuing to give money was she was sent a letter from gwb....she believed it was from him because her mother is always sending letters to laura bush and she always receives letter back from her :eek:
she did say that she led a sheltered life and admitted she is naive :rolleyes:
I now have 50 billion dollars, and 47 foot penis.
and reveling in it's loyalty. It's made by forming coalitions
over specific principles, goals, and policies.
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is kinda undercut by this:
Sorry lady. The truth hurts... but you're a fucking idiot.
Became curious ?? More like became greedy !!
As Bugs Bunny would say "What a Maroon"
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My grandma got taken for thousands when she was in her late 80's, and in the early stages of Alzheimer's. She thought she was participating in some sweepstakes thing.... :(
Also, she had to teach these scammers a lesson. Listening to her family would be an admission that she's a sucker and an easy mark. She was determined to prove how smart she was, no matter the cost. Home equity? Retirement account? Life savings? Nothing compared to the priceless lesson she taught these jokers. Score one for the good guys.
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