‘Mr. Right’ Dupes Woman Out of $50,000 Online

ABUJA, Nigeria — Authorities say an Australian woman who fell in love online was duped out of nearly $50,000 by a Nigerian man who said he was her “Mr. Right.”

Lawal Adewale Nurudeen was sentenced to 19 years in prison and ordered to repay the woman. On Monday, Nigeria’s anti-graft agency said about $9,300 that had been gathered so far would be returned.

Nigerian authorities say the 28-year-old man presented himself as a Briton working in Nigeria for a multinational company. Nurudeen told the 56-year-old woman he was a widower whose wife and only child had died in a car accident.

Authorities say a few weeks later he called the woman, introducing himself as a doctor and saying her “fiance” needed money for medical treatment following an accident.

Full Story Here:
‘Mr. Right’ Dupes Woman Out of $50,000 Online

I can’t believe that ANYONE would fall for this BS Nigerian scam artist stuff. But there are fools and dupes out there, and they are all too willing to part with their money, out of ignorance, or I suppose it could be loneliness and desperation. I am betting ignorance plays heavily into it though.

I get a SPAM box full of them every day. I am betting you do too. Here is a small sample of the ones I had just this morning.

from Mr. Bohman Cole [email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
date Wed, Nov 25, 2009 at 9:15 AM
subject Good Day

We wish to notify you again that you were listed as a beneficiary to the total sum of 6,000,000.00 GBP (Six Million British Pounds) in the codicil and last testament of the deceased. (Name now withheld since this is our second letter to you).

We contacted you because you bear the surname identity and therefore can present you as the beneficiary to the inheritance.

We therefore reckoned that you could receive these funds as you are qualified by your name identity. All the legal papers will be processed upon your acceptance.

Upon your acceptance of this deal, we request that you kindly forward to us your letter of acceptance, your current telephone and fax numbers and a forwarding address to enable us file necessary LEGAL documents in your name at our high court probate division for the release of the fund in question.

Contact me immediately so that we can get this done.
Kind regards,
Bohman Cole

Wow!! How about that? I am a rich man and obviously I missed their 1st offer. Just think of how well off I would be had I not missed that one…

« Read the rest of this post HERE! »

OK, you can file this one under the “How stupid can SOME people be?” category, our noon news had a story about IRS Phishing scammers, and how some people are so stupid that they actually give out their personal information TO these crooks.

Here is the official page from the IRS and it has all the details of this scam and advises on what to do if you receive a ‘phishing’ attempt.

Some people have received phone calls about the economic stimulus payments, in which the caller impersonates an IRS employee. The caller asks the taxpayer for their Social Security and bank account numbers, claiming that the IRS needs the information to complete the processing of the taxpayer’s payment. In reality, the IRS uses the information contained on the taxpayer’s tax return to process stimulus payments, rather than contacting taxpayers by phone or e-mail.

An e-mail claiming to come from the IRS about the “2008 Economic Stimulus Refund” tells recipients to click on a link to fill out a form, apparently for direct deposit of the payment into their bank account. This appears to be an identity theft scheme to obtain recipients’ personal and financial information so the scammers can clean out their victims’ financial accounts. In reality, taxpayers do not have to fill out a separate form to get a stimulus payment or have it directly deposited; all they had to do was file a tax return and provide direct deposit information on the return.

What to Do

Anyone wishing to access the IRS Web site should initiate contact by typing the IRS.gov address into their Internet address window, rather than clicking on a link in an e-mail or opening an attachment.

Those who have received a questionable e-mail claiming to come from the IRS may forward it to a mailbox the IRS has established to receive such e-mails, [email protected], using instructions contained in an article titled How to Protect Yourself from Suspicious E-Mails or Phishing Schemes. Following the instructions will help the IRS track the suspicious e-mail to its origins and shut down the scam. Find the article by visiting IRS.gov and entering the words suspicious e-mails into the search box in the upper right corner of the front page.

Those who have received a questionable telephone call that claims to come from the IRS may also use the [email protected] mailbox to notify the IRS of the scam.

The IRS has issued previous warnings on scams that use the IRS to lure victims into believing the scam is legitimate. More information on identity theft, phishing and telephone scams using the IRS name, logo or spoofed (copied) Web site is available on this Web site. Enter the terms phishing, identity theft or e-mail scams into the search box in the upper right corner of the front page.

SOURCE: IRS.gov