Sunday, October 12, 2003

Tennessee man nabbed by Nigerian scam

The Kingsport paper (registration required) has this article describing how a man lost $6,300 in a version of the Nigerian scam.

The man posted an ad to sell his dog for $2,500. He was contacted by someone from Nigeria, who said that the man would be sent a cashier's check for $6,300 from someone who owed the Nigerian money, out of which the man could keep the money for the dog and send the rest back to Nigeria. At the last minute, the Nigerian wrote that the dog could not be shipped to Nigeria because of customs restrictions, and that the man should send on the rest of the money. The cashier's check turned out to be counterfeit.

A law enforcement officer quoted in the article said "be wary of anything from Nigeria."

As I recall, it is written in this book that scam artist Martin Frankel is among those who have been taken in by some version of a Nigerian scam. The book about Frankel is a great book.

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