A New Twist On A Very Old Scam

All of us at some time have likely received an email purportedly from someone in Nigeria, the Ivory Coast, Hong Kong, or somewhere else in Africa or the Far East. The email tells us that they are an official in that country or a trustee of an estate and that they need our help to cash out. An alternate version is that we are the beneficiary of an estate from a long lost relative - that we didn't know we had, because in fact, we didn't. Some even ask us to become complicit in circumventing the laws in their country to become wealthy. All of it plays on greed.

Well, here's the twist. Today, I got an email supoosedly from a US citizen - a 48 uear old woman in Buda, Texas, by the name of Debra Avalos. The letter still contains the broken English and the all-too-familiar style of the others. The difference is that she tells me that the all of the other emails are "fake" and no to fall for them. She tells how she used one, got no money, and went to Nigeria in person to meet with a "Barr. Olu Thomas" and that he took her directly to the bank and got her $500,000.

Now she wants me to contact this Thomas guy because she saw my name and email on a list of uncliamed monies. All I have to do is send Thomas $480 for the paperwork. Wow, how simple can it be - for him.

Oh, and the lady from Texas is using a Vietnam email.

Be very careful.

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For more information on my coaching and educational programs and services, visit my website stevehoffacker.com or go to my other blog homesalesinsights.com for additional sales tips, insights, and commentary. You can also listen to my free podcast messages at Steve Hoffacker's Happenings.

© Steve Hoffacker, 2010. All Rights Reserved.

An Even Bigger Phish Story

These phishing stories are getting better all the time, I really got a good laugh from this one.

The premise is that this guy who contacted me embezzled (he doesn't call it that) $10.3 million from his company by not depositing or accounting for the revenues and that he has them available to him to make me an accomplice after the fact in his embezzlement scheme - not to mention receiving stolen property - if his premise were true (which we know it isn't).

Then he has an elaborate fraud scheme set up as well whereby I would pretend to be the original buyer for a large quantity of oil ($10.3 million) from his Nigerian company and then cancel it and request a refund.

Somehow I would supposedly share in some of the loot.

He concludes that this is perfectly "legal" and will remain so by going through him.

Hilarious, isn't it? What an imagination.

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For more information on my coaching and educational programs and services, visit my website stevehoffacker.com or go to my other blog homesalesinsights.com for additional sales tips, insights, and commentary. You can also listen to my free podcast messages at Steve Hoffacker's Happenings.

© Steve Hoffacker, 2009. All Rights Reserved.