Woman loses $400k in huge '419' fraud

sjb007 · 11-16-2008, 02:24 PM

A woman in the US is reported to have lost $400,000 (£270,000) after falling under the spell of one of the most extraordinary Nigerian 419 scams ever uncovered.

Janella Spears, who lives in Oregon, is said to have sent the eye-watering sums to criminals over a two-year period, mostly in amounts in the low thousands, after being contacted in a spam email by criminals offering her a cut of a $20.5 million fortune.

There was no fortune, of course, but that didn't stop Spears from reportedly spending her husband's retirement income, borrowing money against the family car and remortgaging the house, in the hope that the scam might turn out to be genuine.

The scammers even claimed at one point that President Bush and FBI Director Robert Mueller were involved. The case only came to light when Oregon Department of Justice officials noticed one payment for $144,000 being wired to Nigeria, and traced it to Spears.

After raiding her home, and studying a long chain of email correspondence, Spears was warned not to send further funds, which could constitute collaborating with criminals, however unwittingly.

"As a reverend and an American, I just wasn't prepared for that level of dishonesty," Spears told a local Oregon newspaper.

"What's impressed the police the most about this is the level of professionalism these scam artists have," she was quoted as saying.

To speculate, it is not entirely clear to what extent Spears was genuinely gullible or just 'hooked' in an addictive way to the lures used to take money from here, but the case raises interesting questions about the true nature of such crimes. Are the small but profitable number of people who continue to fall for these scams really naïve or perhaps just addicted to the thrill of risk?

Full article here - http://www.techworld.com/news/index....&NewsID=107139

abrasive_elbow · 11-25-2008, 02:39 PM

I cannot help but feel sorry for the woman but how blooming stupid can you be?! I mean, this one is off the foolish scale!!

Oh and I know a lot of Nigerians experience extreme poverty and hardships but these scammers are absolute swines.

computek7 · 12-01-2008, 10:55 PM

Unless and until we people are aware about the internet scams it can't be stopped. The greed for money makes many of internet users to fall prey to these types of scams, and finally feel for it. Also I wish you should surely go through these links to understand what a spam is.

http://yuvi-internetsecurity.blogspo...s-spam_18.html

Banking Spam: http://yuvi-internetsecurity.blogspo...safe-from.html

Microsoft Spam: http://yuvi-internetsecurity.blogspo...s-sharing.html

Soon I will write about this nigerian spam in my blog. Let me know your feedback on this.

Thanks,

Yuvaraj
K7 Computing
The Pro in Protection

11-16-2008, 02:24 PM	#1 (permalink)
sjb007 Analyst, Security Team Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Lincoln UK Posts: 2,265 OS: Windows 7 Premium x64 My System	Woman loses $400k in huge '419' fraud A woman in the US is reported to have lost $400,000 (£270,000) after falling under the spell of one of the most extraordinary Nigerian 419 scams ever uncovered. Janella Spears, who lives in Oregon, is said to have sent the eye-watering sums to criminals over a two-year period, mostly in amounts in the low thousands, after being contacted in a spam email by criminals offering her a cut of a $20.5 million fortune. There was no fortune, of course, but that didn't stop Spears from reportedly spending her husband's retirement income, borrowing money against the family car and remortgaging the house, in the hope that the scam might turn out to be genuine. The scammers even claimed at one point that President Bush and FBI Director Robert Mueller were involved. The case only came to light when Oregon Department of Justice officials noticed one payment for $144,000 being wired to Nigeria, and traced it to Spears. After raiding her home, and studying a long chain of email correspondence, Spears was warned not to send further funds, which could constitute collaborating with criminals, however unwittingly. "As a reverend and an American, I just wasn't prepared for that level of dishonesty," Spears told a local Oregon newspaper. "What's impressed the police the most about this is the level of professionalism these scam artists have," she was quoted as saying. To speculate, it is not entirely clear to what extent Spears was genuinely gullible or just 'hooked' in an addictive way to the lures used to take money from here, but the case raises interesting questions about the true nature of such crimes. Are the small but profitable number of people who continue to fall for these scams really naïve or perhaps just addicted to the thrill of risk? Full article here - http://www.techworld.com/news/index....&NewsID=107139 __________________ If we have helped you then please consider donating Proud Member of ASAP & UNITE Since 2007

11-25-2008, 02:39 PM	#2 (permalink)
abrasive_elbow Registered User Join Date: May 2006 Location: Glasgow Posts: 44 OS: XP SP2	Re: Woman loses $400k in huge '419' fraud I cannot help but feel sorry for the woman but how blooming stupid can you be?! I mean, this one is off the foolish scale!! Oh and I know a lot of Nigerians experience extreme poverty and hardships but these scammers are absolute swines. __________________ "When I was growing up, my family was so poor we couldn't afford to pay attention." - Bosco "BA" Baracus Last edited by Glaswegian; 11-25-2008 at 02:49 PM. Reason: Edited the langauge - just a bit too strong.

12-01-2008, 10:55 PM	#3 (permalink)
computek7 Registered User Join Date: Nov 2008 Posts: 3 OS: Windows Vista	Re: Woman loses $400k in huge '419' fraud Unless and until we people are aware about the internet scams it can't be stopped. The greed for money makes many of internet users to fall prey to these types of scams, and finally feel for it. Also I wish you should surely go through these links to understand what a spam is. http://yuvi-internetsecurity.blogspo...s-spam_18.html Banking Spam: http://yuvi-internetsecurity.blogspo...safe-from.html Microsoft Spam: http://yuvi-internetsecurity.blogspo...s-sharing.html Soon I will write about this nigerian spam in my blog. Let me know your feedback on this. Thanks, Yuvaraj K7 Computing The Pro in Protection Last edited by Glaswegian; 12-02-2008 at 03:10 PM. Reason: REmoved self promotion link - please read the rules!