Scammed: is it sheer dumbness or greed, or both?

[Ahsan]

Source: http://timesonline.typepad.com/techn...oman-sent.html


This woman sent Nigerian scam artists $400,000 - a fool or a victim?

This may well be the mother of all internet scam cases.
Janella Spears, a reverend and a registered nurse from Sweet Home, Oregon, ended up sending Nigerian fraudsters more than $400,000 when she was promised a multi-million dollar pay out from a lost relative.
When she began to doubt she was sent letters from the FBI Director, the US President and the President of Nigeria. She still thought it was genuine and ignored the pleas of her family and law enforcement officials in the US.
She spoke out to warn others of the scams and told KATU TV that she "doesn’t think she’s a sucker or an easy mark". The blogs have been ripping her to shreds. What do you think?
Here is KATU.com's version of her almost unbelievable story:
Besides her work as a registered nurse, Spears also teaches CPR and is a reverend who has married many couples. She also communicates with lightning-fast sign language with her hearing-impaired husband.
So how did this otherwise lucid, intelligent woman end up sending nearly half a million dollars to a bunch of con artists running what has to be one of the best-known Internet scams in the world?
Spears fell victim to the "Nigerian scam," which is familiar to almost anyone who has ever had an e-mail account.
The e-mail pitch is familiar to most people by now: a long-lost relative or desperate government official in a war-torn country needs to shuffle some funds around, say $10 million or $20 million, and if you could just help them out for a bit, you get to keep 10 (or 20 or 30) percent for your trouble.
All you need to do is send X-amount of dollars to pay some fees and all that cash will suddenly land in your checking account, putting you on Easy Street. By the way, please send the funds though an untraceable wire service.
By this time, not many people will fall for such an outrageous pitch, and the scam is very well-known. But it persists, and for a reason: every now and then, it works.
Spears received just such an e-mail, promising her that she’d get $20.5 million if she would only help out a long-lost relative – identified in the e-mail as J.B. Spears – with a little money up front. "That's what got me to believe it," Spears said.
It turned out to be a lot of money up front, but it started with just $100.
The scammers ran Spears through the whole program. They said President Bush and FBI Director "Robert Muller" (their spelling) were in on the deal and needed her help.
They sent official-looking documents and certificates from the Bank of Nigeria and even from the United Nations. Her payment was "guaranteed."
Then the amount she would get jumped up to $26.6 million – if she would just send $8,300. Spears sent the money.
More promises and teases of multi-millions followed, with each one dependent on her sending yet more money. Most of the missives were rife with misspellings.
When Spears began to doubt the scam, she got letters from the President of Nigeria, FBI Director Mueller, and President Bush. Terrorists could get the money if she did not help, Bush’s letter said. Spears continued to send funds. All the letters were fake, of course.
She wiped out her husband’s retirement account, mortgaged the house and took a lien out on the family car. Both were already paid for.
For more than two years, Spears sent tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars. Everyone she knew, including law enforcement officials, her family and bank officials, told her to stop, that it was all a scam. She persisted.
Spears said she kept sending money because the scammers kept telling her that the next payment would be the last one, that the big money was inbound. Spears said she became obsessed with getting paid.
An undercover investigator who worked on the case said greed helped blind Spears to the reality of the situation, which he called the worst example of the scam he’s ever seen.
He also said he has seen people become obsessed with the scam before. They are so desperate to recoup their losses with the big payout, they descend into a vicious cycle of sending money in hopes the false promises will turn out to be real.
Now, Spears has gone public with her story as a warning to others not to fall victim.
She hopes her story will warn others to listen to reason and avoid going down the dark tunnel of obsession that ended up costing her so much.
Spears said it would take her at least three to four years to dig out of the debt she ran up in pursuit of the non-existent pot of Nigerian gold.

[Akib]

Poor lady. Gotta be careful on the internet.

These nigerian scammers are getting annoying. I mean im getting messages on facebook now...

[Tintin]

>> When Spears began to doubt the scam, she got letters from the President of Nigeria, FBI Director Mueller, and President Bush.

That seems new. Never heard of that before.

[auntu]

Letters are new but the process is old. I've had several e-mails with these offers and delete with smile "what a bunch of scammers". But here I guess she was all frustrated with her life and waiting for something to happen good in her life. I guess that maybe pushed her to the edge. Poor lady. Feeling bad for her.

[Ajfar]

bush er chithe dekhe mone hoi vache..bush je pothe jabe er thik ulta pothe jaboo

[AsifTheManRahman]

What a dumb %#@&! And where did she get the 400,000?

[goru]

Originally Posted by AsifTheManRahman
What a dumb %#@&! And where did she get the 400,000?

If you read the entirety of the first post, you'd get some hints on that...

She wiped out her husband’s retirement account, mortgaged the house and took a lien out on the family car. Both were already paid for.

[Rabz]

What can i say?
Just dumb old woman.

oh..forgot to mention...
happy living ghost boxing.

[Dhruvo]

OMG! poor lady, I recently got a mail in my spam folder, in the mail it said that a "princess" in nigeria needs some money from me like 10k (Where on earth will I get that money from anyways ? ) I knew it was a scam right away, I keep getting so many more of these mails, I always report them.Never ever believe these stupid mails, I mean who in the world will take 10k from you and give you 10 million dollars ?

[Ajfar]

one time this random person added me on msn...n she started telling me how her sister's very sick n her family's very poor then she asked me for a dollar... she told me she got my address hotmail add frm BC...

[Dhruvo]

Just got this one in my spam folder, how stupid do people think I am ?



GANG STAR MEN,
NO 12 BULLET CLOSE.
E-MAIL: redbulletpoint_dead@live.com


SOMEONE YOU CALL YOUR FRIEND, WANTS YOU DEAD.

I felt very sorry and bad for you, that your life is going to end like this if
you don't comply, i was paid to eliminate you and I have to do it within 10
days. Someone you call your friend wants you dead by all means, because he said that you win Yahoo Award and the person doesn't want your progress.


He have spent a lot of money on this, the person also came to us and told us that he wants you dead and he provided us your names, photograph and
other necessary information we needed about you.

If you are in doubt with this I will send you your name and where you are
residing in my next mail.

Meanwhile, I have sent my boys to track you down and they have carried out the necessary investigation needed for the operation, but I ordered them to stop for a while and not to strike immediately because I just felt something good and sympathetic about you. I decided to contact you first and know why somebody will want you dead by all means.

When i was in the process of asking him questions about how you ofended him, he said that you hate him, and he will not live to see your progress, therefore he will end your life before you receive your award money.

Right now my men are monitoring you, their eyes are on you, and even the place you think is safer for you to hide might not be. Now do you want to LIVE OR DIE? It is up to you.

Get back to me now if you are ready to enter deal with me, I mean life trade, who knows, and I might just spear your life, $5,000 [FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS] is all you need to spend, You will first of all pay $1,000 [ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS] then I will send the tape of the person that want you dead to you and when the tape gets to you, you will pay the remaining
$4,000. If you are not ready for my help, then I will have no choice but to
carry on the assignment after all I have already being paid before now.

Warning:
Do not think of contacting the police or even tell anyone because I will extend it to any member of your family since you are aware that somebody want you dead, and the person knows some members of your family as well.

For your own good, I will advise you not to go out once is 7pm until I make out time to see you and give you the tape of my discussion with the person who want you dead then you can use it to take any legal action.

[Electrequiem]

Wow...these letters used to be outright stupid and somewhat amusing before...now they are just sinister! This is not good...

Originally Posted by Dhrubo
Just got this one in my spam folder, how stupid do people think I am ?



GANG STAR MEN,
NO 12 BULLET CLOSE.
E-MAIL: redbulletpoint_dead@live.com


SOMEONE YOU CALL YOUR FRIEND, WANTS YOU DEAD.

I felt very sorry and bad for you, that your life is going to end like this if
you don't comply, i was paid to eliminate you and I have to do it within 10
days. Someone you call your friend wants you dead by all means, because he said that you win Yahoo Award and the person doesn't want your progress.


He have spent a lot of money on this, the person also came to us and told us that he wants you dead and he provided us your names, photograph and
other necessary information we needed about you.

If you are in doubt with this I will send you your name and where you are
residing in my next mail.

Meanwhile, I have sent my boys to track you down and they have carried out the necessary investigation needed for the operation, but I ordered them to stop for a while and not to strike immediately because I just felt something good and sympathetic about you. I decided to contact you first and know why somebody will want you dead by all means.

When i was in the process of asking him questions about how you ofended him, he said that you hate him, and he will not live to see your progress, therefore he will end your life before you receive your award money.

Right now my men are monitoring you, their eyes are on you, and even the place you think is safer for you to hide might not be. Now do you want to LIVE OR DIE? It is up to you.

Get back to me now if you are ready to enter deal with me, I mean life trade, who knows, and I might just spear your life, $5,000 [FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS] is all you need to spend, You will first of all pay $1,000 [ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS] then I will send the tape of the person that want you dead to you and when the tape gets to you, you will pay the remaining
$4,000. If you are not ready for my help, then I will have no choice but to
carry on the assignment after all I have already being paid before now.

Warning:
Do not think of contacting the police or even tell anyone because I will extend it to any member of your family since you are aware that somebody want you dead, and the person knows some members of your family as well.

For your own good, I will advise you not to go out once is 7pm until I make out time to see you and give you the tape of my discussion with the person who want you dead then you can use it to take any legal action.

[Alien]

This reminds me of a saying I heard while ago, A fool and his gold is one big party.