Is This Legit and legal???

[Cuchita 1]

Exactly my reaction, lol .

Is there really such naive people?.

[Ellie-and-David 38]

Tell your friend to send the money to me. I'm ready to make a quick 900 bucks for doing nothing.

900 bucks is a few nice pairs of shoes......

[trinket 30]

By any chance did anyone see the thing on Dateline a while back where they did a pretty amazing investigation of Nigerian scammers? Since it's virtually impossible to get the scammers, they focused on the Americans who act as the "fence" by buying stolen goods and moving them into the legal Nigerian markets. Basically American Express gave Dateline a bunch of working credit card numbers for them to post on the internet, and then they set up a fake electronics company that accepted stolen credit cards. From there you get the shipping address in the US, and you can track down the fence.

Anyway, the to make a long story short, all of the fences were totally unaware of what they were doing and were certain that they were only legitimately buying goods for their girlfriends and fiancees. What happens is that Nigerian guys post pictures of beautiful women on the internet, and then convince these poor suckers in the US that these women are madly in love with them. From there it's a hop, skip, and a jump away from "hey could you ship some of these goods I bought online to my overseas store in Nigeria" and "Hey, could you forward me $1000 to get a visa so I could come marry you." The goods purchased with stolen credit cards just keep coming to their house, and they just keep sending money to their "fiancees," until they are totally bankrupt and looking at long prison sentences.

Haven't seen that one but saw the one on Dateline where they were using Americans to cash in fake checks and send the money over Western-Union - one of those "part-time job" scams where all they have to do is receive checks, deposit them in their own account, save 15% for themselves and send the rest over through WU without waiting for checks to clear (which they never would). Dateline even showed an American that was working on producing those checks and the lady thought she was doing a legitimate job - she would receive a list of people, addresses, bank accounts from where to issue the checks - not difficult to do at all apparently. From what she said, it sounded like she issued over a half a million dollars worth of checks. I think Dateline managed to save couple thousand $$$ and pay the US student money back that was wiped out of his account. They spoke to this "American" running the business but he had a thick African accent and made sure to threaten them if the money was not wired, the police would come and get them. I think more people should be watching Dateline and questioning the legitimacy of the easy jobs that promise quick money for no work really needed.

Other day, I got a cheque of $3995 and an excellent job of being a mystery shopper

[Peace be still 6]

so this is the newest nigerian scam.

I got an e-mail from Mrs. Bernie Madoff the other day....

you too? i thought she was writing only me!

Unfortantly this makes it bad for all the educated, hard working Nigerian people. I'm so surprised that this old trick in the book is still being used, but the worse part is that people are still falling for it.

[wizardfitz 13]

SCAM!!! run run run while he can !!! this girl is bad news all the way!

[reeses16 8]

Wow. Is this real? If your friend is really in this situation, please have a long talk with him. I think you should be an example to him that in order to get a visa you have to apply via the US government, not a travel agency. He should not be sending $ to someone he met online 3 weeks ago (online or via unsolicited e-mail?). If you think your friend may do it anyway, at least suggest that he use an account that is not linked to the account where his paycheck is deposited and remind him that a travel agency does not need his SSN. Please point out the problems in the travel agency's e-mail: incorrect punctuation, improper use of capitalization, word choice, and odd sentence structures. Yes, scammers can type in English, but they often lack more nuisance skills like spelling and grammar.

Ignore the agency, cut ties with the girl.

Edited May 13, 2009 by reeses16

[Bocajr27 3]

I was reading your post and could not help but wonder if your friend is partially retarded?

[EZ3145 0]

Ok, A friend of mine has been talking to a gal from Africa for about 3 weeks now. She has asked for money already and now they were talking about getting a visa for her to come here at some point. I have been advising him already to run from this gal, but until today that had not happened. Last night he was told by her to contact this travel agency as they could get her the required visa she needed to be with him. He had already advised her that all this needed to happen with the US Government (Immigration) being involved in the legal process. She said this could be handled by this travel agency. Please read what they sent him, and give your advice on this email he was sent. What do you all think of this? Is this even legal? Have any of you heard of anything like this before? Personally, I told him to RUN FAST! Thanks, Lyle

From: akwaaba_travelagency1@fastermail.com

To: xxxxxxxxxxx

Date: Mon, 11 May 2009 04:48:48 -0500

Subject: Informaton

Thank you for contacting the Akwaaba Travel Agency. l'm at your service, for your information i will like to know the type of visa that you will need my help with, also you will have to provide me with your contact informations, Full name, Address and a contact phone number that we can reach you on anytime when anymore information is needed from you. I will provide you with the required details, kindly get back to me with the visa type that you will want us to obtain for the person, with the type of visa you will want the person to travel with.

1, Working visa: for One year valid, this will take 14days to process after payment has been done. Cost= $530.00 USD including tax

2, Working visa: for One year six months valid, also takes 14days after payment has been done. Cost= $699.98 USD including tax

3, Working visa: for Two years valid, also takes 14 days after payment has been done. Cost= $789.89 USD including tax

4, Working visa: for Three years valid, also takes 14days after payment has been done. Cost= $860.22 USD including tax

5, Tourist visa: for Four months valid, this takes 7days after payment has been done. Cost= $390.00 USD including tax

6, Tourist visa: Six months valid, also takes 14days after payment has been done. Cost= $499.75 USD including tax

7, Tourist visa: for Eight months valid, also takes 7days after payment has been done. Cost= $596.80 USD including tax

The passport will cost $95.00

Please get back to me and let me know the type of visa that you want us to obtain for your friend, also i will need your full name,address and your contact phone number for the sponsorship. The company policies, we do not accept credit card either cheque.with the payment we do accept cash and money transfer via ( Money Gram or Western Union ).I hope this information will sue what you need and also will be waiting to hear from you soon and assist you.

Best regards,

Akwaaba Travel Agency

(The Manager)

Mr Ernest Osio

+233 2421-01874

RUN AND NEVER LOOK BACK.

This is nothing more than a scam. This is an organized crime. you've been talking to a man pretending to be a woman. if "this girl" has sent you a picture of you've seen her via web cam, it is not the actual girl but a proxy, so to speak, who's pretending to be the girl.

WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? I SAID RUN AWAY. JUST STAY AWAY FROM THIS GIRL. RUN, I SAY.

[caybee 21]

And next, "she" (15-year-old boy) will have a horrible accident and need a life-saving operation which the hospital won't perform without payment in advance. "She" will inform him of this while lying on a bed in the hospital corridor, using a laptop that a doctor has been nice enough to loan "her." She'll even let him correspond with the "doctor" if he wants to, to confirm the seriousness of her condition.

She's not one to use him though. She actually has the money for the hospital bill, but for some reason, her employer is only able to pay her in U.S. money orders, which she is unable to cash in Ghana. She has some which are worth more than her hospital expenses, so if he would please cash them for her at his bank and send her a fraction of the face value by Western Union, she'll be fully recovered very soon and on a plane to her beloved's arms.

[Mike B. 231]

There was a guy on yahoo answers that asked a question about his K-1 fiance from Nigeria. She had him send her money so she could take care of getting the visa so she could come to the USA to marry him and he sent her money to buy the ticket. Then he gets a phone call from someone that was suppose to be in the UK that told him that his fiance had been detained at the UK airport and he needed to wire money to get her released so she continue on her way to the USA.

Poor guy

Meriem

This scam is extremely old and predates the internet and even immigration issues. It's "The Spanish Prioner." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Prisoner

[mrsjeffs 0]

[Chica Yeyé 41]

Tell your friend to send the money to me. I'm ready to make a quick 900 bucks for doing nothing.

900 bucks is a few nice pairs of shoes......

Actually, just 2 nice pairs.... IF Manolo's are on sale.

[Ellie-and-David 38]

Tell your friend to send the money to me. I'm ready to make a quick 900 bucks for doing nothing.

900 bucks is a few nice pairs of shoes......

Actually, just 2 nice pairs.... IF Manolo's are on sale.

Oh manolo manolo where art thou.....on seconds thoughts tell your friend to send me double that, throw in a YSL dress and we are in business...

Now where did I put my magic visa wand?

[Kar98 0]

Run, Forrest, run!

[trillium13 84]

Your friend isn't actually taking any of this seriously, is he???

Edited May 14, 2009 by trillium13