Nigerian letter scam is so old it qualifies as a classic

The letter arrives in the mail and looks official. It return address is in Nigeria and it’s addressed to you. “How odd”, you think as you don’t know anyone in Nigeria. Still, out of curiosity, you open it. The letter is from someone who explains an unusual predicament. He is the son of a former Prime Minister who has millions of dollars that belonged to his father. He needs to get the money out of the country without the Nigerian government finding out about it. In order to do this, he needs access to an American bank account. Would you be willing to help? In exchange for offering your bank account for this purpose, he offers you 10% of the $50 million dollars involved in the transaction.

Wow! A stranger is offering $5 million to you just for giving your bank account number? That sounds like a pretty good deal. Unfortunately, it’s a scam, and a very old one, at that. This one has been around since at least the 1940’s; it used to travel by mail, then FAX and now usually goes around by e-mail. The details vary, but it usually involves millions of dollars that need to leave Nigeria and the offer is usually some large portion of the money in exchange for virtually no work.

Sometimes the letter asks for money for bribes, taxes or who knows what. In that case, you are asked to send several thousand dollars in cash to an address provided in the letter in order to facilitate the transfer of the money.

Although the details vary, the results are always the same. If you participate in this venture, you will lose money in one of the following ways:

• The scammer will empty your bank account.
• The scammer will steal your personal identification and use it for identity theft.
• You will send several thousand dollars and never see it again.

Despite the fact that this scam has been around forever, hundreds, and maybe thousands, of Americans still fall for it every year, sending unknown amounts of money to Nigeria. This scam seems to be the most common form of employment for Nigerians; the country is one of the most corrupt on Earth.

Should you receive such a letter, ask yourself a few questions:

• How did they get my name?
• Why do they think I can help them?
• How do they know I even have a bank account?

As with most such offers, it’s just an opportunity to lose your shirt, your savings and your identity. You should regard all such offers with skepticism, and you should probably just throw them away. If the letter arrives through the mail, you should take it to your local Post Office and ask that it be forwarded to the Postal Inspector.

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