Oregon Woman Loses $400,000 to Nigerian E-Mail Scam

[Racer 27 37]

[DaveAK 1]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,453125,00.html

 

Okay I can see at the very start but $400,000. I think that I would really think about cuffing her in the back of the head and call her a [Red Foremen voice]"dumb ass" if she was my wife.

 

 

SWEET HOME, Ore. — An Oregon woman who is out $400,000 after falling for a well-known Internet scam says she wasn't a sucker or an easy mark.

 

Janella Spears of Sweet Home says she simply became curious when she received an e-mail promising her $20.5 million if she would only help out a long-lost relative identified as J.B. Spears with a little money up front.

 

Spears told KATU-TV about the scammers' ability to identify her relative by name was persuasive.

 

"That's what got me to believe it," She said. "So, why wouldn't you send over $100?"

 

• Click here to visit FOXNews.com's Cybersecurity Center.

 

Spears, who is a nursing administrator and CPR teacher, said she mortgaged the house and took a lien out on the family car, and ran through her husband's retirement account.

 

"The retirement he was dreaming of — cruising and going around and seeing America — is pretty much gone for him right now," she said.

 

She estimates it will take two years to clear the debt that accumulated in the more than two years she spent sending money to con artists.

 

Her family and bank officials told her it was all a scam, she said, and begged her to stop, but she persisted because she became obsessed with getting paid.

 

The scheme is often called the "Nigerian scam" and it's familiar to many people with e-mail accounts. It still exists and it still works.

 

Spears first sent $100 through an untraceable wire service as directed by the scammers. Then, more multimillion dollar promises followed so long as she sent more money.

 

The scammers sent Spears official-looking documents and certificates from the Bank of Nigeria and the United Nations. President Bush and FBI Director Robert Mueller were also involved, the e-mails said, and needed her help.

 

They sent official-looking documents and certificates from the Bank of Nigeria and even from the United Nations, saying her payment was "guaranteed."

 

But it wasn't and now Spears is paying the price for her costly lesson.

 

"The hope is [other people] are not going to fall as hard as I fell," Spears said.

 

• Click here to read more on this story on the Web site of Portland, Ore., TV station KATU.

 

Greed is the #1 reason for this happening. People believe in the "nothing for something" fairy tail because they are "special" and "deserving". That is why it works so well. #2 reason is polite upbringing. Many people, especialy the elderly, are too polite to tell these dirt balls to FXXX-Off. They let them talk and eventually get hooked on the line. Once there is money paid the tendecy is to follow bad money with good as nobody wants to admit to being the patsy and admit they threw good money away. There is a science behind this............sociology and human behavior. It is strictly a formula deal. I see it everyday. And I want to slap each and every one of them................you would NOT believe!

Edited November 18, 2008 by Dave-AK

[22_Shooter 1,560]

Almost half a mil gone. Ouch.

 

That's what you get when your stupid and greedy . I have a hard time feeling bad for this lady. I feel bad for her husband though. He should kick her dumbass to the curb.

 

Email correspondence + out of country bank + "guaranteed" riches = scam. I think most people would see this, but the scammers hit the mother load with this lady.

 

I wonder if she gets excited when she gets emails promising her a bigger penis.

[G O B 3,516]

Sounds like she is dimwittedly financing terrorism. If I were her husband, I would be demanding that she be held in Gitmo.

[ATAShooter 0]

If I were her husband, I would be demanding that she be held in Gitmo.

 

ROFL

[Gaddis 1,689]

So, that's where some of Obama's vast campaign funds came from.

 

I could almost imagine Obama to be an Ethiopian.

[AgentLQ 3]

Why must she sully Oregon's name?

[klm390 0]

At first I laughed a little bit. Then I felt sorry a little bit. Then I opened my eyes. She was tugged along and even persisted on her own for over two years. For two whole years, despite being begged by her bank and family to stop. The husband isn't an innocent here either. In those two years that everyone knew about the scam, he could have at least froze his assets.(I would have had her committed) He knew and was just as interested in the big payoff. What I'm wondering is how you're able to have the money and the credit to find $400,000 and yet be so stupid. It's sickening from both sides.

[Gaddis 1,689]

"Stupid" and "wealthy?" Maybe we should pose that question to the Obama campaign donators?

[Koliadko 207]

At first I laughed a little bit. Then I felt sorry a little bit. Then I opened my eyes. She was tugged along and even persisted on her own for over two years. For two whole years, despite being begged by her bank and family to stop. The husband isn't an innocent here either. In those two years that everyone knew about the scam, he could have at least froze his assets.(I would have had her committed) He knew and was just as interested in the big payoff. What I'm wondering is how you're able to have the money and the credit to find $400,000 and yet be so stupid. It's sickening from both sides.

 

 

Now if that ain't the truth. Except I never felt sorry. Too many people want to get rich quick and it doesn't usually happen that way. It takes time and hard work. Things these people weren't willing to do.