Nigerian Scam

I had a surprise when I went through my emails this morning: apparently, the Central Bank of Nigeria has been instructed to credit my account with some contract funds.

First, I never entered in any contract with anybody from Nigeria. I am just a girl trying to make a bit of extra cash on the Internet.

Another thing, the email mentions a contract number (which doesn't ring a bell), a Bank Swift code, an account number, an email address, a phone number, which is a lot of probably bogus detail, but it does not include the amount of the payment in question, which is what I'd really like to know!

Well, I am not going to phone them, I am not wasting my money ringing this international phone number, and I will not write to the email contact (I would probably end up receiving more scam emails or even worse, this could result in someone being able to get information from my computer without my knowledge).

I ran an internet search on internet fraud after getting this email and found that the Nigerian scam has been active since the 1980's! My information said that very often, Nigerian officials are not only aware of it, they run the bloody scheme!

I printed the email and I am going to hand it into my nearest police station, which I suppose is the right thing to do, even though I don't think this will result in much. I suppose I am part responsible in getting that email, as I am always signing up for free stuff online (most of the time free newsletters about internet marketing that I don't even have the time to read!).

The bottom line is that I am happy I did not get sucked in and become another victim of this scam and I want to warn as many people as possible, so it's a good thing you are reading this!