SCAM INFORMATION

SITE AWARDS JOBS IN NIGERIA & BEYOND NIGERIAN ORGANIZATIONS SEND FREE WEBCARD IMMIGRATION ONLINE AFFILIATES LINK TO SITE HOMEWORK HELP USEFUL UTILITIES THE LOVE ZONE OTHER LINKS ON NIGERIA LINK EXCHANGES SCAM INFORMATION TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRO THE GEOGRAPHY LOCATION MAP STATES, CAPITALS, & LINKS LAND & CLIMATE RIVERS TOWNS & CITIES PATRIOTIC STUFF FLAG COAT OF ARMS NATIONAL ANTHEM NATIONAL PLEDGE MOTTO PEOPLES POPULATION RELIGION      -CHRISTIANITY      -ISLAM      -TRADITIONAL      -INFLUENCE ETHNIC GROUPS      -YORUBA      -IBO (or IGBO)      -HAUSA (& FULANI)      -OTHERS CULTURES & CUSTOMS LANGUAGES & INTRO LANGUAGES      -YORUBA ALPHABET         & LANGUAGE      -IBO ALPHABET & LANGUAGE      -HAUSA ALPHABET         & LANGUAGE      -LINKS TO OTHERS LANGUAGE RESOURCES      -GENERAL RESOURCES      -YORUBA RESOURCES      -IBO RESOURCES      -HAUSA RESOURCES      -OTHERS MORE ON LANGUAGES      -NUMBERS      -PEOPLE      -BODY PARTS      -HOUSE PARTS      -PLACES      -OTHER WORDS ADDITIONAL LANGUAGES NAMES & ORIGINS YORUBA NAMES      -THE NAMING CEREMONY      -COMMON PARTS      -CIRCUMSTANTIAL NAMES IGBO NAMES HAUSA NAMES LINKS ON NAMES MARRIAGE & FAMILY THE WEDDING MARRIAGE TIDBITS FAMILY TIDBITS OTHER SOURCES FOODS AND DRINKS INTRO SOME MEALS SOME DRINKS RECIPES RECIPES LINKS FOOD: BUYING & DINING BUYING (ingredients and food) DINING (restaurants) HEALTHCARE TRADITIONAL HEALTH CURRENT HEALTH POLICY INFO FOR TRAVELERS OTHER LINKS HEALTH ORGANIZATIONS EDUCATION SCHOOL LANGUAGES SCHOOL YEAR SCHOOL LEVELS SCHOOL ATTIRE SCHOOL TRANSPORTATION SCHOOL LINKS HOLIDAYS FESTIVALS ATTIRE TRANSPORTATION AIR LAND WATER SPORTS SPORTS PLAYED SPORTS HISTORY RECORDS SPORTS ASSOCIATIONS SITES ON SPORTS THE ARTS ART LITERATURE MEDIA      -NEWSPAPERS & MAGAZINES      -RADIO      -TELEVISION      -MOVIES & THEATER      -INTERNET NIGERIAN MUSIC & SAMPLES JUJU MUSIC FUJI MUSIC AFRO-BEAT MUSIC OTHER MUSIC TYPES OTHER SITES WITH SAMPLES 'BUY IT ONLINE' LINKS SITES WITH MUSIC INFO SITES WITH INSTRUMENT INFO PICTURES PLACES CULTURE ARTWORK ATTRACTIONS SOURCES PERSONAL PICTURES OTHER LINKS WITH PICTURES BRIEF HISTORY GOVERNMENT STRUCTURE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT      -THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH      -THE LEGISLATIVE BRANCH      -THE JUDICIAL BRANCH STATE GOVERNMENT THE CABINET THE MILITARY HISTORICAL GOVERNMENT SUMMARY HISTORICALLY CURRENT GOVERNMENT ARCHIVED GOVERNMENT PAGES LEGAL SYSTEM CHARACTERISTICS CRIMINAL & CIVIL LAW PUBLIC & PRIVATE LAW SOURCES OF NIGERIAN LAW COURTS OTHER LINKS ECONOMICS CURRENCY RESOURCES IMPORTS EXPORTS INDUSTRY/INVESTMENT LINKS ECONOMIC HISTORY      -CLASSIFICATION (GNP/GDP) JOBS IN NIGERIA & BEYOND AGRICULTURE & ANIMALS AGRICULTURE      - FOOD CROPS      - CASH CROPS      - FORESTS ANIMALS      - LIVESTOCK      - FISHERIES TELEPHONE TIME ZONE COUNTRY CODE AREA CODES BY CITY AREA CODES BY STATE PHONE RELIABILITY ONLINE DIRECTORIES TRAVEL INFO GETTING PAPERS WEATHER GETTING THERE      - AIRLINES & NUMBERS      - TRAVEL AGENCIES ACCOMMODATIONS GETTING AROUND      - BY ROAD      - BY RAIL      - LOCAL AIRLINES      - LOCAL TRAVEL AGENCIES CURRENCY CONVERSIONS OTHER MISC INFO BUT YOU SHOULD KNOW USEFUL CONTACTS TRAVEL RESOURCES OTHER TRAVEL LINKS TOURIST ATTRACTIONS FOREIGNER STORIES FAMOUS NIGERIANS      (KNOWN OUTSIDE NIGERIA) NOTABLE WOMEN OF NIGERIA SITE FUTURE PLAN TO DO WOULD LIKE TO DO DON'T PLAN TO DO OTHER LINKS DEDICATED SITES DIRECTORIES & SEARCH ENGINES SITES WITH BACKGROUND INFO      -JUST THE 'FACTS'      -MORE DETAILS SITES WITH NEWS & ARTICLES SITES ON DEMOCRACY SITES ON MAKING DIFFERENCE SITES ON WOMEN SITES WITH REUNION INFO SITES ON NIGERIAN SCAMS SITES CONTAINING LINKS SEARCH SITE SEARCH THIS SITE SEARCH OTHER SITES ONLINE NIGERIAN BUSINESSES GUIDELINES COMPANY LIST OTHER LINKS ON BUSINESSES NIGERIAN ORGANIZATIONS NIGERIAN-RELATED HUMOR PROVERBS THE KID ZONE STORIES GAMES SEND FREE WEBCARD EVENTS THE LOVE ZONE SCAM INFORMATION HOMEWORK HELP ASK OR ANSWER QUESTIONS FIND SOMEONE LINK TO SITE SITE AWARDS & RECOGNITIONS SIGN OR READ GUESTBOOK SITE GOALS MY "THANK-YOU"S ONLINE AFFILIATES USEFUL UTILITIES CONTACT WEBDIVA MY OTHER PAGES BOOMIE'S HOME PAGE BOOMIE'S LINKS BOW WEB SERVICES

I get tons and tons (you would not believe how many) letters from visitors who have received spam letters, not to mention the ones that are sent directly to my various email addresses. I would like to help, but I have found a site that does a much better job of this. So, from now on.... If you have a scam letter, or want to know if your letter is a scam, please do the following: Visit Quatloos! Nigerian Scam Letter Museum and see if your letter is like the vast list they have there. If it is, stop! It is a scam. If it is not, then visit Quatloos! Information on Nigerian scams. They provide information at picking apart different parts of the letter. If it is a scam, but not on their list, you can send them a copy to add to their list, from the bottom of either page. I've had links to scam sites on this site from day 1. However, lately, I'm getting more and more information on Nigerian scams, and I seem to get more visitors to my site because they have been the victim of or almost the victim of a scam. I had started to keep track of some of them, but (and this is depressing) they are being emailed to me so fast that I could spend all my time just compiling them, so the list is not updated as much, but the links and the information on this site is hopefully still helpful in protecting yourself from scams, no matter where they originate from. First off, let me say that there are many scams worldwide, EVEN in the US. I do not intend to focus on non-Nigerian scams, but here are some links that you can go to for more information: National Fraud Information Center Better Business Bureau SuperHighway Information Crime OnLine International Frauds and Scams Crimes of Persuasion Yahoo's search on scams and you can find other 'consumer type links' at my Consumer links. Anyway, back to Nigerian scams. The popular Nigerian scam(s) is referred to as "419". In the 'good old days', this scam would offer people TONS of money for use in their account, usually claiming to have extra money from the government and have no good way of transporting it. Here are links where you can get additional information, and some of them even have sample letters: Quatloos! Nigerian Scams: Excellent resource The 419 Coalition Website Nigerian Money Offers Dubious Business Letters SuperHighway information on Nigerian letters Information about phone tapping I've heard some people argue that the victims of these scams were trying to get 'something for nothing' or 'steal money from the nation', and deserved no pity. I don't agree with people trying to take money from my nation, whether they be in the nation or out of it, but I do know that the Nigerian government has warned people about these scams for many years. Also, if you go to any of the websites above, the 'assumption' is that these scams target businesses. This I know is not true. I know of many individuals (including me) who have received these types of letters as well. With technology, the scams have come in ways other than letters with no return address, including but not limited to fax and email. I now regret not having saved more of scam correspondence that I received. However, I hope this page is more useful than a collection of correspondence. At least twice in the last few months, I have heard of a new kind of scam, which I will call the "family member needs money" scam. In both cases, the individual received a letter from a supposed family member, asking them for money for some reason (like a medical operation, hardship, etc. etc. etc.), and asking them to deliver the money to some person. In one case, the individual's family in Nigeria received a letter from their relative in the US (let's call her X). The letter was written in the same tone as earlier letters X had written, and even named other relatives to give regards to, and talked about X's family here in the US. It also explained that she was having a really hard time in the US, and needed some money. She had a friend that would be visiting Nigeria in the near future, and had asked him to collect the money for her. Her family started to collect the money (and they were not by any means "rich"). As it became harder for them to collect the money, one of the relatives called her (and if you have been in Nigeria, you know that calling overseas is very difficult and very expensive...hopefully this will change someday) to ask why she needed so much, especially since she was in the US. They were shocked to find out that she had never sent such a request and did not know the person who was supposed to 'collect the money'. In another case, a young lady received a letter or fax personally addressed to her, from someone who was supposedly representing her father. Mr L said that her brother had to have an expensive operation and did not have enough money to pay for the operation, and was therefore asking her to send whatever she could to help save his life. She also started collecting the money. Who wouldn't want to save a relative's life? Anyway, one day she was talking to a cousin, and he thought it was suspicious that her father would ask her for money in that manner, and wanted to verify it with her father before sending anything. Of course, upon doing that, she discovered that it was false and her father did not even know Mr L. (She found out later that her father never even received the mails she had sent.) I feel depressed whenever I hear stories like this, because this is the first thing some people think about when they hear about Nigeria (and especially before there became democracy issues in Nigeria). At the same time, I also feel a little resentment. Yes, scams happen in Nigeria, but there are also a host of good things that happen there that do not get publicized, and like I said before, scams are everywhere. In some countries, the laws make it easier for the scam artist to get away if caught. So, I would like to say a couple of things before ending this page: The average Nigerian is not anymore of a crook than the average person. The Nigerian scams target everyone, including Nigerians, rich and poor. Also, I believe that there are some reasons why the scams may be easier to propagate: A lack of reliable communication can make these scams happen more than they should. The fact that most transactions in Nigeria take place with cash makes it harder to track information So, in ending, I would like to reiterate some of the ways to protect yourself against scams anywhere. Never believe something that is 'too good to be true'. Never give an unknown person information sensitive information that might give them access to your financial information. Remember that your postal mail is not necessarily 'confidential'. Be wary of a government official who wants you to keep everything 'extremely confidential'. Even in cases where the government official is supposedly 'cooperative', be careful. There have been incidents known where crooks have met their victims in real government offices, in following up to correspondence on real government letterhead. Verify requests from family members and friends before sending them money (yes, I know this can be extremely difficult depending on where your relative is. If you do end up sending money, send it through a reliable and trusted source. Spread the word, so that others don't fall victims to the scam. Visit the links above to learn more or to find out what you can do. Watch what you say on the phone when calling Nigeria Please everybody, play safe.

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