Free Republic

Not good if you did. Beware of foreign pen pals promising money. At least wait for their check to clear before you wire funds. The “Nigerian Letter” scam is known as a “419” because the scheme violates section 419 of the Nigerian criminal code. While it seems like a laughable hoax, Americans lose millions of dollars annually to this fraud, which can appear in the form of a letter, email, voicemail, or text. The scam tries to gain access to your personal finances and works like this: Step 1: You are sent a form of payment for a large amount,...

<p>EARLIER THIS YEAR, thousands of people checked their e-mail and found a surprise: An American soldier needed help, and there was something in it for them. Their correspondent was a sergeant stationed in Iraq, he explained. He had accumulated millions in hundred-dollar bills—the older ones being phased out by the Treasury—from the cash brought into the country by the American occupation. The soldier needed to launder this money, fast, and needed a stateside bank account to do it. In return for a cut of the total, could he use yours?</p>

Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI Seattle Division 1110 Third Avenue Seattle, Washington 98101-2904 Payment Code: R5109176K Reg No: 132731593 Date: March 29, 2009 The Federal Bureau of Investigation has discovered through our intelligence Monitoring Network that you are eligible to receive the sum of $7,500,00.00 USD regarding to an over-due Inheritance/Award payment which was fully endorsed to be paid in your favor. Therefore, the FBI Seattle Division in conjunction with the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Has screened through our various Monitoring Networks and has been confirmed and notified that the transaction you have with the Financial Institution...

ELIZABETHTON — An Elizabethton woman has been indicted by a Carter County grand jury on charges she had participated in an international Internet scam. Investigators interviewed Ouchaib on Jan. 24, during which time she told the police she had been receiving money from all across the country and forwarding it to a man in Lagos, Nigeria, who was known by many names, but most commonly as Elinmian Jonathon Smith. She had been conducting the transactions since December 2006.