I need to speak with this Lake Geneva woman to see if she has a callback number to the gentlemen from Nigeria. I sent those nice people a check for $10,000 about a month ago and haven't heard from them since. I even sent them all of my banking account numbers, credit card numbers and a shoebox full of cash. Gee, I hope I didn't do something stupid and send it all to the wrong place.

If you fall for that, you deserve it. That has been around for years.

Your best bet is just to laugh at them. The authorities can't really do anything for you. They can't identify them because the countries they are in won't arrest them. The other thing you can do is ask them to send you money first to verify they are trustworthy. Just a couple hundred dollars would do. Have them send it to the local Western Union office for you to pick up. They probably will hand up on you at that point.

beefer- not all programs show spell check ON the post comment section. As you know MINE doesnt. I am not going to put my comment here, then put into word(which i cannot because computer is goofed up),or go into my email put it there and then back to here. Just because people cannot spell well doesnt mean we are stupid. Get over it already and stop reading if it makes you so mad.

It is getting very annoying to see these email and now cell phone calls. How is stupid here anyway.

I know of a guy who once scammed a scammer out of $125 in gold. It was a deal where the scammer wanted help getting gold from a deceased bank account holder out of the country and after months of hilarious email exchanges my acquaintance convinced the scammer to send a sample of the gold. Incredibly he complied and we sold the sample to buy beer for a party we held.
The email exchanges between the two were some of funniest things I've ever read on the internet. Most of these scammers are clueless and this one didn't pick up on legal papers drawn up by Jeffery Dalmer of the Dewey Cheatem and Howe law firm, the fact that my friend was engaged to Eva Braun, had a packer mauled by lions while hunting in the jungles of Iowa, vacationed in the spas of Indiana and owned a business that sold yak products.
For some good laughs Google search "scamming the scammers" and you'll get several internet sites that detail people doing a reverse scam. Some of it is hilarious.

Got another one tonight. If you have a email address long enough you become a target of people like Rita, from Zimbabwe (today’s sender). Its always the same thing. They're usually not emailing from the country they say they are emailing from (you can check that information from the email header if you know how. If you don't drop me an email & I'll show you). They are always the wife/ widow of some third world government official, or it comes from the Official themselves. They have either, Yahoo email addresses, or hotmail. If you've ever had one of those free email accounts, I'm sure you know why they use those particular free services (because those two services could care less what you do, & their filters stink). I remember getting a couple with gmail addresses, but thats all. I LOVE the way they form they're sentences (i.e. "I am contacting you with the greatest delight and personal respect").. the emails all start similar too: "I am well confident of your capability of executing this transaction for the mutual benefit of both families, believing that you will not expose or betray the trust and confident I am about to repose to you". "REPOSE"? Who uses that word in that context in the United States? I've never heard it used in that way. Another thing most of them have is a sentence like this.. "Believing you are sincere and trustworthy person and of transparent honesty and capable of handling this transaction to the best of your knowledge on assisting my son and I, in transferring the sum of $11,500,000.00.US dollars (Eleven Million, Five Hundred Thousand United State Dollars Only),into a foreign account for safe keeping pending on arrival to your country for..." then they slip in.. " I got your contact courtesy of the South African chamber of commerce and Industry business Directory here in Johannesburg private research for a reliable person". And always the last paragraph has almost the same wording.. i.e.="For your assistance in this regard, it will interest you to know that we will be willing to come to terms with you regarding your reward for helping us actualize this dream. It is equally important to state here that considering the nature of this matter, we will require that it is handled most discreetly. Kindly contact us using the above particulars upon receipt of this letter for execution details and other necessary discussions. Your private phone and fax number will be needed for easier communication thank you in anticipation of your trusted and genuine assistance I remain, Yours Sincerely.A couple of these emails came on days I I was feeling a little lonely, so i emailed them back saying I wanted to help to see if they would respond. I found they have a one track mind,& if you don't want to ride that track, they go away quickly (time = money). They wanted my personal contact info right away. So i gave them bogus addresses, phone, etc.. Then they want to talk money. I just wanted a buddy *frown*

LOL- In my defense it was 1 am when I posted my blog. I was tired.

Zebra- I agree with you. The very first comment here, (and I am not going to mention any names) contains over a half dozen grammatical and spelling errors. Apparently the Nigerians have been reading posts on the Gazette's site and figured that these idiots will be pushovers. You need to pay attention to those little red dotted lines. They are telling you that there is a mistake. You should edit when you see them. Otherwise you come across like a Gazette editor.

some of the comments in the gazettes blogs make janesville people look like idiots

villa, a lot of the scam rings operate in greater Lagos, which is one of the largest cities in the world. The scams are highly organized rings that target the United States and Europe because they are fertile fields where the scams have been repeatedly successful, not because of TV images of America. Scotland Yard has no jurisdiction in Nigeria, and Interpol is merely a coordinating agency, not an actual police force.
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The Nigerian government does have laws against fraud. Section 419 of the Nigerian criminal code now lends its name to the advance fee fraud. Enforcement is lax because of the endemic corruption in Nigeria, where many people are heavily impoverished and what little oil wealth there is flows only to those who already have it. In short, it isn't going away, and even if it did, some other part of the world is probably ready to pick up the ball. Consumers need to be vigilant and keep in mind there is no such thing as a free lunch. (This death threat scam is really just straightforward extortion, but the same groups are involved.)
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http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advance_fee...

We received an email that said- "We are a descendent of a relative who willed to us $16,000,000 in American Dollars. If you help us to get this money out of our country we will provide rich compensation for you. Please provide your banking account information."
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Another time we received a check for $6,000 from a bank drawn out of New York with a letter instructing us to send back to this address $4500. We turned the check over to bank officials who determined the check was indeed forged. We also provided all information that came with the check. What happenened from that point I do not know.
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It is scary to think that they could terrorize this woman by obtaining personal information about her- from all the way in NIGERIA!