You can make millions by transferring some money for a foreigner-Scam!

Run Money Through Your Account For a Foreigner and Get Millions of Dollars-Fiction!

Summary of the eRumor:
There are numerous versions of this eRumor and they are multiplying. They all involve a request or an offer from a foreigner that millions of dollars be allowed to pass through your bank or account and as a thanks for your help, you will receive a commission, usually 10 to 25 percent. These emails are initially were directed at businesses and business owners but now try to appeal to anyone and there are some that are offers of donations to churches and other non-profit organizations.

Also, a variation of the Nigerian Advance Fee Scam is targeting people who have merchandise for sale on the Internet (see below).

The Truth:
This is one of the most common scams on the Internet right now and one of the top issues that we we receive inquiries about at TruthOrFiction.com.

We'll describe the scam in detail, but very simply, it consists of someone convincing you that a lot of money or an expensive prize is within your reach. At the last minute, however, you will be asked to advance some money to clear one last hurdle. After that, neither the scammers nor your money are seen again.

There are literally hundreds of different versions of this scam using many different names for the originator so if you may not see here the particular message that you may have received. The bottom line is the nature of the offer made

These scammers also approach victims through the mail, fax, and by telephone.

According to the Secret Service, it is a scheme that predates the Internet. It has become known as "The Nigeria Advance Fee Scam." It is also known as "Four-One-Nine", referring to the Nigerian law for fraud. The majority of the messages initially claimed to be coming from people in Africa, especially Nigeria, but now the emails seem to be coming from every part of the globe.

There are several different scenarios presented in the messages.

The most common one tells you that there are millions of dollars sitting idle from a business deal, a government action, or an inheritance, and all you need to do is agree to let the money be run through your bank account or to help invest it in the U.S., and you'll get a commission, usually in the hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars.

Another version of the scam targets non-profit organizations such as churches and says that a wealthy African has died and left millions of dollars to your group. At least one U.S. church lost $90,000 to an advance-fee-crook.

Other emails claim to have unclaimed cash from the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in 2001 or inheritance money from a victim of the Pentagon attack on the same day.

TruthOrFiction.com has also received reports from readers who responded to job ads and then were offered large amounts of money from foreigners along with the promise that than can keep a cut of it.

There are also a number of reports of strange emails from foreigners who offer to buy an item for sale on the Internet. In response to your listing to sell an expensive item such as exercise equipment, a boat, car, or airplane, you receive an email (frequently in poor English) from someone who says confidently he wants to buy it. He asks for more information and says that he's got either a Fedex account that can be used to send the merchandise or that he has an agent, a shipper, or someone else in the United States who will arrange for the product to be picked up and shipped. He may even offer to pay more than your asking price and may also offer to pay with a cashier's check or money order. What happens, however, is that when you receive his payment, it is for several hundred or several thousand dollars more than agreed. He explains that it was a clerical error and apologizes and asks you to simply send the difference back to him in whatever form you prefer. Or he says that is the extra mount of money needed by his agent to arrange for the shipping and he asks that you give it to the agent when he contacts you. His check to you, however, was bogus, but looks so real that you don't find that out for several days. You've been scammed and you can kiss the money you sent to him or his agent goodbye.

It didn't take long after the end of the war in Iraq in 2003 for a version to appear that claims to be from the former accountant of a son of Saddam Hussein.

The scammers have also personally approached various professionals saying they want to build something like a medical center, sports stadium, factory, or commercial building.  The professional is eventually asked to pitch in some funds to get the project over a hurdle, and it all disappears.

Watch out for people who say you've won contests or lotteries that you never entered, have funds for you from a transaction that you never arranged, that you have won a prize but you need to pay for the shipping, or who say they need your credit card or other financial information in order to complete the transaction.

There are hundreds of other variations on those themes and, according to the U.S. Secret Service, thousands of people who have lost hundreds of millions of dollars.  The Secret Service receives an average of 100 phone calls and 300 to 500 pieces of correspondence per day about the advance fee scams and says that in 2001, there were reports from 2,600 Americans who said they'd been scammed. Sixteen of them lost more than $300,000. Many people who've lost money don't report it.

In August, 2006, Fox news reported that a Nigerian Advance Fee scam may have been a part of the money troubles between Tennessee minister Matthew Winkler and his wife Mary, who is accused of killing Matthew, allegedly after a heated argument about finances.

The Secret Service says the approaches of the scammers may include proposals of:

	Disbursement of money from wills
	Contract fraud (C.O.D. of goods or services)
	Purchase of real estate
	Conversion of hard currency
	Transfer of funds from over invoiced contracts
	Sale of crude oil at below market prices
	Returning lost luggage to you that had several hundred thousand dollars cash in it.

Here's an example of what happens:

1. You receive a request from a foreigner with the prospect of millions of dollars coming your way.

2. You reply and through a series of exchanges via email, fax, and phone, you are presented with documentation and convincing proofs of the identities and the credentials of the people you are dealing with.

3. You are asked to provide information about yourself or your company including letterhead, Social Security and other identification.

4. You may be asked to come see them in person in their country, or they may ask to come see you.

5. Very often, some strings will be pulled on your behalf such illegally getting you into the country that is your destination.

6. Once you are feeling good about the transaction and can taste the millions of dollars in your bank account, there is a sudden complication. You are told that the money is secure and ready to be transferred, but that in order to get it released, a government official needs to be bribed or a fee needs to be paid. You are given a last-minute request to advance thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars to get rid of the unexpected glitch. Or, in the worst cases, you may actually be trapped in a foreign country and will have to pay your way out. The amount of money the scammers ask for is based on how much they've learned about your assets. If they think they can get hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars, that's how much they'll ask for. If they know you can pay only a few thousand dollars, that's how much they'll ask for.

7. You never see your money or the crooks again.

One interesting note about the advance fee scams is that many of them admit that the money is stolen or the result of criminal activity such as overcharging companies who did business with the country. That means that anyone who wants to get involved in the scheme has already agreed to participate in something that is "under the table". That cuts down on the number of them who complain to authorities after it's all over. There are many wealthy individuals who would rather endure the loss of the money than to admit that they got scammed while participating in something slippery.

The U.S. Secret Service says don't respond to these communications but they'd like to hear from you if you've lost money to the scammers. CLICK HERE for the link.

Updated 8/18/06

Examples of some of the advance fee scam messages
Just for the fun of it, we started collecting examples of the Nigeria Advance Fee scam emails. It helps dramatically illustrate the scope of the problem. There is no other eRumor that has a greater variety of versions. The list below includes some of the most common stories. We are not including the names of individuals both because there are so many aliases and because some of the identities have turned out to be real and we don't want to accuse anyone by name without having gotten that information from the authorities. Even this list is not exhaustive, but once we started, hey, we just kept adding to it.
We have received literally thousands of these either directly from the scammers or forwarded to us by readers. They all involved the same scheme: A promise of some kind for you to get a lot of money.

Jesus Loves You
May your blessing be the best blessing in histories, may you never lack, may God blessing be double on your life, may God goodness, mercy and grace be your portion, may your blessing never run out, may you never go bankrupt or have to owe anyone and keep receiving more anointed. In Jesus Name Amen.

I'm Rev Father Alexander Asia. The Lord God Almighty, has anointed me and open up my eyes to see, that so much lots of people in the world including my church members, has been committing suicide. By being a victim of internet scam by wrong people around the world.

Your life belong to God Almighty. I'm begging you with the name of Jesus Christ Of Nazareth. To stop committing suicide.

Jesus gave you life, because he love you and he gave his only begotten son to die for your sins, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Please tell me right now if you are a victim of internet scam, me and the church will send back the full total money that was scammed from you. Right away to you.

I'm begging you with the name of Jesus Christ Of Nazareth. To tell me the full total money that was scammed from you and i will send it back to you.

Jesus Love You And His Peace Will Be With You Forever. Amen

The family members of former government leaders
Many of the emails claim to be from the son, daughter, sibling, or wife of a former leader of an African country who was either kicked out of office or killed by his enemies. The family members have either been able to rescue the family fortune or have been able to put the funds into something like a European bank account or a safe deposit box.
Some of them claim to be from the widow of a leader who escaped his enemies, but then died of cancer in another country.
Others claim the government official died in the Word Trade Center on September 11, 2002 in New York.

The bankers who wants to make you rich
These emails claim to be from a bank official, typically in an African country.
He says he's become aware of millions of dollars languishing in an old account left behind by a foreigner, typically an American, who died without heirs, usually in an airplane crash.
The bank official can arrange for you to be named as the next-of-kin and inherit the money.

Government officials who are in a position to transfer funds
...Petroleum officials-A man who is in charge of petroleum for a country has padded his construction budget. He wants to make it appear as though you are a contractor receiving money.
...Various other government officials-Either propose a scam that makes you look like you are receiving legitimate payments from the government or are simply stealing money that they want to run through your account. They include utility officials.
...Officials in charge of clean-up of an oil spill-They admit overestimating the cost of cleaning the oil spill so they've got funds to invoice a phony company if you want to be it.

The son or daughter of a wealthy businessman needs your help
...Children of a cocoa merchant-Say their father was secretly hiding a large sum of money. The father's enemies poisoned him to get the money and now the son or daughter is afraid of being killed. He or she knows where millions of dollars are hidden. He or she wants you to run the money through your bank for them.
...Children of a gold merchant-the same scenario.
...White or black farmers in Africa are under pressure from enemies but have a lot of money hidden that they want you to help them transfer out of the country.

A banker or lawyer says he has millions of dollars of an inheritance that needs to be claimed and that he can arrange to have you named as the heir, transfer the money, and let you keep part of it for your trouble.

Phony lotteries and other winnings
...South Africa-You're the winner of the country's annual lottery.
...The Euro-Afro-Asian Sweepstake Lottery-Claiming to be from Amsterdam
...Notification of winnings of lotteries in the Netherlands

Other unique scams
...Your company can cash in on money from a foreign government-As a business owner, you are notified that there was a recent decision between a foreign country and the United Nations to pay all debts owed to foreign contractors. The email makes it appear that even if you are not owed anything, the sender of the email can arrange to have you be one of the companies who gets the money.
...Foreign investors want to build a state-of-the-art medical facility, golf course, or sports arena-You are contacted by someone who claims to know all about you and your profession and who wants to invest in an elaborate building project for your work.

Some of the countries named in the scam emails:
...Angola
...Benin
...Congo
...England
...Ethiopia
...Enugu
...France
...Gambia
...Ghana
...Guinea Bissau
...India
...Iraq
...Ivory Coast
...Korea
...Kuwait
...Liberia
...Malaysia
...
...Nepal
...Netherlands
...Nigeria
...Philippines
...Saudi Arabia
...Sierra Leone
...South Africa
...Switzerland
...Taiwan
...Togo
...United Arab Emirates
...Yugoslavia
...Zaire
...Zambia
...Zimbabwe
...

A wealthy person wants to donate to your ministry or non-profit organization
Some of the scams target churches, other ministries, and charities.

You receive notice that you left a piece of luggage at an airport or some other public place and that the person who found it is trying to return it to you and wants to know how you would like to have the hundreds of thousands of dollars that was in the suitcase transferred back to you.