Checking deposit scam is expanding
If you could make $11 million simply by allowing your personal checking account to be used to hold a $38 million deposit for a few days, would you? The scam is apparently making a lot of money for the crooks running the fraud. I received three separate e-mails last week requesting permission for my checking account to be used to deposit millions of dollars from foreign bank accounts.
This rip-off has been around for years. We used to receive these proposals in letters through the regular mail, most of them sent from African countries. Now we are seeing the same game being played on the Internet.
The story lines vary, but all of them request access to your personal checking account. Anyone gullible enough to disclose the bank account numbers and give permission to strangers to access the account won’t find a $38 million deposit has been made. What they will find is that the checking account has been wiped out. Or, they will demand a “good faith” payment, ranging from $500 to whatever they think they can get from you before they say they can deposit the millions.
This scam can be effective for several reasons. People are attracted to easy money schemes. Dangle the possibility of getting $11 million in front of anyone and you will get that person’s attention.
After the scam is over, and your money is gone, most people are too embarrassed to tell anyone that they’ve been duped. If you’ve sent money to a stranger at an address in a foreign country, the chances of getting your money back are just about zero.
In the three proposals I received, one writer stated that an Australian oil merchant had left $38.5 million on deposit in an account controlled by the republic of Nigeria. The person sending the e-mail says he is the custodian of the account, and claims the merchant was killed in an airplane crash.
He wants me to send him my telephone and fax numbers and my bank account numbers so that he can arrange to have the $38.5 million deposited into my personal account. Instead of the government getting that $38.5 million, he says, we will split up the proceeds, and I will receive 30% of the total.
The other two proposals are similar. One claims that an investment of $15.5 million in a South African mining company was made by a senior employee in 1977. The letter says the investment has now matured, but the employee cannot be found. So, we can split up the money. We just need your bank account numbers.
The other e-mail claims to be from a diplomat in the republic of Gambia. He needs to deliver diplomatic cargo boxes with an unknown amount of money. After I send him my phone and fax numbers we can complete the “transaction.” Right.
The letters stress that no illegal activity will be involved if you agree to cooperate. And, there’s absolutely no risk on your part. Simply agree to allow millions of dollars to be stored temporarily in your checking account and you will be rewarded for your service.
The sad truth is many people, lured by the hope of a big payoff, will follow the instructions for sending information on their bank accounts to people completely unknown to them in foreign countries. These victims will pay the price, and learn a hard lesson.
I would be interested in hearing from area readers who have had similar experiences, either through the Internet with e-mails or in letters sent by regular mail. I have no doubt that hundreds of local people have been contacted by these scam artists.
If you’ve been contacted with similar propositions, don’t do what they ask under any circumstances. Save yourself from a lot of personal grief. Don’t become another victim.
Mike Ellis is the editor of the Herald-Standard. His e-mail address is: mellis@heraldstandard.com.