| E-mail scam nets $400,000 from Ormond man
Staff Writer Last update: 12 November 2003 |
|
DAYTONA BEACH -- A promise of millions ruined an Ormond Beach man's
retirement.
When Rupert Sessions got an e-mail from Africa like those received by
thousands of Americans each year, he jumped at the chance to make his
share of a promised $7 million.
· In addition to Internet
foreign money scams, common scams include - but are not
limited to - chain letters, work-at-home schemes,
credit-repair jobs, easy money schemes, hair loss
products and diet pills.
· If you are unable to tell a
scam from a legitimate offer, contact the Federal Trade
Commission or the U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission.
But police say that, like thousands of other trusting souls, the
retired electronics engineer lost his life savings.
"I'm kind of embarrassed," Sessions said. "I probably shouldn't have
done it."
Police said the $400,000 Sessions lost is the largest amount they've
ever heard of being paid to what has become known as a "Nigerian 419
scam," named after the penal code prohibiting the ruse in that country.
There are many versions of the scam letters, which are sent to
strangers over the Internet. The victim often is asked to put up his or
her own money to facilitate the transfer of some undocumented "fortune" to
a U.S. bank to receive a portion of the money. Other versions include fake
lotteries or inheritances.
The State Department has linked 15 deaths to "Nigerian" fraud rings
since the 1980s and hundreds of millions in losses. Since 1995, officials
say, at least eight other Americans have been held against their will by
criminals in Lagos, Nigeria, as they pursued their "pot of gold."
Ormond Beach police Detective Lloyd Cornelius said he warned Sessions
to stop sending money to Africa, but Sessions persisted.
"The money's waiting for me," he told the detective.
Now, police have turned the case over to the U.S. Secret Service
because the crime is beyond the scope of local jurisdiction.
"It's an international problem," Robert Jasinski, assistant to the
special agent in charge at the U.S. Secret Service field office in
Jacksonville, said Wednesday.
Why do people fall for the scam?
"Greed," Jasinski said. "They try to rationalize to convince themselves
that it's legit."
He said most people are suspicious of the offers -- but the few who are
not "get hooked a little at a time."
Session's woes started two years back, when he got an e-mail claiming
he had money coming to him. But there was also a trademark catch: He
needed to pay to get "his" money out.
Sessions sent money, $5,000 at a time, to Africa via Western Union and
even traveled overseas to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, according to
information he gave police. His African contacts showed him a huge stack
of "cash" that was dyed black and he saw the men demonstrate how the
rectangles could be turned back into currency by dipping them in a
chemical. He was asked to provide even more money to purchase more of the
chemical.
He returned home, but the demands increased.
"It looked like we were going to get a delivery, and then there was
always something else," he said.
Believing he could still come out ahead, Sessions took out a second
mortgage on his house and asked to borrow $140,000 from his son, who
alerted police.
In the end, Sessions and his wife lost everything. "If they want any
more money, they can't have it," he said, "because there's nothing left."
Sessions has been forced back to work to make ends meet.
"I'm worse off financially than I was when I was 20," he said. "At this
point, all I can do is go back to work and start over."
Some experts theorize the scams started in the '80s when the Nigerian
oil market plunged and educated, English-speaking Nigerians began using
their computers for crime. But www.Snopes.com, a Web site that tracks
Internet fraud, lists a version of the scam involving a fictitious wealthy
Spanish prisoner that dates back to the 1920s.
Cracking the cases can be tough. Federal investigators said some other
countries don't cooperate with their investigations, and tracking
criminals can be difficult when money is wired by Western Union.
"It's not like we can stake out the bad guy," Jasinski said.
The only hope law enforcers have is educating the public.
"If it seems too good to be true," said Ormond Beach Police Chief Larry
Mathieson, "it probably is."
|
________________________________
Changes to your subscription (unsubs, nomail, digest) can be made by going to http://sandboxmail.net/mailman/listinfo/sndbox_sandboxmail.net
