An American man, Marco Ramirez has been held in Kirikiri Maximum prison, after he defrauded Nigerians $565,000 US green card and investment scam.
The man was arrested by the Nigerian anti-graft agency after he was caught collecting money from Nigerians while promising them of US green cards, and also promise to get some other victim green card if they invest in some business in the US.
According to the EFCC prosecutor, Mr Ramirez was in the managing director of USA Now Plc., Eagleford Instalodge Group and USA Now Capital Group – committed the offences between February 2013 and August 2013, and committed the crimes between February 2013 and August 2013.
One of Marco's victims isAmb. Godson Echejum whom he collected $545,000, telling him the money will serve as an investment in the US, which then could be used to grant him the US green card.
Another one of his victims is Abubakar Umar, who paid $10,000 for an investment company that also never existed.
Mr Olukayode Sodimu also fell for Marco scam, and also paid $10,000 for facilitation fees with the American Immigration Services for an American green card.
Mr. Ramirez pleaded the no guilty charge against all the allegations, and he was then remanded at Kirikiri prison, and his case adjourned till June 3rd.
Police in Ho Chi Minh city are looking for a restaurant owner, Thi Hong Phuong, 37, also known as Trang for an alleged card fraud in Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam.
Trang allegedly committed a fraud when an Australian man, Caracciolo David John, dined at her Nightfall restaurant, located on Thai Van Lung Street in District 1 on August 11. The staff at the diner asked that there was a problem with the POS reading device, and asked that Join enter his pin code multiple times, while the diner remove money from his account.
John never noticed the crime until he received an account statement while in Australia, and alerted the police.
Police on Tuesday posted a notice to notify the general public about Trang crime, and also her address at Pham Viet Chanh Apartment building in Binh Thanh District.
Police have not been able to make contact with Trang, and her restaurant was reported to have closed down in September, and the location has now been taken over by a bar.
Police are currently looking for Trang and have asked the general public to leave a tip with District 1 police investigator Tran Dinh Huy (Mr) at +84 989 022 060
Top Nigerian scammer behind the popular scams, only known as "Mike" was recently apprehended in Port-Harcourt by INTERPOL and the Nigerian security agency. The team is said to have scammed people globally, and their scam is worth $60m.
Mike is the leader of the fraudulent team, and their operations involve using malware to compromise email and also romance scams. According to INTERPOL, "In one case, a target was conned into paying out $15.4 m"
Mike also runs a money laundering service in US, Europe and China;
The network compromised email accounts of small to medium-sized businesses around the world including in Australia, Canada, India, Malaysia, Romania, South Africa, Thailand and the United States.
Then Mike and his team would send email to buyers on how to make payments to account under their control.
The suspect and accomplice involved in the scam will face charges including hacking, conspiracy and obtaining money under false pretences.
At the moment of writing, the men are out of jail after meeting their bail requirement.
Took me a while to start this topic because i keep wondering how to start, and you know i didn't even know how till now....Ok....i was at home today and came across a blog by a man talking about a Nigerian prince that defrauded him...he was nice to post some pictures of email exchanges between them. Before you continue i will advise you get yourself a cup of coffee or juice, because am not too sure i will include a part 2...so i want to bare it all in this post.
I have always wondered how it came about that people get defrauded online. I have always said to myself that i can't send money to anybody for anything...the only charity i will do is if it involves a reputable company or the person that needs my help is nearly dying and i can see pictures( am kidding), i mean Video...if it involves the person naked...Am so crazy like that...i prefer to help people around my vicinity that i see everyday or in the country i stay...If you know how i make money, you will know i don't need to be a father Christmas, exactly why i don't grow long beard so you wont mistake me for Santa (Pun intended).
Let me start by listing different methods of Scam and i will also talk about my personal experience.
Dating Scam
Money transfer Scam
Cash Cheques
Charity Scam
Phishing Scam
Let me go ahead and explain all these scams for you
Dating Scam : Just like the name sounds, dating is the relationship between 2 people (m2m,m2w,w2w). The scammer scans for his victim from different dating sites on the internet, and starts talking to them by exchanging different information/emails online. They get to know themselves for a period of 2 months...depending on how well they had their conversation. After that, the swindler starts talking about travelling to meet the victim. Now this is what baffles me, when you meet a lady or guy online that started loving you, remember he/she once told you that he is a marine engineer or someone with a high paying job because a swindler never tells you that he is a pauper, because he knows nobody like a pauper. And when i checked the annual income of a marine engineer or someone working far away in Africa, am sure they are not paid peanut. But this is the same guy that will tell you that he is being trapped on an island and he needs to get off it.
The reality is this scammers are people like you, they are not smarter than you, what they do is they see you dumb person and don't know right from wrong.
There is an adage that says that "When you see a stupid man with free money to throw around, grab his money..because a wise man never looses money" (hahaha....Translation error...am sure you get the point).
The truth is that different countries are into dating scams, but most online reviews are saying Nigeria, almost all dating websites have a special navigation button for Nigerian dating scam...(funny, huh?)..what online agencies warning people don't know is that a dumb person will will stay dumb.
Back to my point, When a guy tells you that he is stranded and cant travel to meet you, have you sit down just for 5mins and think about these few points :
Am i one of his family members?
He told me he was an engineer and have been working for few years, where are all the money?
Have i tried to ask him what will happen if he can't come back home? (the swindler will tell you that he will die....good...why do i care? )
A company consists of 5-millions of people...why is he asking me?
Can he give me a family member contact? (He will say No, everybody hates him)
Now you will see that i seem to be a very heartless blogger, No..don't get it twisted, am trying to save you from getting scammed next...And am tired of people writing ranting that they have been swindled. It makes me think they are slow,really slow thinkers.
Before the Dating scams begins, these are some of the things you will notice : A scammer will tell you he is from America and you will find him using British spellings or vice-versa ( This might be hard to get if you don't go to school yourself). The only thing he/she wants is your trust, every bit of it, and like i said after 2 or 3 months...he will kick-off scamming tactics. A scammer quote is, "if you are not paying in 3-4 months, you are possibly not a victim".
The profile picture is always the point of getting to your person. The pictures are always like models with nice body shape, that whenever you see the picture, the first thing that comes to your mind is ego and family. The ego is " wow, so i will be the husband to this damsel and you started feeling like a family man or housewife at that instant. That is the number 1 killer for you, because it makes you a looser already.
Upload the profile picture of your new scam artist
and click search.
The result will show the information of the picture you uploaded by giving you different information about the original owner of the image uploaded. It will also show you if the image is used as a scam (Because their are lots of scammers database now) . It will automatically show you the information you need about the pictures you just uploaded.
When someone you met online send you flowers and greeting cards, tell them ''Thank you'' and let it end there. Don't let your emotions guide you. A flower is way too cheap, so don't be tricked about it. I once saw a video where an Australian woman was duped of her retirement fees, and she said she was impressed when she started receiving flowers and cards from the young man. funny enough, the woman is about 50 years and the swindler was just in his mid 20's. Ma'am!! why, why, why? you have just be punked by someone young enough to be your son.
A swindler is not always comfortable chatting on the dating website you met, after 10 lines maximum, The swindler will ask for your instant messenger Id. Mostly used is the yahoo messenger.
Another way to know a scammer is that, roughly 2 weeks meeting a guy on the internet, He will waste no time telling you how crazy you make him feel, hahahahah....Ma'am/Sirs, being crazy is allowed once in a while, that is your friend side of craziness....Its good once in a while to act weird.
A swindler will tell you to leave the website you both encounter yourselves, An analogy of this is :
" When you catch a fish, of course, you don't keep it inside the river you caught the fish, you put it in a separate aquarium or dry land before cooking it" That is the FINISH HIM/HER tactics.
Now another thing most people don't notice is this, Whenever a swindler start calling you, did you take time to check his mobile number prefix? Some reasons people always fall for cheap scam is that, they are too lazy to Google few things. A scammer said he/she is from USA, and he is calling you with +44 or +234....is that the number prefix for USA... Its difficult getting smart people scammed.
Ok, i will mention some few things here : Most people that scam from Africa are not that intelligent , Ok let me rephrase 90% of people that scam from Africa are not the smart or educated ones. The 10% educated ones that swindles are actually being lured to help the illiterate write sometimes. The intelligent and smart ones are actually looking for different ways to make ends meet. They believe in their future and will tell you that " I will make it" and they won't scam no matter what. The 10% educated ones you see scamming are divided into people that conspire to help the illiterate guys and the ones in school and have given up.
The reason for my last paragraph is to let you see that most times, when your scam artist sends you an email. You will find blunders, like errors in his spellings or past tense when he was supposed to use the present. When you notice this, be careful, even when chatting and you see him make a mistake, always notice and don't ignore. He might be a scam artist. Never you use the word "Nobody is above mistake". Most times if you see a line too sweet and nice, try copy and paste the lines you suspecting...am sure it's copied somewhere from the internet. Sometimes, they mistakenly leave the name of the original writer of the lines sent to you. This explains that they are not too smart themselves. Most of them can't read a page of a newspaper. hahahahah.
When someone you met on a dating website asks you for money...immediately read through the lines. It's a scam.You met few months ago, he should not ask you for money. Let him ask his co-workers if he is having problems with the ATM card or let him ask his family. Do you also know that banks can send ATM cards to customers while they are away in case there is a problem. So tell him to contact his bank. Am sure he will never do that because he does not have any account in the bank..He will be keep telling you sad stories. If you start reading, you will be attahed, so go to bed mate.
Have you ever been scammed?
You probably think why did i know so much about this...well, i was nearly scammed too, in my hometown, it's a sin to lose money...If you do a business, its either you make the exact capital you invested or make more, NEVER LOOSE
My experience in brief
I received a mail from a lady from Liberia. That was the first time i received such email and i was wondering why people are so heartless. She told me how some people came to their house to kill both parents right before her face. She said the rebels were going to rape her before they decided to move away because they could not agree..
The sweetest part
She said that her parent left almost 40million dollars in the bank and she was the only person that have access to this money....i was like Oh boy...She then said that i should help her move the money that she trusted me and when i have the money, i can arrange for her coming to my country and that if i like her, i can go ahead and marry her or let her go and start a new life.
She then send me her pictures...i salivated that night...I am a smart man, so i started calculating what i can do with 40million...i have always loved the ML 450 back then...So i was hoping to buy 1, and do some other real business..
She gave me her phone number and told me it belong to a pastor in the church and i should ask for her whenever i call since she is in a refugee camp....I did not call the number until one afternoon..lo and behold, a gentleman confirmed that he is a Reverend and she will give it to the person in question. We continue exchanging emails ..She was asking me what i intend to do...and all sort..i was trying to be a gentleman so she don't get angry...hahahah
Then one day she asked me that all processes are going fine and i should send an email to a lawyer about what next...already i had planned to hire a lawyer from my side...i was playing along because i was a novice....
I mailed the lawyer and he said i will have to pay some money, this money is around $150. I am like ... If i had paid $150, a new money will arise and that is how the story starts, how it ends might be disastrous.
Before then i have always thank God and the holy spirit for this wonderful gift, sometimes i will go into some praise and worship for free 40 million dollars.
But at the end of the day, i had to stop talking to this lady...I asked her ...Is this your dad lawyer? does he trust that he have the money? Are you sure he will help us secure the money?
She answered...Yes, that man is a good barrister in Liberia...he was her late dad lawyer and he knows there is a 40million because he read the will. She was sure that the money will be secure....hahahahha
Then i said if he trust that you have 40 million dollar and you need to receive it...smart lawyers will work things out knowing fully well that you will pay him when the money is secure...Did you see how i outsmarted him/her...
THE END
Sorry if it offends you personally...but yes...somethings need to be nailed on the head...I think i will have a part 2...talking about how most of this scam works...maybe you learn more and better from here...i actually had fun writing this...hope you had fun reading it...DONT GET SCAMMED PLEASE...
If you need help with anything....Write a comment, am happy to reply.
I like to receive your rants and all...meanwhile WAIT FOR THE OTHER SCAM method how it works as listed above....If you have been scammed before...share on how you were scammed and what others can learn from you.
Now the truth is a lot of countries are actually involved in dating scam. The other truth is African countries are doing it more. That is like a Specialty. Hardly you will find a good hacker that will hack a bank or credit card in African countries....naaaa....But dating scam...Yes...they get credit card from other countries who are experts in that if they need a credit card.
And don't get it into your head that all Africans or Nigerians are scammers/swindlers...if you think like that...you are just another type of dumb person we will talk about later. Yes there are lots of these people in Africa, they are not going to your bank to get money...You only need to be smarter and play games with them...Sometimes when i receive email inside my spam box...i return with a funny Meme...Now the truth is alot of countries are actually involved in dating scam. The other truth is African countries are doing it more. That is like a specialty. Hardly you will find a good hacker that will hack a bank or credit card in any African countries....naaaa....But dating scam...Yes...they get credit card from other countries who are experts in that if they need a credit card.
