I am very happy that you are reading this ebook right now. It shows that you care about getting the right information to protect you and your loved ones from the notorious Nigerian scams scourge.
These scams have been running for dozens of years now and have ruined thousands of lives all over the world.
While a lot of people do know one or two things about the Nigerian scams, majority of other people do not know precisely how the scams work and how to protect themselves.
But now that you are reading this ebook, you will be among the few people who are fully informed about the scams and know exactly how to identify a typical Nigerian scam a mile off.
Definition of the Nigerian Scam:
The Nigerian scam is an advanced fee fraud that was started from Nigeria by Nigerians and has now transcended the Nigerian borders.
Previously operated via phone and postal mails, the scam has taken advantage of the Internet and its paraphernalia.
The scammers now use the email to send the scam mails to thousands of people all over the world.
The Nigerian scam is also known by the following names:
West African scam; Advanced Fee Fraud; 419 Fraud (after the relevant section of the Criminal Code of Nigeria) and the Nigerian Connection.
Typically, the Nigerian scam works when the victims receive either an email, fax, postal mail or phone call from someone in Nigeria or other African countries.
These days however, countries in Asia, Europe and even North America are very commonly used. Most times these are the same group of people operating from other countries, while in other times it could be criminals in other countries copying the Nigerian scams.
So don't be deceived when the country mentioned in the scam is not Nigeria. It could be any country in Africa, Europe, Asia and even North America.
The main way of identifying the scam, whether it is from Nigeria or any part of the world, is in the "manner" in which it is presented.
In the email, fax, postal mail or phone call which the victims receive from the scammer, the person usually requests the victim's help in moving huge sums of money, either stolen or 'lost', out of his/her country into the victim's bank account.
Offering to give the victim a very large percentage of the money, the person goes ahead to tell the victims bogus stories concerning the source of the money.
They claim that the victims don't need to do anything other than to help them move the money out of their country into the victims' bank accounts.
As soon as the victims get interested in the offer, the scammers work them up to a pitch to get them fully convinced of the 'risk-free' nature of the 'deal'.
When the victims are fully worked up, at some point the scammers would ask them to pay up front Advance fees of some sort (hence the name- Advanced Fee Fraud).
This up front fees requested by the scammers could be for either 'Transfer Tax', 'Performance Bond' 'Attorney Fees' Government Fees' or any other fee allegedly to facilitate the transfer of the money into the victims' account.
Many times, these fees can reach hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Even when such up front fees are paid, the scammers still demand more money to clear up other issues that will ensure the money gets transferred.
At this point, the victims would have already commited a lot of money and would continue to send more money, in the vain hope of getting the money transferred into their accounts.
Despite sending more and more money, the victims never get to see a penny of the 'millions of dollars' allegedly ready to be sent to their accounts.
At some point, the scammers often allege that the victims must travel to Nigeria (or other countries where they have their base) in order to complete the transaction.
If the victims are unable to travel to Nigeria, they proceed to demand more money from them for attorney fees and other associated taxes.
Sometimes, when a victim does travel to Nigeria, the scammer explains to them that there is no need for a visa. In fact, a visa is required by the Nigerian Government.
The perpetrators then bribe airport officials to bypass immigration, and use this illegal entry as leverage to coerce the traveler into releasing more money.
According to reports on the Nigerian scams, violence and threats of physical harm may also occur. To date, not less than 15 foreign businessmen and two United States citizens have been murdered in Nigeria in connection with a such scams.
In the past, the scams used to be mainly operated from Nigeria, against Nigerians and by Nigerians only.
But now, the scammers have started operating from other neighboring African countries, countries in Europe, Asia and even North America.
Also, they have since started targetting people outside Nigeria, especially with the use of postal mails, phones and most resently, emails.
Also now, the scammers have started teaming up with other nationalities as dubious as they are to pertake in the scams.
And they are now also using very sophisticated variations... all with the intention of collecting advance fee payment from their victims.
That is always the catch when it comes to the Nigerian scams...
The main thing they want from their victims is to persuade, encourage, deceive, lure and sometimes force them to send advance fee payment, hence the term 'advanced fee fraud'.
The newer variations they keep coming with are not only sophisticated but have actually fooled many wise people who never imagined they could be defrauded.
Gone are the days when victims of Nigerian Scams are labelled as greedy and stupid.
Now, with the newer variations, anyone that doesn't know ALL that there is to know about them can be fooled easily.
Psychology of the Nigerian scammers
The most devastating of such variations now are the ones targeted at business people selling one thing or the other.
Like the U.S. Postal Inspector Andrew Richards, head of the Financial Crimes Task Force of Southwestern Pennsylvania, said recently about the newer versions of the Nigerian scams:
"Instead of going for $60 million, they're now going for $6,000. They're now going for smaller amounts and they are being incredibly successful."
The idea behind this is really simply... defrauding at least 10 people daily worldwide for as little as $6,000 = $60,000.
$60,000 X 365 days= $21,900,000 yearly...
Hmmm, can you see what is happening?
These scammers are taking advantage of the Internet and its amazingly ubiquitous nature to reach as many people as possible daily.
They know that if they should try out thousands of people everyday, at least a dozen will fall prey to them.
This is the same pschology that spammers have.
In this Nigerian Scams scourge, there have been thousands of victims and billions of dollars of losses.
And it will surprise you to learn that it will only get worse.
It will get worse because everyday babies are born...and babies grow into adults... adults then get scammed... everyday
So, it is a statement of fact to say that there are thousands upon thousands of potential victims for these scammers to defraud daily.
They know this and are taking full advantage of it.
Right this minute as you are reading this, there are victims all over the world who are in the process of getting scammed.
Yes, right this minute!
With the Internet and the global village nature of the world today, you can reach and communicate with millions of people easily.
These scammers also know that and they are taking full advantage of the wonders of the New Information and Communication Technology.
The only way of protecting yourself and your loved ones from falling into the traps of these scammers is to learn all you can about all the variations of the scams.
This is the objective of this ebook and the 7 bonuses that are included with your order.
The scammers are succeeding every day mainly because the victims of the scams do not have any prior knowledge of the variation they are using to scam them.
Even those who knew about them did not have adequate knowledge about them... that is why they still fell for their traps.
In other words, most people are falling victims to these Nigerian scammers because of ignorance.
To fully understand the dangers of ignorance and why you have to learn all you can about the scams, read below:
