This is a new one.
By Sillychick
@Sillychick (3275)
United States
March 31, 2008 6:46am CST
Finally, some creativity.
I got an email saying it was from fedex, and there was a 'dilivery' waiting for me (it was spelled wrong) and instructions how to pick it up. Apparently, someone has sent me a bank draft for a huge amount of money. All I have to do is send a few thousand to this guy in Nigeria, and I can then sign for my package.
This scam is creative, but sloppy. First of all, there are tons of spelling mistakes. Second, since when does fedex open packages so they can tell you what is in them? Third, what does this guy in Nigeria have to do with it? The email didn't do a good job of explaining. Apparently he works for fedex, but they failed to mention why I couldn't just deal with my local fedex office. And finally, there is no place where my name is mentioned, so how do they know it's mine, and no indication of the sender, or even why, exactly I would have to pay them in order to receive the package.
I don't know how people fall for these things, and I really hope no one does. They didn't even take care to make it look real.
8 people like this
26 responses
@inijayjay (33)
• Nigeria
31 Mar 08
Interesting letter u got there. I'm a Nigerian and very proud to be one even though i'm not proud of the scam part of it. whenever u get a mail like that, what u check first is who is it address to, most time what u see in there is a blank space or an email which does not look anything like yours. Second thing u check is the addy the author says u should reply to, most times its a public email addy like xxx@yahoo.com or the likes of them. never from a paid/subscribed email addy
I do receive them also and what i do is to spam it immediately because i know what is inside.
the catch behind all this emails is greed, if u are greedy, then surely u will be caught.
i hope this helps u and others.
love from Nigeria!
@duranv (516)
• Honduras
31 Mar 08
I'm glad you are proud of your country, and also scammers are from all parts of the world, not only Nigeria, I have a friend who became a soccer lottery winner, he replied and the scam was originating from England (asking for about 6 or 7 hundred pounds for expenses), so it has nothing to do with rich countries, poor countries or anything like that. All it has to do with is the bunch of crooks who are all the time thinking of ways to fleece an honest and gullible person of his or her money.
@Sillychick (3275)
• United States
31 Mar 08
It's good that you are proud of your country, and unfortunate that these scammers are giving it a bad name. I also have received several similar emails from the UK, so I know it is not a problem unique to Nigeria. I definitely check who the email is addressed to. And in this case, the email address given was a hotmail address, definitely suspicious considering they claimed to be from Federal Express. Thanks for the tips.
@subha12 (18441)
• India
1 Apr 08
oh My God! how many mails from nigeria will be circulated? why they think people from all over the world are damn fool?
we are going to trust and give them money?
do we grow money on trees?
i think why cyber cell can't do anything.
they should be engaged in productive work rather than these scams.
@gemini_rose (16264)
•
1 Apr 08
That is a different one, I have never had one like that before. It is terrible that people actually sit and spend their time thinking of ways to try to con other people out of their money. If they actually put their talents to better use, they could probably make money in some other way that did not involve ripping off innocent people, how they can do that and live with themselves is beyond me. I have never heard of anyone falling for any of these types of emails before, but I wonder if anyone ever has.
@dizzblnd (3073)
• United States
1 Apr 08
Thanks for making everyone aware of this scam. There are very naive, desperate people out there that believe these things. They want to believe that things that this are finally the break they have been looking for. Unfortunately, they can't look beyond the facts like you did to determine it is indeed a scam.
Consider this your good deed for the day 
@nomsyd (69)
• Nigeria
1 Apr 08
hey guys am a proud nigerian. and who says there are no scams from oversees. i just deleted two of such letters from a self acclaimed texile manufacturer from japan and the other one is a winning notification from uk lottery giving me over 30million naira in my local currency but i asked myself if it has been easy to earn money like that why waste time look for a job, but i tell you the truth in life NO WORK NO GAIN.do you know what i did i immediately marked it as spam. QED
@Ravenladyj (22904)
• United States
1 Apr 08
I dont even open emails like that...If I'm not expecting an email from a company of any kind or if I dont recognize the sender the email goes straight to junk then reported as a phishing scam...We were hacked once already (our credit cards) so I'm very careful now about that sort of thing
@Rozie37 (15499)
• Turkmenistan
1 Apr 08
Even if I had a few thousand or one thousand, for that matter, I am not about to send it to anyone. Are they stupid or something? Sadly, there are people in this world who are not that bright, but do have money. An acquaintance of mine gave a man on the phone his checking account number, for a trip to Hawaii. The man took out $300.00 and kept stepping. This reminds me of what the Bible says, "A fool and his gold are soon parted."
@knithomaria (145)
• Greece
1 Apr 08
This is horrible!
No one has to send money there!
They just send email and wait for some idiots to send the money!
And believe me there are some !
Especially when they see that the money is for someone at Nigeria and they know that there there are poor people without food...
They play with people pain and the hope to be rich...
I dont know what to say..
@gavsmomjamie (319)
• United States
1 Apr 08
I fell for these scams once :(
Mine was one of those " work from home" ones where I was to cash payments for some over seas company at my bank, keep 20%, then send them the remainder of the payment. Now I do feel like a complete loser....trust me! It was well done though and now Ive learned, the hard way! I get a bunch of those crazy emails now and luckily am able to laugh about it
@joshphillips19 (9)
• United States
1 Apr 08
Yea Myself Get Emails From People Dieing and they suppose to leave me Money even From lotto its all Fake n scams are all over the Internet
@fingerstyle (36)
• China
1 Apr 08
I've ever got such scam mails many times.Those mails even have different language versions.As the saying goes,there is no such thing as a free lunch,so don't be so greedy,you have to look before you leap.Otherewise,you will be prone to fall for the bad trick.
@KrauseHome (36448)
• United States
31 Mar 08
What gets me, is people who are online and have been online fall for these, and do not heed the Warnings that have been out there for yrs. I know I get these from time to time, and have had some people even here in myLot try to SCAM me like this. You just need to be careful with dealing with people online, as you NEVER know what is going to happen next. I always say it is better to be cautious, and also try and find a way to permanently BLOCK and turn in these people if you can.
@moneyandgc (3428)
• United States
31 Mar 08
I get these scam emails as well. I get them from Nigeria and the U.K. most often. I get them for paypal and Fed Ex. Sometimes I actually take the time to read them before I trash them. It makes me laugh to see how sloppy they are with the mispellings and poor grammar.
I know someone who got taken with a scam through Western Union. She thought she was getting a car loan and I don't know exactly what they told her but she had to send them money. Not only that, she gave them all of their information because she thought they were applying for a loan. They woke up the next morning to find their bank account was empty and overdrawn. The bank said it looked like the scam was out of Canada.
@Elven13 (25)
• United States
31 Mar 08
It is hard to comprehend how someone can fall for these ridiculous scams. As you said I hope people start to get smarter about these scams. It is really disheartening to see human's acting this way. Always trying to get something at someone else's expense. Keep your eyes open Friends! Cheers!
@SomeCowgirl (32191)
• United States
31 Mar 08
People who fall for those type of scams I feel sorry for. I believe that there have been documents on the t.v. that have discussed such scams. There are also numerous sites out there that allow you knowledge as to which is a scam and which is not. I hope that they eventually catch every one that has been spreading these scams and demand that the people they have scammed be paid.
