Beware of Nigerian Scam

[woods2]

A number of French Gite owners are being targeted by Nigerians who offer to send a very large cheque as advance payment for their stay, on condition that the gite owner returns the money by transfer immediately on receipt of the cheque.  I was approached by somebody who claimed to be a Canadian, but his English was very poor and his address for the money transfer was in Nigeria!  I won't go into the full details, but his (long) e-mails were VERY convincing.  I subscribe to 'French Connections' and suspect that other FC subscribers may also have been approached.  Unfortunately, the FC website seems to have been 'dead' today, and I can't raise them by phone.  They must be having big technical problems.  Hope that nobody (trusting as ever) has already been caught.

[Dan Golding]

Slight variation on a theme - friends of ours this afternoon received phonecall from UK mobile. Bad English accent, especially from someone called "John Ball" - wanted to book their gite but asked if my friend would book their flights for them as well and they would pay for their time.

For what it's worth, my friend isn't listed on FrenchConnections.

Dan

[Mpprh]

Hi

I'm afraid this is not new.

I had a couple last year, and here is a report dating from 2003 :

http://www.fraudaid.com/ScamSpeak/Nigerian/counterfeit_check_fraud/counterfeit_check_01.htm

Peter

 

 

[letrangere]

"I was approached by somebody who claimed to be a Canadian"

Canada has become the passport of convenience for millions around the world.  I know "Canadians" who until recently held Malaysian, Syrian or Indian passports.  You have to attend an interview at which I thought language ability was assessed.  Still, it's relatively easy to obtain one if you have what the authorities are currently looking for.  Must say I've always wondered what sort of people could be daft enough to reply to any of these Nigerian Scams.  We used to receive them regularly at the office signed by a Prince Bongosomeone.  But you've got to hand it to them for initiative, they spot the popularity of gites holidays and home in on unsuspecting owners.  They've certainly come a long way from the appalling letters in flowery English written on Izal style paper.  M