Help! My wife just got scammed by a 419er on Facebook.

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Hello I'm New here! Joined: 07 Apr 2010 Posts: 8

He broke into a friend's account, and while I was in the air during a flying lesson, convinced her that he was mugged and in London (!!). She sent him $450 via Western Union -- which was picked up in Manchester. Now I've come home, horrified, to find out what's been going on while I was incommunicado!

Luckily she hasn't tipped her hand that we (now) know what's up, and he's asking for more.

He created a fake hotmail account and X-Originating-IP points to Nigeria, but they've obviously got a runner in Manchester.

What next? What do you recommend? He's getting antsy. Police in Manchester were worthless when she called. Also, Western Union is running a very scammer-friendly business, aren't they?

Posted: Wed Apr 07, 2010 8:15 pm

Welcome to 419eater casty.

Sorry to hear what happened, Evil or Very Mad

At this point just drop him, since he has real info on your friend. Unfortunately there is not much else you can do to recover the money. If you do desire revenge, and you said he is getting 'antsy' we here can give him some special attention, as well as your self (create a FAKE ID/email).

If you have the very first email from the scammer, by all means PLLLEEEAASSEEE post it here, with the headers. Also you might want to visit our sister site: www.scamwarners.com and share your story there too.

edit

You are pretty much correct. Western Union in that part of the world have compromised employees. All the scammers have to do is offer a cut of their ill gotten gains to keep them blind to their own activities..

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 07 Apr 2010 Posts: 8

I have no illusions that we're going to get the money back. It's already been picked up, and even though WU probably has him on camera, the police (wrongly) said that Facebook has to contact them for them to do anything. Which is total crap, Facebook wasn't robbed, we were.

First contact was via Facebook. His account has already been shut down there. They switched it to a fake hotmail account and the x-originating-ip was 41.155.83.253.

Since they're already corresponding with my wife via her REAL email address, that's probably the best place to seek revenge, no? Or would you recommend just dropping it altogether?

Posted: Wed Apr 07, 2010 8:23 pm

Have you been able to contact your friend by phone? He/she needs to change password and warn ALL contacts.

Quote:

IP points to Nigeria, but they've obviously got a runner in Manchester.

Maybe but if your wife gave the MTCN the cash can be picked up anywhere!

BTW the Manchester police are very quick to pick up lads with false IDs IF they are informed by WU agent.

Posted: Wed Apr 07, 2010 8:26 pm

Quote:

Since they're already corresponding with my wife via her REAL email address, that's probably the best place to seek revenge, no?

NOO! Drop him! And also to try to mitigate any further damage, try to contact all the persons that are on your wife's account by phone, and tell them that the account has been compromised and that it is now used by a scammer, and any messages from that account asking for money because of some 'bs story' should just be ignored.

edit

Unless of course you mean by baiting him with a new fake addy,

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 07 Apr 2010 Posts: 8

Right, the scammer said he was in London. The money was sent via WU and you only need to specify the destination country. WU reports it was picked up in Manchester. They won't tell us which location in Manchester though.

And as far as we could tell, the Manchester police were not very interested in nabbing these guys.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 07 Apr 2010 Posts: 8

Happy_Slacker: my wife's account was not (as far as we know) compromised. My friend (let's call him Joe) -- Joe's facebook account was compromised, and used to send a message to my wife, claiming that Joe had just been mugged in London. I don't think anything from the correspondence between my wife and fake-Joe could be used to compromise my wife's facebook or email accounts.

Of course, as a prophylactic, we'll just change all her passwords today.

Posted: Wed Apr 07, 2010 8:41 pm

I don't see why WU is being so anal that they'll tell you the city where it was picked up but not the outlet.

Anyway, if it really was claimed in Manchester, the chances are that it's Cheetham Hill. There's a large Nigerian scamming cell operating from there.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 07 Apr 2010 Posts: 8

Agreed about WU. I'm going to see if I can send them back to the outlet and send a friend there with a camera.

Posted: Wed Apr 07, 2010 8:49 pm

Casty

Quote:

WU reports it was picked up in Manchester. They won't tell us which location in Manchester though.

A court order would be needed to get them to reveal that!

Quote:

And as far as we could tell, the Manchester police were not very interested in nabbing these guys.

How would you go about investigating this? Get real, go to an unknown location to find out who picked up the cash? The ID used could have been bought for a few pounds! $450 is small change compared with some payouts!

Posted: Wed Apr 07, 2010 8:49 pm

Regarding the friend and the camera: A waste of time and you'll only put your friend in danger.

It's not the nicest of neighbourhoods and the people you're looking for aren't exactly the laid back, respectable type.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 07 Apr 2010 Posts: 8

There seem to be 3 Cheetham Hill Road locations Sad

.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 07 Apr 2010 Posts: 8

Alright, I guess I should just drop the whole thing then. Too bad, I was hoping for some kind of vigilante justice.

Posted: Wed Apr 07, 2010 8:54 pm

That doesn't mean he can't still feel some pain. Give us his email...

Posted: Wed Apr 07, 2010 9:00 pm

casty wrote:

I was hoping for some kind of vigilante justice.

Believe me: the cops know who they are. Catching the scumbags and putting them away is another story though. Hopefully, the law is working on it but I wouldn't hold my breath.

Vigilante justice will probably end up with you being hurt and not them. These guys are no strangers to violence (remember where they originally come from) and they work to a different standard of morality than the rest of us - ie: they'd have no problem sticking a knife in you or shooting your nads off. They do that, all they've got to do is skip the country back to Nigeria. Or on the other hand, head off to a prison cell that's going to seem like a luxury hotel to what they're normally used to.

Posted: Wed Apr 07, 2010 9:00 pm

Bad news

I too would advise against going after these guys. They won't go to the WU unless there's money there waiting, and they aren't the sort of people you'd really want to meet. Especially considering they may well have mates in London, Birmingham, Newport or wherever you happen to be, and they have personally identifiable information on your wife. Anywhere in England is too close to home, stay well away.

Posted: Wed Apr 07, 2010 9:07 pm

Hi, casty. Sorry for your troubles.

casty wrote:

I was hoping for some kind of vigilante justice

That is, more or less, what we do here - but from a safe distance. Stick around, learn how the game works, and maybe you can carve a pound of flesh out of this jerk yourself. Lots of helpful people here to give you a hand.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 07 Apr 2010 Posts: 8

He created a one-off email for this guy's account. To give that out I'd have to reveal the name of my friend who got hacked on Facebook. I'm pretty sure my friend won't want that. Sorry.

Posted: Wed Apr 07, 2010 9:39 pm

Quote:

(create a FAKE ID/email)

No, don't create something that the Lad can use again to scam a potential victim. -learnt this the hard way- Even if it is poorly done.

Unless you mean a whole new identity than, yes of course.

Casty: Sorry to hear about the your friend! Sad

But like everyone here has said, you will not be able to get the money back. Go to Scamwarners and share what happened there. Also, the Western Union employees aren't really allowed to stop a transaction from going through, they'll get reprimanded for sending it to Africa (Particularly Nigeria) but they can't tell the customer no. Only give them warnings of the scam. It's best NOT to bait him as he does know personal details linking to your friend, but if you do decide to bait him, create a whole new identity (even change genders if you have to- for your character), and then waste his time. Eater University can show you the various ways to bait a lad. Read them and then you maybe get your lad to wear tutu while traveling to Mali to pick up the "payment" eventually.

Posted: Wed Apr 07, 2010 10:05 pm

casty wrote:

Too bad, I was hoping for some kind of vigilante justice.

While that certainly does sound lovely, this is perhaps not the best way. What you've described will get your friend on the wrong side of the law at best, and on the wrong side of a gun at worst.

I understand how frustrating this is for you and your wife, but making rash decisions won't help the situation.

Posted: Wed Apr 07, 2010 11:15 pm

@Casty
Sorry to hear about what happened to you Sad

This sort of thing is all too common, these guys are very good at what they do.
Until the laws get changed to remove all the red tape and politics that prevent the police dealing with people like this, the only way to legally hurt them is by taking away the only thing they really care about - their money. Baiting them wastes their time, running up their internet costs and hopefully diverting them away from real victims. Also we can try to send them off on pointless safaris and shut down their bank accounts, all of which costs them money and hinders their operations. Not to mention the satisfaction gained when you get a really angry E-mail from them after driving them up the wall for months on end Wink

If you want to try it though, you need to get an anonymous E-mail account with a fake name, and fake details (meaning a street address that doesn't exist!) and make sure that your baiting character has no hints or links whatsoever to your real self.

Might be worth mentioning it to one of the mods over at Scamwarners too. They might be able to post up some details without revealing your friend's name. That way, the details of the scam will show up on Google searches and so on, so will hopefully stop someone else from falling for the same trick, which will deny these scammers more victims.

*phew* long post. I actually feel like I said something informative for once, lol Smile

Welcome to Eater Very Happy

Posted: Thu Apr 08, 2010 12:55 am

If you DO decide to create a fake id for yourself, have a play with the fake name generator (unsurprisingly, at www.fakenamegenerator.com).

I had a blast with it and have come up with several characters inspired by it.

And the addresses it spits out have saved my bacon more than once Wink

Posted: Thu Apr 08, 2010 2:12 am

You can toss the lad off the trail of the real victim. I have a mass bait that is losing steam. Part of the reason for the bait was to convince the lad the Vic got a new job and has very recently moved.

Sorry for the thread hijack to my thread, but this may provide ideas. Do offer to help the lad. The offer comes from the vic's friends that are not in the contact list. This lad found the vic has lots of friends that are concerned and willing to help. From there problems ensue. Anything less from baiters is unacceptable. Rolling Eyes

Mass bait for stolen identity;
http://forum.419eater.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=181869

Get the vic's permission to proceed and start a mass bait. Concerned friends do contact each other and cause tons of trouble for the lad. This happens fast in a forum among baiters.

Posted: Thu Apr 08, 2010 7:57 am

Agent1002 and everybody ^^^^ Just waiting on a "green light" on this one.
Say the word.
(Doing fairly well, I ASEM'ed and necro'ed "London Sandra")

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