How to protect yourself from Nigerian scammers

Some people are always looking for ways to make easy money and they come up with elaborate schemes to get from you what you want and use your weak spots for their benefit. You may be tempted to go for some ‘limited time offers’ that are offered to you and earn a lot, but most of the time you will find yourself without the funds you would have rather spent anywhere else.

There are several phrases you should look out for when checking whether the scheme is legal:

Neteller-money-scam

  • ‘limited time offer’,
  • ‘once in a lifetime opportunity’,
  • ‘you won a free gift, trip, but you only have to pay for postal charges’,
  • ‘just send your account information or money’,
  • ‘high profit, no risk’,
  • ‘you don’t need to consult with anyone else’.

You can find information about most scam schemes online, however, there is no guarantee that the scammers won’t come up with anything new.

 

One of the latest schemes that has been reported was based on the information you post on your resume. Scammers find all the information there – full name, address, previous job, information on service in the military or about the education. They contact the victim and say a lot of info to make them believe that they know them and that they can trust them. After that they offer a job and promise to pay them a lot at the end of it. The victim is usually asked to help in a deal, they name the product they need you to help them purchase.

You will be given contact information of the person willing to buy the product for huge amount of money and you will be asked to contact the supplier to make sure they have the number of products the buyer requests. However, right before you meet the buyer, you will be asked to bring one sample of the product to the meeting.

They will be calling you and promising to reimburse for the sample and promise you 30%-40% of the profit. As soon as you pay for the sample, the deal might go two ways – they either go on and on getting more and more money from you, or end any contact and disappear with your money.

The best advice for you in any situation would be to:

  • ask as many questions as possible about the company, about the person calling you;
  • contact information and then consult with your local police department and your relatives;
  • never rush to take part in any offer because you might end up as a fraud victim;
  • never pay in advance for any service and ask yourself “do I have any guarantees that this person will use my information and my money in the way we agreed upon?”;
  • in case you are asked to pay ‘tax fees’ or ‘postal charges’ for a free prize you received, do not go for it, as they are violating the federal law.

 


 And final advise: If you want to make great deal and buy and sell to real people – try jiji.ng. Every day We’re removing all scammers that we find, blocking their accounts forever.

We do this  and even more, to keep users safe.