This SCAM will work for any big ticket item…read on.

I had a property for sale on eBay for $389,000.  The property was located in Tennessee, it had a home and a school on it, twelve acres of property total.  The auction was a good deal, the property was easily worth a half million but the owners needed to sell.  So I get an email from a guy named Victor.  He wrote me and said, “I want to find out more about that property.  Could you tell me more and the let me know the price?”  He saw an ad that I put on an FSBO site so I sent him to the eBay auction.  He said, “Oh, I love it, this is perfect, this is what my family and I have been looking for.  We really like this property.”

Over the course of a month I’d been having communications with him, and  he said, “Okay, here’s what I’d like to do.  I want to put half of the money down on the property, and then I’ll send my wife and children over with the other half.  We’re in Liberia, and right now this is a war zone, and I’m really afraid my wife and children might get hurt.  I’m really scared for their lives, and I want to get them over there.”  I said, “Fine, how are we going to move money from Liberia over to the United States?”  He said, “Well, let me get back to you.”

So another three days, four, five days go by and I get another email from him, and he says, “Here’s what we have to do.  I have to send the $200,000 from my bank to an offshore bank, but you are going to have to  open up an offshore bank account.  Here’s the name of the bank, here’s the guy you need to talk to, and here’s their site.”  I didn’t really pay much attention to that because it wasn’t enough information for me.  I wrote him back and said, “This transaction’s going to work like this:  We’re not going to use realtors, you’re going to give me the money now, you’re going to come to closing, and you can get a lawyer if you want to.  All the paperwork will be taken at closing,” and he agreed to those terms.  Then, he reiterated, “My family is in danger, we really want to get them to the States, and we really love that property.”

Two or three weeks goes by, and he said, “Okay, here’s what my bank told me.  What you need to do is open up an offshore account in your name.  It’s going to cost $5,000.”  I thought, “Ugh, it’s the Nigerian scam.”  Then I read on further, and he said, “I have a friend in the States who will give you the money to open up the account, so you don’t have to use your own money, you’ll be able to keep this account, it will be yours forever.  He’s in Florida, he will send a check to you.”  I thought, “Oh, great, that sounds fine.”  I said, “I also need for you to send $1,000 to put down on the property so that we can hold it in your name.”

About another week later, he said, “Okay, the check’s going to come on Friday, I’m sending it via Federal Express, just be prepared for it.”  It’s been almost three and a half weeks that I’ve had this relationship with this guy on the net, and I’m still worried that it may be a scam.  I missed the package when it came, it came on a Friday at about 1 p.m.  I went to Federal Express at about six o’clock in the evening, and I looked at the package—it was a Federal Express package, but it was from Lagos, Nigeria.  I thought, “Oh, God, it’s the scam.”  It was supposed to come from the States.  Right then I thought, “Well, if he can send me a check from Nigeria, then why not send me $200,000 instead of this small check?”

Then I went on the Internet immediately, and I looked up “check scam,” and what I found out was that this variation was not widespread yet.  What they were doing was buying cars on the Internet.  Let’s say they bought a car from you,  and you were selling it for $10,000.  They would say, “I can only write one check, and I’ve got two purchases to make in the States.  I’ll send you $20,000 and I need you to send $9,000—keep $1,000 for your troubles—to this other guy, so I can kill two deals with one stone.”  It’s really hard to get money into the States, so this is how they were pulling the scam.  And then they would walk away with the $9,000.

So the check came from Nigeria.  I think the whole thing was from Nigeria in the first place.  There was no Liberia involved, he just said he was from Liberia.  I opened it up and looked at the bank check, and it’s from a bank in Florida.  It has the signature of somebody I’ve never heard of, and the signature on the Federal Express was from another person who wasn’t Victor.  I immediately said, “I know this is a scam, but I’m going to see how far this will go.”  So I took the check to the bank the next day and I said, “I believe this is a fraudulent check.  Let’s open up a brand new account.”  I did that, because I wasn’t sure.  I was thinking, “Man, how does this scam work?  Do they suck money from my account or something like that, once I open an account?”  I wasn’t sure if this check was really valid, and it was really weird, because in my mind I still believed that this was really going to happen, that the sale really could still happen.  The check is beautiful, it’s an actual check from Florida, it’s got the watermarks on it, it’s perfect.  I put it in the account and I asked them, “If I put this in an account, when can I write against it?”  She said, “Two days.”  I said, “When will you know this is a bad check?”  She said, “Probably about ten or fifteen days.”  They said that if the check bounces, I would be responsible for the amount.

When I was on the web researching this, it said that the first thing that they do after you get the check is that they’re going to tell you, “Immediately send money to me!  Immediately send money to me!”  The next day I get this email: “Immediately send the $5,000 and open up the offshore account.  Here’s the guy you’re going to send it to.”  So the scam is that they give you a fraudulent check, a fake check, and then they ask you for part of that check to be sent by wire transfer to them, so that money comes out of your account.  Then ten days later, boom!  You’re responsible for that check and whatever money you sent overseas.

The thing that caught me off guard was that I understood the Nigerian scam and everything that was going on over there, I’d heard of variations, but I’d never seen it in this way.  I didn’t realize the relationship this guy was building with me—I mean, he sent me pictures of his family.  I really thought this was a real person.  Even though I got that check from Nigeria, I still believed at that point that there was a possibility this could have been a real transaction.  I really wanted to help this family, get this family over to the United States.  Also greed gets the best of you and can make you blind to the truth.

As far as I know, I’m one of the first persons scammed using this variation.  I’m trying to get the word out about the scam, but it’s just something to be aware of—that there’s going to be people out there taking advantage of  anyone selling these big-ticket items.  If you ever have a suspicion about a bank check, look into it with your bank.  It will pay off for you.

Don Peters

PS:  I know this is not a blog, but here are some coments from readers of this guide that I think are appropriate to add:

1.  Not to scare you but there have been people seriously victimized by these scams and I mean that some have been murdered. Please be very careful and vigilant. You should contact the FBI, they have a task force in place just for these kinds of internet scams and they can protect you. You’re right, your situation is a first for me and I’m would have done the same thing. Please be careful.

One thing that I did do as soon as I realized that this was a scam was to report my situation to the Secret Service.

2.  Saw your guide on Real Estate Scams, excellent reporting. If you come across any other scammers, or if you’re unsure of someone you’re dealing with, go to thescambaiter site they specialize in reporting and tormenting scammers.

This is another way for you to fight the scammers if you get the run around from Secret Service.

3.  I read your Nigerian scam letter. Bottomline-you would of never had any of those problems if you would of used a licensed Real Estate agent for the transaction. Thank you for the heads up information anyway.

Although we could have lost $6,000 in this scam (we didn’t) many people choose the FSBO approach to save  $$$$Thousands in Real Estate fees.

4.  Your scam story was interesting:Remember all scams are nothing new, mostly variations of the old pidgeon drop, which is over 100 years old & is still used today because it works so well.

Scam has you hold something valuable from them (a check),they may then ask you for something (send some money to someone or ask for your bank number) then when its is over (i.e.they buy the house, share money w/ youetc) their valuables are worthless and they take your valuables away. Surprise!

Now they also electronically steal from you when you answer their emails. So eBay advises us not to even answer goofy emails.  Participating like you did left you open for hijacking ebay/Paypal accounts plus the other stuff the guy was trying to pull on you.

Seeing it this way, why did you even write, take check etc? Sadly, they actually count on people’s greed or dishonesty to hook them into the scam. PT Barnum said you can not cheat an honest man! Your wanting something bad left you open to scam.

I wrote to the buyer because I thought I had a sales transaction - I really believed initially that there was a buyer.  There was no goofy email, initially just an inquiry about the property.  It was not until I received the check by Federal Express that I was sure that this could be a scam.  The check was an actual bank check from a Florida Bank - not a personal check.  Although PT Barnum said “You can not cheat an honest man!”   I believe that honest people can be taken by this scam.  There was no ‘too good to be true’ scenario above - Just a legitimate sales transaction, the buyer was paying no more than the asking price.  The reason that I wrote this guide is because the scammers are getting more sophisticated - this scam did not include a goofy email with a too good to be true offer, it did not give me extra money to help transfer money, it did not offer me more than the sales price.

The bait and switch comes once you recieve the check.  This is where you have to be smart.  I now wait until the check clears the bank (7-10) days before I take my next step in the transaction.  It is now a matter of policy, so scammers do not even approach me anymore.

Hello, this is NOT a question regarding any Item you have for sale. I am commenting on your Nigerian Scam House Sale in Tn. I (Ethelene) have been dealing with a guy just as you did for approx 3 weeks now and our property is $560,000 in Lewisburg ,KY , but after the 1st email I suspected something and researched scams and found these Nigerian scams. I-just yesterday I sent info to the fraud investigator for the banking systen in Spain. Thanks for letting the Ebay people know about this. Have a great day

Good to know that you did not get taken by these scammers - Thanks for reporting them.

Thank you so much for your post “Real Estate SCAM - A new spin on the Nigerian Scam”. A friend received an offer on her house and we suspected something was up but couldn’t figure out the scam. An initial search of the internet didn’t turn anything up but as the emails continued, we became more suspicious and came across your article. Information on this scam is not widespread (yet) but you saved her $3500. Thank you. You’ve done a good thing.

GREAT!
If you think this guide was helpful click on the yes button below…..Thanks, Don