Warning about too-good-to-be-true e-mails

[TexasStooge]

By STEVE STOLER / WFAA ABC 8

Internet scam victims have said many of those e-mails offering easy money from home, cash from lottery winnings or a chance to help someone in need are indeed too good to be true.

Thieves are said to be sending out get-rich-quick e-mails in hope those who receive them will make a mistake by trusting them.

JC Pose said he was one of those who unwittingly went along with a scam.

He said he met a woman from Nigeria in an online chat room who said she needed help to pay her mother's hospital bills. She offered him a business proposition, and all he would have to do is pick up packages for the woman and send them to her in Lagos.

"I didn't spend a single dime out of my pocket," he said. "I didn't think anything of it."

Pose said the first few times he sent boxes of shoes, but he became suspicious when the items he shipped started getting bigger and more expensive.

"[I sent] one big oxygen tank with 55 pounds [and] that's when I started questioning things," he said. "I went, 'Wait a minute, this is getting way ahead now.'"

While he said he began thinking of calling the FBI, he said Plano police beat him to it and showed up at his apartment to seize his computer.

"I was scared to death," he said. "I'm going, 'Man, I'm going to jail. I'm going to be gone forever.'"

What pose didn't know was the goods he sent to Africa were bought with a stolen credit card number.

Plano forgery detectives are seeing a big increase in similar crimes, including another victim who expected to be paid for sending packages with computer parts to the Ukraine.

"They were going to deposit money into his bank account and he did provide them with his bank account information," said Brian Wood, Plano Police Department.

Once again, stolen credit card numbers were used to buy the computer parts.

"I told the gentleman that most likely he was going to have his bank account drained," Wood said.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I'm sure y'all probably beat me to this, but it doesn't hurt to post this for those who just joined.

I already got plenty of e-mails claiming that I'm the "Next of Kin", or that I'm an "International Lottery Winner", etc. How can I be an international lottery winner if I haven't picked any of their numbers?

[gtalum]

I can't believe people still fall for this crap.