Nigerian scammers popped up again in the news today, but this time, the scam scenario is a little bit different from what we are used to hearing.

The “You Have a Long Lost Relative Who Died and Left This Money for You” scenario was tossed out on this occasion, and the scammers used a different approach: targeting middle aged, female divorcees on dating sites.

The online dating scam started last year when a middle-aged divorcee received text messages from a man who was about 10 years younger than her.

“The man said, ‘You know, you’re a very pretty lady, I like your profile,’”

“You feel very flattered.” the victim told the Edmonton Sun.

After a few emails and instant messages, the two began exchanging texts and phone calls. Those eventually turned into promises of coming to Canada and getting married. Continuing for five months, eventually came the requests for money,  claiming that the man’s son was hospitalized and needed three surgeries.

“I had so many friends tell me, ‘Don’t send money,’” she said. “But you love that person, you believe what they say. You don’t want to stop.”

All in all, the scammers got about $300,000 out of a handful of Canadian women.  All the lessons in love are tough, but this one was expensive too.

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A few weeks ago, I posted a piece regarding a great job listing my sister encountered. With the desire to step out of the busy business world where she has always worked, she figured a tutoring position is just what she needed. However, unfortunately, things went astray and when my sister received a big check in the mail before she even began her “position,” we began to wonder what exactly was going on. Please see Craigslist: A Scam or Not a Scam? That is the Question for full details on this story.

Shortly after the check was deposited, my sister began receiving emails from her new “boss” asking her to…well, I’ll let you see it for yourselves. Here’s the original email pasted below: 

Immediately, my sister stopped all communication with the con man who is STILL emailing (and may be dangerous), asking for the money. The moral of this story is if something seems too good to be true, it is! Hopefully, next time this guy finds another trustworthy “victim” on Craigslist, they will have stumbled across this article and will not fall for such a crazy scam.

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Craigslist.com is used worldwide and is becoming everyone’s number one source in finding employment, a place to live, and even love of various sorts. Giving traditional jobsites like Monster.com, Rental sites and even Match.com a run for their money, sometimes with the good comes the bad, or at least, the shady. While Craigslist is completely free for visitors to explore hundreds upon hundreds of listings, the popular site doesn’t do the greatest job at preventing not-so-legitimate people from posting ads.

For example, I recently received a call from my sister who was ecstatic over a job offer she got from a man who claims to be overseas. She told me that he emailed saying he liked her resume (she’s an MBA who wants to step away from the daily grind and work freelance), and would like to offer her a too good to be true sounding, HIGH-paying position, tutoring his son in English. ENGLISH!!

Sidenote: Any of you who are math-savvy and business oriented know that grammar isn’t necessarily your strong point. There are always exceptions but…you know what I mean.

Now, the only details my sister could gather from this man’s poorly written emails was that his son was coming with a nanny to Florida (where she lives) to begin his tutoring sessions in September. However, before then, he informed my sister that he would be sending an advanced “cheque” for her future services.

Giving a CHECK to a complete stranger?

I smell a scam. After my sister forwarded me their back-and-forth emails, I noticed she asked specific questions in which he answered vaguely. What school will your son attend? No answer. Where is he going to live? “Cheque man” replies, “Where do YOU live?”

After she answered, he wrote, “My son will live close to you for tutoring purposes.”

Uh, OK.

Being the trusting person that she is, my sister sent him her address for the “cheque” and he replied that although he was having trouble sending it, she’d get it shortly. Sure! I informed my sweet, naïve sister (who would kill me if she knew I just called her that, by the way) that this was probably a new and improved scam after those lengthy b.s. emails promising a better-than-ever job position, which entailed assisting in the transfer of millions and keeping 80% failed miserably. You know the ones…we get a large cut after coughing up a few minor details such as our account number, social security number, and mother’s maiden name.

Down and out over the fact that this fantastic “tutoring position” may be a fraud, when he finally emailed saying the cheque was in the mail, my sister ignored it. Yeah, his cheque’s in the mail just like my tax refund check is in the mail. Please.

Well, guess what?

Today, in the mail, she received his cheque for 3,500.00. It CAME, which is why I’m writing this post. Without any type of employment agreement, this man paid my sister in advance for her tutoring skills without ever having met her.

What’s going on here?

My sister deposited the check into her account today. And that’s all I know so far. Stay tuned for an ongoing report on this story and lawyers, please, keep reading. I may need you down the road.

Could it be that some completely unbelievable fairy-tales DO come true? Or, is my sister in some kind of danger?

Any comments are much appreciated.

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