Selma woman scammed out of $18K

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, March 2, 2005

The Selma Police Department issued a warning this week for residents to be wary of e-mails or Internet sites promising easy money.

If it sounds too good to be true, says public information officer Lt. David Evans, then it probably is.

The announcement came after a Selma woman told police she was scammed out of $18,000 after acting on a e-mail that reportedly promised to get her a $20 million inheritance.

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The victim received a e-mail on Dec. 1, 2004, that listed her name and address and claimed to be from a lawyer in Africa, according to police reports.

“The e-mail claimed the victim was the heir of $20 million,” Evans said. “The victim was told taxes were owed on the estate but that would be covered with money orders that would be sent to her.”

The woman was sent 18 $1,000 International Postal money orders, which she deposited in her bank account, Evans said.

“She came to the understanding that the money orders were good,” Evans said.

Afterwards, the woman was contacted again and told to send a, $18,000 Money Gram to an individual in Canada in order to pay the taxes. She used $18,000 out of her bank account to pay for the money gram.

“After she sent the money to Canada, she was notified by her bank that the 18 money orders were not valid,” Evans said.

Evans said cases like this one are “not unusual” to police.

“We have been getting a lot of reports about Internet scams, especially ones claiming to be from African countries and Nigeria in particular,” Evans said.

He said Internet scams tend to feed off people’s greed and belief that they are getting something for nothing.

“Victims of scams such as these often become victims again when people call them to say they can recover their lost money for a fee,” Evans said. “The scammers often sell their victims’ names to secondary scam artists, who find ways to take more money from them.”

Evans said anyone who has been a victim of a scam should contact local police, who will then pass the information along to federal authorities.

In the meantime, Evans said, he urges residents to be wary of promises of big money.