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I have someone that wants to bless me with a large amount of money. I am working on a project. But I see some red flags they want to send me cash in a package. They have been trying to send it for 3 weeks.

But they said I had to pay for it when it comes. So much is going on I do not know what to think or feel. It's coming out of Africa. I ask them did I have to pay the money back they said no its a gift. But I am feeling something my family says its a scam I do not know what to do.

I ask them to put the money on my pay pal account but for the amount, they can not do it. I do not know what to do. And I need it for the project I am working on

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    Do they want you to pay them back part of it? – quid Mar 29 at 22:13
  • Have you shared any personal information with these people yet? Name, address, scans of any ID cards or passports? If so, contact the relevant authorities to get a new one issued and notify them that the old one may be compromised. If not, don't do it. If they've shown you any kind of identification to "prove their identity" then be aware that those documents were likely stolen from someone else they scammed. – Steve-O Apr 2 at 14:01
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If someone you don't know wants to give you money for nothing of value in return but expects you to pay for it first, they are trying to pull an advance fee scam on you.

When you realize that someone is trying to scam you, then the wisest course of action is to simply stop responding to them. They will just give up after a while. Scam baiting sounds like a fun hobby, but it can become a lot less fun when the scammers start to make credible threats of physical violence.

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  • Credible threats? Any cases that I might be able to read up on. I was under the impression that their threats amounted to your chance of being bitten by a dog your watching on YouTube. – Tolure Apr 1 at 17:58
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    @Tolure That might be true in general, but it only takes one who actually can make credible threats to ruin your whole day. My understanding is that these "Nigerian prince" scammers are often connected to organized crime in their home country. Most of them might be low ranking minions who can't really do anything to you, but if you happen to piss off the one in a thousand who's actually climbing the ladder... – Steve-O Apr 2 at 13:55
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Let's ignore the fact that there is nobody in Africa who wants to bless you with a large amount of money.

Let's say I have £800,000 in my UK bank account, and I want you to have a million dollars.

I can tell my bank "Please put a million dollars into Mascheria's bank account". They will do that and charge me one million converted to pound, plus all fees.

Or I can tell my bank "Here's £800,000, please put as much money as you can into Mascheria's bank account". They will do that, it will cost me exactly £800,000, and you will have a million dollar plus or minus a bit in your account.

Or the first scenario, but the bank tells me "there are $100 in fees to pay", so I tell the bank to put $999,900 into your bank account.

In neither case do you have to pay any fees first. So yes, this is a scam. This happens more often with lotteries. Most lotteries pay out the money, and pay all the fees. Some lotteries pay out the money minus fees. No genuine lottery ever asks you to pay to get your winnings. If they ask you to pay, it's a scam.

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protected by JoeTaxpayer♦ Mar 31 at 18:08

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