274
votes
Why do Nigerian email scammers openly say they are from Nigeria?
They say "Nigerian" because the savvy ones ignore it. So any answers must be from lower risk victims who are more likely to send the money.
- 1,431
206
votes
Is this work legal? Someone promises payment for converting money transfers to Bitcoin
It's a scam. It's called a money mule. Typically the way this will work is that the scammers will make a fraudulent money transfer into your friend's account. Your friend will convert the funds into ...
- 14k
193
votes
Accepted
A friend asks me all the time to pick up money for her (Western Union, Moneygram)
I think it is likely that your “friend” is doing something illegal, and that she is putting these payments in your name to avoid getting caught. You may be being used as an unwitting money mule.
I ...
- 116k
143
votes
I believe this to be fraud — hired, then asked to cash check and send cash as Bitcoin
Absolutely a scam 100% chance. This is one of the most common scams out there.
Here's how you will get ripped off.
They send you a check which will deposit in your account
Seeing the deposit went ...
- 53.5k
88
votes
Is this work legal? Someone promises payment for converting money transfers to Bitcoin
It’s a money-laundering scam, and your friend is likely to get into serious trouble, and possibly lose a lot of money, if he takes part.
- 23.7k
80
votes
Is there any way to get money back from WhatsApp scammers?
No, and I want to emphasise a point not made in the other answers - by falling for a scam once, and by posting about it, you are likely to be made a target of "recovery scammers" who will ...
- 25.2k
72
votes
I am in a sugar daddy scam and he is threatening me because I want out. What do I do?
I'm not an attorney, for proper legal advice and evaluation of your situation and risks you're exposed to you should talk to an attorney. I'm sure there's a legal aid or free public defender legal ...
- 184k
71
votes
I am in a sugar daddy scam and he is threatening me because I want out. What do I do?
You have not been in a sugardaddy relationship. You've been a money mule assisting in laundering money.
First of all, this means he's a criminal. He won't call the cops on you, because that's ...
- 619
65
votes
I believe this to be fraud — hired, then asked to cash check and send cash as Bitcoin
Yes, it’s a scam. There are red flags all over it. Ask yourself whether you really think a huge multinational like Nissan would work in this way.
- 25.2k
57
votes
Why do Nigerian email scammers openly say they are from Nigeria?
There are different types of scams. If you browse through the scam tags, you will find some very sophisticated scams that have quite a bit of hardware as well as people.
In the Nigerian scam, they ...
- 57.2k
56
votes
A friend asks me all the time to pick up money for her (Western Union, Moneygram)
So just to be clear, she gets so many of these ~$500 transactions she can't even make the time to show up and collect them all? Yet, she still holds down a day job cutting hair? You are on here ...
54
votes
Why do NFTs have value?
An NFT has no fundamental value. Its selling price is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. It reminds me of Tulipmania where something worth next to nothing suddenly sells for a fortune....
- 77k
50
votes
I believe this to be fraud — hired, then asked to cash check and send cash as Bitcoin
I contacted a lawyer, told to talk to Dept of Labor, DOL said they will not get involved that this is between my and my employer. Advise?
What employer? You are 100% not employed by Nissan Motors.......
- 49.1k
45
votes
Why do Nigerian email scammers openly say they are from Nigeria?
Scammers appear intentionally bad at their first contact in order to weed out people who are too smart.
Sending mass spam emails to random addresses is cheap. But interacting with someone who replies ...
- 24.1k
42
votes
Is this work legal? Someone promises payment for converting money transfers to Bitcoin
Your friend should go to a lawyer. The lawyer can then make a deal with the government where your friend testifies as to the activities. Your friend may be asked to communicate with his "employer" ...
- 21k
42
votes
I am in a sugar daddy scam and he is threatening me because I want out. What do I do?
You need to either go to your nearest police department or contact the FBI office in the city where you live. Choose whichever is closer or easier to get to.
If you are worried about getting the run-...
- 4,443
35
votes
I believe this to be fraud — hired, then asked to cash check and send cash as Bitcoin
What bank account are you supposed to cash the check into?
My guess is "yours", and that's a complete and utter proof of scam. There is absolutely and categorically no way that a reputable company ...
- 2,606
30
votes
Why do NFTs have value?
The idea behind NFTs as art is that they create a kind of scarcity for digital art that already exists and drives the value of physical art. The theory is that the reason high value art has such high ...
- 5,350
29
votes
Is this work legal? Someone promises payment for converting money transfers to Bitcoin
This is definitely a scam
Most electronic fund transfers are reversible, whereas bitcoin transactions are final. Your friend will successfully receive the money and transfer it as bitcoin. When the ...
- 898
29
votes
Is there any way to get money back from WhatsApp scammers?
You can sue them, try to prove that they lied to you and haven't provided the service they promised, and demand to recoup your losses.
For that you'll need to find who they really are, serve them, ...
- 184k
28
votes
Why do Nigerian email scammers openly say they are from Nigeria?
Obligatory XKCD (CC BY-NC 2.5):
The scammers are targeting those 10,000, as they're easier targets. Calling themselves Nigerian princes is a good way to focus on that audience.
From a cost/payoff ...
- 2,915
28
votes
A stranger from Norway wants to have money delivered to me
The possibilities are endless. (The only thing that's not in doubt is that it's a scam, and if you're not in on designing it, you're an intended victim. Very often even if you think you're in on it).
...
27
votes
I believe this to be fraud — hired, then asked to cash check and send cash as Bitcoin
It's not really Nissan.
The bank will put a hold on all but $100 of the check amount.
After a few days, they will release the money, conditional on you making the money good if the check later ...
25
votes
Is this a money laundering scam?
Classic scam. The check will bounce and you will be out of 1650
- 57.2k
23
votes
A friend asks me all the time to pick up money for her (Western Union, Moneygram)
is this legal?
No, in most places. You are likely participating in money laundering, fraud, tax evasion, or other sorts of crime. You are acting as a money mule. It is bad enough if you receive no ...
- 4,243
21
votes
I am in a sugar daddy scam and he is threatening me because I want out. What do I do?
It's not profitable for such scammers to actually carry out those threats, because they are likely messaging hundreds of others at the same time, and their time is more valuable to them if they use it ...
- 1,919
20
votes
Someone asked me to log in into their bank account
It's a scam. Ask yourself why someone you've never met would trust you with $19,000. Also, why the 'wi-fi' on the 'cruise ship' is good enough for him to send you emails or get checks written and ...
- 760
18
votes
Scam — wire transfer recall not possible
It is true - your bank can do nothing
You wired the money, then realized you'd been duped. It wasn't an unauthorized wire transfer. You authorized it. Things like and wire-transfers are designed so ...
- 4,109
17
votes
Victim of being used as money mule. What should I do next?
You need to talk to a lawyer about that. Don't talk to the bank, let alone the police, about any of this, until you've talked to a lawyer first.
Other than that, the bank has already taken care of ...
- 3,148
17
votes
Accepted
What is actually done in AML checks?
source: I used to alongside the AML team on other (trading) compliance but this was a few years back and I was mostly involved with a specific system.
Most of the AML check that are done are to check:
...
- 9,082
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible