No Honor Among Thieves: Woman Scams Nigerian Scammers Out Of $33k

from the trust-issues dept

With so much focus on Nigerian-based scams, many Nigerian scammers now seek to use middlemen to help with things like bank accounts to keep suspicion levels lower. There are plenty of stories of people in the US, Europe and elsewhere who take "jobs" that involve having a local bank account through which scam money flows to Nigeria -- where they're allowed to keep a percentage of the cash. Often, they are not otherwise involved or knowledgeable about the scam.

That appears to be the case with one woman in Australia, who has now gotten in trouble... because she scammed the scammers out of $33k while managing the pass through bank account (found via Slashdot). She apparently had no idea of the scam that was going on (involving bogus online used car sales), but decided to keep some extra amounts of money. Of course, when some of those scammed in the car deal sought to track down the scammers... the focus shifted to her, where her own thievery from the thieves was discovered.

The story notes that the woman has now pled guilty to "aggravated fraud," though it's unclear if the fraud was for the original fraud from her "bosses" in the Nigerian scam ring... or for scamming the scammers themselves. Somehow I doubt they would press charges.

Filed Under: fraud, nigerian scam, scams