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Lifer
Wow. Darwin candidate!
The Register is reporting that a man has pleaded guilty to fraud in Winona, Minnesota, having been taken in by the now famous Nigerian 419 scam emails. Carl Fratzke lost $750k, thinking that this money would be converted into many millions more, but $250k of it did not belong to him.
He apparently offered several of his friends an "investment opportunity", whereby he would buy $500k worth of gloves and sell them to Walmart for $1.2m. No such deal existed and his friend's money went to Nigeria, along with $500k of Fratzke's own cash. He was found out because he also sent $50k of worthless cheques from a local cab company, and when they bounced the company reported it to the authorities.
This is the 2nd major conviction in the US related to these scams and involving large sums of money. In September of last year a woman was found guilty of sending $2.1m of her employers' money, expecting to recieve $4.1m in return. However, this is surely only the tip of the iceberg regarding the amount of money that has been lost to these scams. In the UK alone 150 people have reported losses totalling £8.4m (approximately $13.4m), and there are surely many more who have not reported being swindled. One man reportedly traveled to Nigeria expecting untold wealth, and ended up being beaten and tortured.
The Register is reporting that a man has pleaded guilty to fraud in Winona, Minnesota, having been taken in by the now famous Nigerian 419 scam emails. Carl Fratzke lost $750k, thinking that this money would be converted into many millions more, but $250k of it did not belong to him.
He apparently offered several of his friends an "investment opportunity", whereby he would buy $500k worth of gloves and sell them to Walmart for $1.2m. No such deal existed and his friend's money went to Nigeria, along with $500k of Fratzke's own cash. He was found out because he also sent $50k of worthless cheques from a local cab company, and when they bounced the company reported it to the authorities.
This is the 2nd major conviction in the US related to these scams and involving large sums of money. In September of last year a woman was found guilty of sending $2.1m of her employers' money, expecting to recieve $4.1m in return. However, this is surely only the tip of the iceberg regarding the amount of money that has been lost to these scams. In the UK alone 150 people have reported losses totalling £8.4m (approximately $13.4m), and there are surely many more who have not reported being swindled. One man reportedly traveled to Nigeria expecting untold wealth, and ended up being beaten and tortured.
