Woman Spends 400,000 Dollars to Internet Scam

Janella Spears of Sweet Home Oregon lost over $400,000 to email scams. If you have an email account without a spam filter, you have probably received a Nigerian scam at some point. This scam was named after the country from which most of these email scams originated from. The scammers will contact you by email saying they are related to you somehow and need your help to get access to millions of dollars that they have inherited. They offer to give you a few million just for sending them some money or sharing your bank account information.

I never thought anyone would actually fall for that, but it seems I was wrong. Janella sent $100 in an untraceable wire transfer to the scammers. When this worked, they asked for more money. They sent her fake bank statements, letters, and documents to reinforce their claims. They also approached her as the head of the FBI and claimed the President needed her help as well. She reportedly became obsessed with getting the 20 million dollars they promised her, and kept sending more money in hopes of getting it.

She took out a loan, home mortgage, and spend her husband's retirement fund. When asked about it, she said she hopes other people don't fall for these scams as hard as she did.

So next time you get an email from a ridiculously wealthy Nigerian or the President of the United States, do yourself a favor and just delete it.