No, You Should Not Give Nigerian Scammers $150,000 To Claim Your Inheritance
22 year-old John Rempel gave Nigerian scammers $150,000 while chasing what he thought was a $12.8 million inheritance. Rempel ended up borrowing money from his parents and uncle, and even traveled all the way to London to meet with the scammers in person.
They met Rempel the next day with a suitcase. They said it had $10.6 million in shrink-wrapped U.S. bills. Rempel wanted more proof. His new friends pulled out one bill and “cleansed” it with a liquid “formula,” which washed off some kind of stamp. Rempel was told that process made the money “legal tender.”“I was like holy crap, is that mine?” he said. “They said ‘yes sir, it’s yours.’ It all sounded legit.”
Rempel returned to his hotel room clutching the formula and waited for the others so they could cleanse all his money. They never showed, and later told him they got held up. In the meantime, Rempel dropped the formula. The bottle broke. He called his contact who said he’d get more. Rempel returned to Leamington and waited.
A few weeks later Rempel got a call. They found more formula. It would cost $120,000.
“I thought, ‘let’s work on it, nothing is impossible,’” said Rempel.
Don't believe the internet when it says you're a big lottery winner or surprise heir. We're sure you're nice and all, but Nigerian Princes aren't going to email you. Hell, Nigeria's government is modeled after our own; they don't even have princes, something you should remember next time Africa's supposed royalty asks you to wire them money.
As with most advance fee fraud stories, Rempel's tale ends in bankruptcy and woe. "I really thought in my heart this was true," he said.
Leamington man loses $150,000 in Nigerian scam [The Windsor Star]
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Comments:
Wow! Has he been living under a rock? I thought only old clueless people fell for that crap.
Is it wrong that I laughed?
When oh when are we going to see the other end of the spectrum? You know when they show up to meet the scammers and instead the victime turns out to either be FBI or better yet, some gun toting redneck vigilante?
Can we blame the victim? Because I think if there is anytime to blame the victim...it's now...
I'm particularly baffled by the expensive magic fluid that transforms bills into money. That just seems a particularly baroque element of an already complicated scam.
He would have been rich if he didn't drop that first bottle. Butterfingers!
@Ecks: I laughed too, but only because of the yellow sad face put into the picture, with an arrow pointing at the poor guy. I feel bad, but it does reek of cluelessness.
This is where Bugs Bunny would say, "What a maroon."
So it never occurred to him that Nigeria doesn't have royalty. Fine.
So it never occurred to him that washing away a stamp with some special formula was a little odd. Fine.
So it never occurred to him that if these people wanted him to have "his" money, they would have just GIVEN IT TO HIM. Fine.
But did it ever occur to the stupid kid that if this was an INHERITANCE, then why wouldn't it be going to his Father, or Mother, or one of his Grandparents.
Darwin strikes again!
He got a relative to give him $10,000 to go see if it was legit? How do people not know about Nigerian and check cashing scams?
How do these idiots get their hands on 150,000? I couldnt get 150k together if it was for life-saving surgery for myself
@wdnobile: Chris Hansen did that on Dateline about 8 months ago. He even traveled to Europe to meet the "prince".
Another sucker.
@floraposte: by then though they had some of his money, sounds like they were just thinking "let's see how far we can take this kid." I'm baffled that after that he kept giving money.
a fool and his money...
The full article is something else. His familymembers are now out thousands of dollars and his friends won't talk to him. Which is sad until you realize that all these people fell for it too, because they lent him the money. Unbelievable.
@Quilt: While I agree that the idea of an inheritance going directly to him is the biggest alarm, what did he tell his relatives to convince them to give him money to begin with? Maybe I just have a poor relationship with my kin, but that kind of money does not leave my possession without the direst and most verifiable of situations at hand.
@Davan: I hear you, I went through financial difficulties out of my control for a few years and received very little help whatsoever.
I don't feel too sorry for him
This is a much better scenario than if someone did give him $12 million.
4 things I know to be absolute;
1. You can't trust a fart
2. That cutie pie in the chat room is a police officer
3. If it sounds too good to be true...yadaa,yadda,yadda.
4. There is always someone dumb enough to think they are smart enough to get around items 1,2 and 3
Wow, I have to see someone cheated if they are truly naive but not if they are greedy. I can't tell which he is. Is 22 years old too young to be fooled by an old ploy? Why didn't anyone around him say "whoa!"? I do know I hate the thieves.
I'm just mad. Here's another idiot who's made these scams profitable for the Nigerians. The imbecile loses his money and friends but has made sure the scammers won't stop.
The next person they prey on may not have the mental faculties to see through the scam and would be a genuine victim. I'm terrified that something like this will happen to my grandmother who is nothing but kind but is impaired by dementia.
OMG IS THIS THE FIRST EMAIL HE EVER RECEIVES IN HIS ENTRIRE PATHETIC LIFE!!!!
MAN I WANNA SCREAM "YOU IDIOT"!
Actually, yes, caps, screaming.
But seriously, did this 22 year old just get his first pc and received his first spam mail and completely fell for it?!?!? How much of a moron can you be!?! I would somewhat feel sorry for a 70 year old lady being scammed like this since this whole 21st century is just too confusing for her to grasp, but for this 22 year old guy that should be living under a technology rock apparently was just living under a rock!
OMG!
People still fall for this? I feel for him because maybe he lacks mental capacity. (I have aspbergers myself, I just try to sharpen my own mind), but seriously...a magic fluid? WTF?
@Smashville: Amen. I am amazed there are still people out there that fall for this crap.
I guess this explains why Nigerians keep trying, eventually you'll run into someone like this.
@Quilt: If you'd clicked through to the original article, you'd know that it had nothing to do with Nigerian royalty or an actual inheritance. The story these scammers used was that a rich London dude named David Rempel died in a 2005 bomb attack and left behind almost 13 million. He had no heirs, and as such, wanted to leave the money to a Rempel anyway, our mark, John Rempel.
Still pretty stupid to fall for something like this though.
My guess is this man has at least one each of the following in his apartment:
Shamwow
Riddex
Silver Sonic XL
Swivel Sweeper
Bell & Howell Ionic Whisper
Ab Rocket
Bacon Wave
Ronco Inside the Egg Scrambler
I think the victim may actually be the scammer. Think about it... now he is off the hook for the money he borrowed while it sits in his secret account. Meanwhile he blames it on the Nigerians! Usually when something sounds so bizarre, there is more than meets the eye.
@ceez: Yes, it's baffling, truly baffling. That picture must be making the rounds, as I'm sure the Nigerians who were responsible are literally laughing at the crying victim while their ho's dance on their laps, a stogie in one hand, a glass of Crystal in the other.
Are there any honest people left in Africa?
*Nelson Muntz* Ha haaaaa!
Seriously, I don't feel sorry at all for this greedy dumb bastard.
First off, he's from Leamington Ontario -- think buttf*** inbred loonies. The place is lousy with them. All they grow is tomatoes (Canada's ketchup capital). I imagine his family just got electricity and indoor plumbing installed.
That felt better.
Greed will only get you kicked in the nuts. We always ask "who'd fall for this?" when we read ridiculous sounding offers -- here he is folks, and all of his family too.
Don't blame the victim? Remember that saying "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me"? How many clues did he get that this was a scam? Mysterious foreign relatives, cash deposits need to be made, tax demand from an unknown country, magic liquid to turn paper into cash, bribe money and even more bribe money. Does any of this sound remotely legitimate? Even for a country bumpkin? I know they have lawyers in Leamington or he could've called a Windsor lawyer for advice.
"This American Life" on NPR did a story about this... where some Americans led a scammer on a unending quest for money. I thought it was great... only wished the scammer had died in the process...
@floraposte: It sounds like a variation of the "black money scam", where the mark is given a trunk full of dyed black newsprint, and told that it is cash that has been dyed to avoid customs. Once the mark is convinced he has possession of this "fortune", he is strung along to pay an exorbitant amount for more "washing fluid".
@AstroPig7: That's what I was wondering, too. I needed a good explanation to borrow my sister $75 last week to fix her car. How the hell do you explain away being 22 years old and needing $60,000?
Next thing you know someone will be selling a bottle of something that will actually make you believe that Bush was a good president...Oh wait! We have tequila.
wait, so it was Canadian money, not American money? Okay... he didn't lose THAT much money, right?
Note: If it said otherwise in the article don't flame me. I'm too lazy/busy/uninterested-in-a-sob-story to read the article.
I guess he should be glad they only wanted his money. He traveled to London to meet complete strangers. If something happened to him people wouldn't even know where to look...
This man should be taken to a safe place where he can't hurt himself anymore, and NO internet, period.
@savdavid:
There is no indication in the article of exactly what the idiot told his family when asking them for money. They may not have known what he was doing.
I cannot imagine the amount of greed involved in this. On either side.
But come on! If someone has a magic formula that turns stamps into legal tender. THEY WILL NOT SELL IT TO YOU! THEY WILL MAKE STAMPS INTO MONEY. THEY WONT NEED YOUR MONEY!!!!
@DrGirlfriend: Yeah, and I can't help but thinking, "This is the character flaw of victims who fall for this": He burned all his bridges, lost all his friends so that he could (he thought) make millions of dollars.
Sounds like his friends are better off without him.
Is there some evolutionary advantage in the existence of dumb people?
Why haven't they been evolved out of existence?
Bwahahahahah. Sucker.