If you have not already won the “National Lottery” or received an invitation to help funnel money out of a third world country from an overthrown prince, then you can count yourself lucky (or maybe you just don’t get out much).  Given the current state of the economy, more families will fall prey to this type of scam. So be alert and if it sounds to good to be true… you know the saying.

Here is a story of a woman (Janella Spears) who lost over $400,000 dollars to a Nigerian scam. The initial email she received promised her $20 million dollars but required her to send them $100 to get the transaction started. She obliged and was quickly counter-offered the opportunity to get an extra $6 million dollars if she sent them $8,300. At this point you would think any logical person would start to question the validity of these requests, which Spears did. She received sound advice from all of her friends and family that she should walk away from this situation and that it was a scam. However, she received “official” documentation from a Nigerian Bank validating that the transaction was indeed legit and legal. The long story short is that she wiped out her husband’s retirement savings, mortgaged the house and took a loan on the car to send over $400,000 to these scammers. All she received in return is some poorly written correspondence from the Bank of Nigeria and many many false promises.

Spears came forward with her story to help others from falling prey to this type of scam. We, the readers at SmartSecurityPeople.com, appreciate her courage in bringing her situation public and allowing all of us to use it as a learning tool.

Have any of our readers ever considered participating in a situation similar to above? Has anyone sent the first $100 and then back out along the process? If so, what made you change your mind?