There have been reports of a highly sophisticated scam ring in Nigeria which has been targeting foreigners for years. Hamish Barwick reported for PC World on May 26, 2013, A victim of the Nigerian phishing scam tells her tale. Due to intense feelings of shame and despair at being conned out of $300,000 by a convincing Nigerian-based email scam, Queensland interior decorator Jill Ambrose in Australia tried to kill herself twice.
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Ambrose survived this ordeal and is now on a crusade to tell her story so that others are not taken down by the scammers. These phishing scams have been around for years, and they are among the most prominent Internet scams. The responsible criminals ask for donations for a supposed worthy cause, or perhaps they pose as an heir who needs help claiming a fortune, and they claim to be reaching out online for the aid of a generous soul who will gain a large reward for a small investment.
Ambrose said she was contacted via email back in September 2005 by a so-called doctor
who was supposed to be the Lagos Commissioner of Health. Ambrose said, “He asked if my company would be interested in assisting in renovating some hospitals in Lagos. I was sent pictures of the hospitals and contracts.” Ambrose also said, “Everything was very straightforward and I was due to fly to Lagos in 2006. All of a sudden I didn’t hear from anybody. About four weeks later I get another email saying that the work had been done and $11 million would be coming through to me.”
Computerworld has also covered this story, What’s it like to be a ‘Nigerian scam’ victim? The last time the Nigerian scammers contacted Ambrose was in 2008. She was nearly destitute by that time as the scammers kept asking her to send more and more funds before they would release the $11 million. The scam also led to her getting divorced in 2011 because her husband did not want Ambrose to go public with the details. Ambrose has since set up a Victims of Crime support group and helps other people who have been conned. Ambrose has said, “Nearly every person who gets scammed tries to take their life. They [scammers] are creeps and nobody is safe. The only thing I am pleased about is that my experience has helped me support a lot of people.”