March 5 — Two new flavors of the age-old Nigerian e-mail scam are making the rounds, and at least one of them appears to be gaining traction. Hundreds of victims have recently fallen for a variation that plays upon people’s misunderstanding about how bank cashier’s checks work. Meanwhile, other scammers are trying to take advantage of heightened interest in Iraq, posing as frightened Iraqis trying to move money out of that country before hostilities begin. The scam also took a deadly turn last month, when a victim in the Czech Republic allegedly shot and killed a Nigerian diplomat after losing his life savings to the scam.
It's likely the world’s most pervasive e-mail scam. There are hundreds of variations, but the theme is the same: a rich Nigerian national needs help moving funds out of the country. Victims are told they will earn a large percentage of a million-dollar fortune simply by offering...
