Woman Admits Sending $400K To Nigerian Scammer

svnt writes "Janella Spears wiped out her husband's retirement account, remortgaged their paid-for house, and took out a lien against the family car in an attempt to cash in on the deal. A undercover officer involved with the investigation called it the worst example of the scam he's ever seen. Thoughtfully, Spears has gone public with her story as a warning to others not to fall victim."

Bill Engvall comes to mind

[smooth wombat]

Here's your sign: L

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Why?

[Anonymous Coward]

Why would anyone admit to being a retard?

Husband's retirement account

[77Punker]

...more like former husband

For those not reading TFA

[LockeOnLogic]

There's some comedy gold in there, a few tidbits!

"Janella Spears doesnt think shes a sucker or an easy mark."

"They said President Bush and FBI Director "Robert Muller" (their spelling) were in on the deal and needed her help."

"When Spears began to doubt the scam, she got letters from the President of Nigeria, FBI Director Mueller, and President Bush. Terrorists could get the money if she did not help, Bushâ(TM)s letter said. Spears continued to send funds."

"Most of the missives were rife with misspellings."

Priceless! ...okay i'm going to hell...

Janella Spears. . .

[MagusSlurpy]

I wonder if she [stereogum.com] is [babble.com] related [timeinc.net]. . .

Re:Why?

[rugatero]

I am interested in filming her life story. I'll gladly pay $1m dollars for the rights. First she needs to send a $100,000 clearing fee and I'll deal with it from there.

Thoughtfully?

[MarkusQ]

Thoughtfully, Spears has gone public with her story as a warning to others not to fall victim.

Perhaps. But Occam's razor suggests that it never occurred to her that there might be a downside to publicly admitting to being this stupid, and she went public not "thoughtfully" as a "warning to others" but rather unthinkingly as a further example of what happens when you never think things through.

--MarkusQ

Re:I'm amazed

[MBGMorden]

Not only that but from the article (Yeah, it seems like all of us just HAD to read this one.):

"Janella Spears doesn't think she's a sucker or an easy mark."

Janella, no, you're not a sucker or an easy mark. You're the dumbest fucking person on Earth.

sooo close

[regular_gonzalez]

Sure it seems like a tragedy now, but my gut feeling is that if she had sent one more payment, those millions would be in her bank account at this very moment. The same guy contacted me and I'm certain that with one or two more payments I will soon be rich beyond my wildest dreams. Remember kids, quitters never win and winners never quit.

Re:Awful

[Anonymous Coward]

This woman is the reason these kinds of scams exist. She should be exiled.

I missed the part where that was funny. I miss the days where, in addition to being retarded, AC's were funny.

Dear Slashdot Reader,

My wife and family was recently was exiled from the USA for monetary reasons.

I was forced to flee before we could remove our holdings from their safe location.

I have since been in contact with a friend who can help withdraw our recent government bailout of $5,000,000,000, however in order to expedite this, I need to raise $400,000 to cover legal, and transfer fees.

I am looking for a trustworthy individual to help, and am willing to part with 20% of the money, once its been transferred.

If you can help, please contact me at [e-mail]

Tattooed

[Jabbrwokk]

This scammer [419eater.com] got tattooed, all right.

Re:I'm amazed

[whoever57]

but she was so obsessed (i.e. stupid) that they simply couldn't.

Yeah, but she is going to get that money back within 2 years -- by selling the rights to her story..... but first, she has to put up a small investment to get the agent working.......

Re:your view of morality is logically incoherent

[kv9]

maybe guy #2 should try the sleeping approach. this way, everybody wins?

If she spends here money on a scam

[32771]

I'm sure she would spend $10 on that:

http://www.despair.com/mis24x30prin.html [despair.com]

Re:I'm amazed

[Anonymous Coward]

Poor woman probably even hawked her banjo.

Re:She had it coming

[vishbar]

Microsoft [slashdot.org].

Here is step 4.

[whoever57]

4. ... Divorce husband and move away.

Re:For those not reading TFA

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't think a bunch of misspellings from somebody claiming to be President Bush would be a tipoff of something wrong. No misspellings would be a tipoff!

Re:Awful

[spintriae]

This is why I don't deal with those Nigerian scammers. I deal directly with the Prince of Nigeria himself. We're so close that I"m sending him money to unfreeze his dead aunt's $1 billion fortune, of which I'm going to receieve half.

Re:lets follow your thought to the logical conclus

[WillDraven]

therefore, in your scenario, the woman get sno punishment, the scammers get real punishment, and all the res tis pointless verbiage. ok, the woman is guilty, she's reposnible, she's an albatross, whatever. doesn't matter what you clal her. the point is she doesn't get punished, in your eyes, and the scammers do, which is all that is important. the rest is verbiage

I think all this talk of Nigerian email scams is affecting you...

Re:The Nigerian scam is no more of a scam than...

[rugatero]

Maybe there is a Nigerian scammer out there that is just as stupid as the people sending the money.

Dear Prince Nbumbu,

I am willing to assist you in transferring the sum of $20m in return for 10%, and will forward the $400,000 advance to you in the coming week. In order to progress this transaction I first need you to wire me $100,000 in processing fees. Further details to follow.

No, no, no...

[denzacar]

Not exiled. Deported. To Nigeria.

Re:I'm amazed

[Pictish Prince]

Mean [wikipedia.org], Median [wikipedia.org] and Mode [wikipedia.org]. In a world of 99 uniform dumbasses and 1 genius, 99% would be below mean intelligence.

Not sure where you get the 50% from.

I don't know - I've met a lot of mean dumbasses and come to think of it, a lot of them were in uniform.

Re:I'm amazed

[Anonymous Coward]

I can't believe she wouldn't cash my check. I'm still mad about that, I could have been a millionaire!

Re:Awful

[smallfries]

Dude, 50% is a terrible return on a Nigerian scam. You should shop around some.

Re:This is how we get out of debt!

[Anonymous Coward]

Jesus, how did this get modded 'insightful'? Should clearly be modded funny!!

I really do wonder about the state of /. these days.

Re:For those not reading TFA

[Xibby]

A letter from President Bush without misspellings would be an obvious scam. Clever Nigerians.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:I'm amazed

[Hurricane78]

Does that involve the ban of any reproduction for them?
If not, it's worthless. :)

Re:I'm amazed

[E++99]

So, if you meet a genius, and (s)he says the world is full of morons, you've got to realize that from their perspective, it's true. 98% of people they meet are as mentally slow or slower relative to them as a borderline mental retard of 70-79 IQ is to an average person

Yeah, but what if 98% of the people you meet say that the world is full of morons?

Re:I'm amazed

[aliquis]

Ah, so that's why we don't reproduce!

Re:She's bad-stupid, and this is why:

[raynet]

No no no, when in doubt, use someone else's money, that way you wont get burned yourself.

Re:I'm amazed

[Anonymous Coward]

ha! hilarious slip - "praying on religious communities"

Re:Canada Bill Jones would be proud

[sfjoe]

The strange thing here is not that a fool and her money are soon parted but rather that the fool ever managed to get together with her money in the first place.

Then what?

[LingNoi]

Then we sell the list to Nigeria?

Re:Then what?

[Dan541]

Now that you mention it we might as well make a bit of cash. but Nigeria must pay upfront, I don't trust their credit rating.

Re:I'm amazed

[aliquis]

Made me wonder, in what way does Slashdot users lack competence*?

Then I got it, in the social area of course, so well, it even turned out to make sense!

(* Typical nerd to see it as theoretical knowledge and then miss this basic practical human thing I guess :D. What RFC # for this male to female handshaking procedure you're talking about?)

Re:I'm amazed

[Coward Anonymous]

The basic rule of any con is that "You can't cheat an honest person".

Unless you're the church, of course.

Re:sooo close

[gacl]

Remember kids, quitters never win and winners never quit.

Or at least that's what George W. told her in that letter he sent her.

Re:Awful

[mpe]

This woman is the reason these kinds of scams exist. She should be exiled.

But who'd want her in their country?

Hawked?

[ronadams]

I'm picturing a banjo suddenly sprouting wings and a razor-sharp beak, soaring over the landscape and tweeting bluegrass licks. It's terrifying.