16 July - WOD

The Trick Bag

Have you ever been manipulated; had your kindness mistaken for a weakness? I'm usually not the type of individual who is easily led astray, run amok, hood-winked, or bamboozled. Last weekend would prove to be an exception to that rule, however. Like to hear it, hear it go...

Allow me take you back to the beginning ...

Okay so, I'm minding my business on Saturday morning. Per my usual routine, I decided to catch up on some of the emails that I neglected during the busy work week. I noticed that in my inbox, there lie an URGENT email from a home girl whom I hadn't heard from in the past couple of months. Interestingly enough, I'd recently sent her a text message that went unanswered. That was pretty unusual behavior for her as she generally tends to holla back in a timely fashion. Naturally, I figured this email was a response to my unanswered text message. No problem... As I proceeded to read the contents of the email, I quickly became alarmed. The email went something like this...

Hi, I am sorry I didn't inform you about my urgent trip to Africa to assist with a program called Empowering Youth. The mission with this program is to aid in the fight against Racism, HIV/AIDS, Poverty and Lack of Education. The program is taking place in three major countries in Africa which are Ghana, South Africa and Nigeria. It has been a very sad and sobering experience for me thus far. The condition that I find myself in is very hard to explain. I am currently stranded in Nigeria because i lost my little bag which contained all of my money, passport, important documents and other valuables. I am facing a hard time here because I have no money on me. I now owe a hotel bill in excess of $1,000 and they want me to pay the bill soon or else they will have to hand me over to the authorities. I need your assistance urgently to help me get back home. I need you to help me with the hotel bill and i will also need money for food and my return home so please can you help me with a sum of $2,200 to sort out my problems here? I don't even have money to feed myself which means i have been starving so please understand how urgently i need your help. I am sending you this e-mail from the city of Lagos in Nigeria. I appreciate whatever you can afford to send me and I promise to pay back your money as soon as i return home. The only way to receive money from abroad here is through Western union money transfer or Money gram. I will be waiting to hear from you so that i can give you details by which to send money.

Regards,

... crazy right? So I sat and pondered the situation for awhile because clearly if the shoe were on the other foot and I was stranded in foreign territory, I'd hope that I could rely on friends and loved ones to help me to return home safely. So then I emailed my friend back stating that I didn't have the full amount that she requested but I would be able to make a modest contribution on her behalf. Additionally, I offered to call any of her loved ones in the event that she hasn't been able to reach them via email. This BAMA replies back with the following ...

Thanks so much for getting back to me and i appreciate your concern for me. I have contacted the embassy here and they are willing to give me a temporary passport to return, i contacted other relatives who are willing to assist as well. Please send whatever you can spare. Every little bit will help. Send your contribution through either of Western union or Money gram. Please send it to me at the hotel address below.

111 Kings Road, Lagos Nigeria 23401.

After you make the payment please provide me with the transaction information such as the sender's name and address, the control number, text question & answer and the amount sent, this is the information i will need to collect the money here. Waiting to read from you as soon as possible.

Many thanks,

... I know, good, ain't she? I thought so too. So off I go to the bank, made a small withdrawal so that I can at least help to get my home girl a decent meal for the next few days. I then made a mad dash to the Money Gram spot and proceeded to wire the money. As per the directions of the email, I text the security question, answer, and transaction # to her email address. All of a sudden, God intervened. My hand to the MAN, yall ... 2 minutes after I text that info to my friend's email address, I received a text on my cellphone from that very same friend which read...

"Hi everyone thx 4 the calls. Please disregard the email of me being stranded in nigeria needing $$. I'm in dc and safe. My account was hacked."

Oh snap. I just got GOT. So now your boy has gotta try to reverse the money wire before the scammer makes off with my loot. I felt extra stupid for "taking the bait". There I was, trying to assist what I thought was a friend in need and I ended up getting hood-winked. Needless to say, I put my car in reverse and hauled azz back to the Money Gram counter. Wait, the story gets better... In order to recover transmitted funds, an in-store representative must contact Money Gram's refund department via the telephone and provide details of the erroneous transaction. I swear to yall, I had the most impersonal customer service representative on Earth communicating with the refund department on my behalf.

LaTisha begins by explaining that she wants to request a refund for a recent transaction. Apparently the rep on the other end of the line is telling LaTisha that they no longer process refunds and that an on-site supervisor will need to process the reversal. All of a sudden LaTisha gets indignant with the refund rep... "Well when did that process go into effect?" She listened into the receiver for another couple of seconds and the rebuffed "Well obviously yall are getting paid to sit around and do nothing... What good are yall?" The next thing I know, the refund rep hangs up the phone. At this point, I'm buggin' out cause I'm really the only person who stands to lose something in this situation. Fortunately, another rep was standing nearby and she radioed for the manager on duty. Cheryl the MOD, was aware of the new refund procedure and was therefore able to fully refund my money.

All in all, it was a very eye-opening situation. I've read many an email warning of scam artists but never in a million centuries had I ever imagined falling victim to such a predator. In retrospect, there were some things I could have done differently in order to avoid this inconvenience. Since I failed to utilize these precautions, I've documented a few of them for your benefit.

1. Always require the alleged "friend in distress" to provide you with some sort of personal information that only that person and yourself would actually know, as a means of verifying his/her identity. For example: request them to remind you how the two of you first met.

2. Attempt to reach the "friend in distress" via various methods including but not limited to phone call, text message, and email before impulsively reacting to the smoke signals.

3. Contact any mutual friends to find out whether they've heard from the "friend in distress".

Following these guidelines will put you in a better position to avoid being "put in the trick bag". Consider yourself schooled.

Corey R.