I won the Nigerian lotto a few years ago apparently. Never did see a penny of it. Funny thy eh! Oh it's going ok David just seems like so so far away lol. It will be here before I know it. Doubt I would be able to get the last 11 months paid by someone but hey can dream eh lol

There's a serious side to this.

We once worked with a client that had ended up in excess of £100,000 in debt largely as a result of one of these scams.

He'd been told by the police and trading standards in his area that there are more victims of these scams than you'd imagine. The visible scale of the problem seems to be suppressed by the embarrassment of those that have fallen victim.

The scary thing is they they send millions of these emails out and if even a very small percentage respond, it can be very lucrative.

Some of the stuff that goes on with these scams is incredible. Easier that holding up a bank!

Mark

It's a good point you make TDA.

I've dealt with a number of cases over the years where the client has been duped into believing these scams and borrowing credit on the belief that they were going to receive large sums of money in return.

I'm actually assisting a client at the moment whereby he was convinced to invest in a Telecoms Company which was a Ponzi Scheme promising great returns on his investment. Initially he did, receiving regular monthly repayments for his first investment. Eventually they asked him for more money and because he didn't have it the people running the scheme would apply for finance in his name and he would then sign off on the applications. They would actually travel from South England to his home in the North of Scotland with the paperwork for him to sign to borrow the money. This went on for a period of 10 years I believe.

The Serious Fraud Squad became involved with the case a number of years ago but the Fraud Prosecution Service decided against pursuing a criminal conviction against the individuals involved.

The client was then offered a DMP with an English firm who took him money and didn't really do much at all after years of paying them. I think the DMP actually went into Liquidation.

The client now has in excess of £80,000 of unsecured debts, is a couple of years away from retirement and has a property worth £400,000 with no mortgage. As a result of his extremely poor credit rating and age he is finding it difficult to release the equity and with a solicitor on his case for the debt Sequestration is a real possibility as it's a solicitor that we know well.