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Hey Mom! You'd Better Control Your Kid Or Else You Could Go Broke...Or Risk Being Beaten Up--Or Even Murdered Plus: Turning The Tables On Cyber-Scammers And Tele-Pests, Just In Time For April Fool's Day!
April 1, 2004
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Dear Ben: My grandson (Richard) has become innocently involved in a scam. He’s 24 years old, has a low-IQ, and lives with his mother, (my daughter). He uses a computer and–through a chat room–became involved with some women in Nigeria. They promised gifts, a possibility of marriage, and ordered merchandise shipped to his address for him to then re-send to them in Nigeria, which he did a few times. His mother began refusing to accept shipments that kept showing up from UPS, FedEx and the U.S. Post Office. She became alarmed and contacted law enforcement authorities and the Postal Inspector was the only one who took notice and responded, saying they have other similar cases.
Here’s the immediate problem: FedEx is billing Richard for thousands of dollars, and it’s starting to get ugly. They’re barely getting by financially and have no resources and do not owe the charges. This is a source of enormous worry for my daughter, who is already on medication for depression. The names of the people in Nigeria have changed several times–they’ve even used my grandson’s (Dallas) address and have contacted him by telephone and even threatened my daughter. And to top it off? My grandson doesn’t believe this is all a scam. They’ve never met any of these people face to face...what can we do?
Barbara in Dallas
Dear Barbara: I wish this were just another April Fool’s Day joke, but I know you’re not laughing and this is anything but funny. These Nigerian lowlife con artists have exploited naive Americans to the tune of billions of dollars since variations of this scam first surfaced in the 1970s. I’m not an attorney–so I can’t give you legal advice–but I can give you my usual common-sense spin on what I think she needs to do...so let’s see if we can get mother and son out of this mess.
First and foremost: Your daughter has got to control her son. Does his low IQ mean that she’s got permanent guardianship? If so, she could be liable for these charges if they’re valid and if FedEx decides to sue. Parents are financially liable for the actions of their minor children (or wards), which means that your daughter needs to clip Junior’s wings and cut off his Internet and phone privileges if she can’t control his on-line actions. However, I suspect she doesn’t have legal guardianship, which leads me to my next point.
#2 FedEx can’t get blood out of a turnip: If he/she doesn’t have the money, there’s really not a whole lot they can do. If FedEx sues him/her and gets a judgment, they’re not going to get much–if anything. They won’t be able to garnish her paycheck (it doesn’t sound like he even has one), so it’s clear that he/she don’t have much (if anything) in attachable assets.
And finally: Why does your daughter continue to make herself such an easy target for these morons to call and harass her (or her son)? It’s extremely doubtful that these lowlifes would ever follow through (domestically, anyway) on their threats–but why listen to their garbage in the first place? Tell her to change her phone number and reel in Junior before he gets her (or himself) into some really serious trouble.
Dose of Dover For The Week: I’m amazed how these Nigerian clowns continue to find suckers via e-mail. I "bit" on one of their "pleas for assistance" a couple of weeks ago and am looking forward to getting my one-third cut of the $45 million they’re going to wire transfer into my U.S. bank account any day now...not!
Just for fun, I replied to one of the countless "I need your help moving millions of dollars to America" come-on e-mails a few weeks ago. It sure didn’t take much to get these dopes hot-to-trot: They faxed me several pages of "transaction initiation paperwork" within a few hours and now I’m torturing them with stupid questions...all in the spirit of April Fool’s Day, of course. If you’ve got some extra time on your hands and are looking for ideas on how to drive these cyber-scammers or misguided telemarketers nuts, I’ve got just what you’re looking for: www.bendover.com/pranks.asp.
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