is this a scam?

some guy says he is from a organization and he wanted to donate 1500 dollars to me if i paid $200 upfront fee. he/she said they saw an ad i posted in a begging for money site (which i did) and wanted to help. i told them i cant pay the fee so then they offered me a small job to send donations out through western union. i gave them my address and they sent me the money, and i had to go to western union and pick it up. He/she said i can take 10bucks from the money and send the rest out to the information they give me. this specific information to where i was suppose to send money out was in nigieria. i was suspicious since i saw another post on here that said some guy wanted him to send money to nigeieria. me and the person have had nice conversations, he or she seemed trust worthy, and he even asked me if he can trust me, and i asked him if i can trust him/her, and he said yes. i dont know what to believe! and when i went to western union after receiving the money and took my 10bucks, when i wanted to send it the lady said i should send it the next day because it would look suspicious if i sent it right away which made me really nervous and suspicious over the supposedly guy/girl that works in a organization. what should i do next, trust him/her? or just do this for the last time and not contact that person again? im pretty sure he would keep asking me to supposedly send out money again or "donations".

Welcome to ScamWarners hey777, you have been set up to be what is known as a "mule" or a money launderer. The criminal / scammer is having you receive money they have taken from a victim. You become the contact the police could find when the victim realizes they have been scammed.

You are receiving money obtained under false pretenses (stolen) and sending it on to the thief. You are in a dangerous situation with this and you are putting yourself into a situation which could put you in jail for helping perpetrate a crime.

The "advice" you got from the clerk at Western Union is very concerning. Instead of asking you if you know the people you are receiving money from and the person you are sending money to as their guidelines state, this person is helping you to get deeper into this crime.

but the person even gave me a address to put as sender in the receiver shhet from western union. wouldnt that validate their ID?

The person sending the money is most likely legitimate, and would have provided real ID. He/she is a scam victim who has been conned into sending money for what they think is a legitimate reason. For example, he/she may think they are paying a deposit on an apartment, or that he/she is paying for leave for a soldier, or he/she may be a job scam victim who has unknowingly cashed a fake check. Odds are, eventually they will realize they have been scammed, when the apartment doesn't exist (or isn't for rent); the soldier turns out to be fake; or the bank ID's the fake check. Whatever the reason, when the sender realizes the truth, he/she is likely to go to the authorities.

And if the authorities investigate, what will they do? Follow the money--straight to you. It doesn't matter that you didn't keep the money--by receiving and forwarding it to the scammers (who will be untraceable), you have become an accessory to their fraud. You can be arrested and charged with a serious crime.

Participating in this activity is like playing Russian Roulette. You may get away with it with no harm, but you are gambling with your freedom and your future. Even if you don't end up in jail, you can be left with a criminal record that will haunt you for life. And you are likely helping to steal money from people who likely cannot afford to lose it.

As far as the WU clerk goes, she gave you the worst advice imaginable--not to mention the fact that she is completely violating her company's rules.

what should do???? should contact the scammer and tell them the truth? of how they are scammers?

Confronting the scammer will do no good. They already know they are scammers, and they will do nothing more than lie to you. They are liars and thieves--this is how they make a living!

Do not send money to Nigeria. Do not spend the money. Be prepared to return it one way or another.

The most prudent course of action is to print out the emails, and take them and the WU form to the police. Explain what happened, and of course be prepared to hand over the money. They may be willing to contact the sender and get the situation sorted out.

If not, we can ask one of our scam warners to contact the sender and help them to understand.

do you want me to give you the name of the sender? and address? and are you SURE its a scam?

There is absolutely NO legitimate reason for a middle-man in Western Union. Adding a person in the middle doubles the transaction fees, extends the length of time before the cash is received, and costs even more if the middle man is being paid. A legitimate organization or business (not that legitimate organizations/businesses are in the habit of conducting business by WU anyway - bank accounts, credit cards, and services like paypal are the usual legitimate routes) would receive the cash directly and avoid all the middle fees.

The sole purpose of having someone send money to you instead of straight to the receiver is to disguise the fact that it is is going to Nigeria. Scammers are always looking for mules in other countries, because they lose many victims at the mention of Nigeria.

There is absolutely no doubt that it is a scam.

yeah i agree. when i saw that i was sending to nigeria i had SERIOUS suspicion over this guy. im gonna go ahead and confront him about it and make him say the truth. i wont send the money out until he/she gives me proof of something, a pic, video of their offices or something. i wont spend it either. im also looking on facebook for people with the name of the possible victim to tell them whats going on. the key word for me was "nigeria" since its a hot spot for scammers to send money to. but what do you think i should officially do next? im nervous, and really dont want a criminal record over some desperate man or woman trying to scam people and gaining their trust through lies.

As I said above, contacting the authorities is your best bet. You haven't forwarded the money--it is clear at this point that you are not part of the crime.

You are NOT going to get a real confession out of the scammer. In the occasional situation where a scammer "confesses," that confession is nearly always a new set of lies. Asking for a video or a pic is not going to help--many scammers will run from that request, but a more skilled scammer will use google and find a photo/video to send to you.

Visit our sister scambaiting site, 419eater.com , and you will soon see why we always say that the #1 rule of dealing with lads (African scammers) is "lads lie."

The best thing to do with any scammer who has your real information is to drop all contact.

before you leave just one more question, i am talking to this guy through yahoo messenger and i know his real name, i think. and his location which is suppose to be california. do you think thats any indication he is genuine? just this last question.

Definitely not.

If you are sending money to Nigeria, then the scammer is in Nigeria.

Chances are you do not have his real name, just one of his (many) aliases.