by Dotti
Mon May 17, 2010 4:12 pm
Welcome Target,
I am sorry to hear that this friend is currently a victim. If the woman's daughter would like a warner to call her mother, we would be happy to arrange it with some more information regarding the situation, so please feel free to point her here. You can also try to point the victim herself here and ask her to read the romance stickies. With some more information (e.g. profiles, email addresses, etc.) we may be able to get and provide further information regarding this scammer.
Unfortunately, as you already suspect, the funds and any packages she received are undoubtedly the proceeds of fraud. Clearly, it is important that she be stopped from sending a vehicle (or anything else for that matter) to Nigeria, as doing so will lead her into even more trouble.
We can't however, recommend to any victim that they keep the money and any goods, as both are actually stolen. At some point, one or more of the victims who sent money to her will realize it is a scam, and those victims (as well as any companies that shipped merchandise purchased with a stolen credit card) will likely contact law enforcement--if she is keeping money, she can easily face criminal charges for fraud, receiving stolen property, etc. herself. Obviously at this point, if she is still convinced this person is real, she is also not going to understand the criminal implications of her actions. However, for her sake, as Enchantress said, the best thing to do is to contact the police and/or an attorney to help her avoid getting into even bigger trouble.