Someone tried to ebay scam my friend

[Spurfan15]

First e-mail

Hello,
My name is faith Joe.i am from Bruchsal in Germany.I saw your advert of item that you want to sell and i indeed won the auction. i am so much in love with it and i will like to buy it.Do you still have it for sale or not?
Actually,these item is for my son that is currently schooling in Nigeria and i'll be liable to pay for any extra fee to get the item shipped to him in Nigeria,these item is for his up coming birthday.
I'll be paying you with a cashier's check or an american postal money order acceptable as a means of payment? if yes, please get back to me and lets do business... but before then, i will like to see its current picture as well as its current condition without beign biased.However,i will like you to ship the item via your secure postal service and do get back to me with your Fullname,Contact address or postal address where you want the cashier's check or the american postal money order to get to you and your secure email address with the total shipping cost to Nigeria/23402 and the sub total of the item.
Best of regards
faith

Second e-mail

Thanks for getting back to me this time.I will pay the amount you want for the item.But i will have to pay you with a cheque drawn from an AMERICAN bank through my client who owes me the sum of $7,000 and he has agreed to send the cheque out in your name in which you will cash it and deduct your own total cost of the item with the shipping cost you will send to me and help me send the rest back to my shipper through WESTERN UNION MONEY TRANSFER.This remaining money will be used for the shipping of what am buying from you. I want you to get back to me if you think you can help me out with my proposal. if you are alright with my method of payment,i want you to give me the following informations that i will use in making sure the cheque gets to you on time:
YOUR FULL NAME THAT WILL BE WRITTEN ON THE CHEQUE,
YOUR ADDRESS WHERE THE CHEQUE WILL BE SENT TO,
YOUR CITY AS WELL AS THE ZIP CODE AND COUNTRY
YOUR PHONE NUMBERS.
Regards..

My friend's reply

I regret to inform you that after further review of this auction, this
auction has been deamed unsafe and therefore further contact will be
terminated. Thank you for coming to ********* Sales for your PDA needs and
good luck in the future.

The person's latest reply

WHY?.....I'm really in need of your help,thanks

In case you werent already suspicious from the emails... let me fill you in. This is a big scam. The scam is set up as such:
1) A check is sent to the ebay seller for some incredibly overpaid price
2) The seller deposits the check
3) The seller sends the item to an address in Nigeria
4) The seller wire transfers (non reversable) 6900 dollars to the person (shipping included) to give them the amount they overpaid.
5) The bank notifies the seller several weeks later that the check was bogus, and they want their 7000 dollars back.
6) The seller is out $7000, the shipping, a PDA, and their dignity.

Several people across the US have fallen for this scam, and never got their money back. Why? The scam is run by the Nigerian government itself.

The Nigerian Scam is, according to published reports, the Third to Fifth largest industry in Nigeria. It is the 419 Coalition view that, in effect, the elites from which successive Governments of Nigeria have been drawn ARE the Scammers - therefore, victims have little recourse in this matter. Monies stolen by 419 operations are almost Never Recovered from Nigeria.

If you or anyone you know ever experiences something like this, make sure they do not follow through with the auction. Further, do as my friend has done, and report them to ebay and the FBI.

[JamesR]

haha this has been going on for a long time. I love it when I get an email from Nbudia B'nudea or something like that talking about he needs some $

[Earl Hickey]

Heck, a similiar scam is being run here in the states where these con artists get money from the elderly but they use a bogus lottery ticket instead. Happened here in San Antonio recently where the con artists took $25k from an elderly couple after approaching the elderly lady at an HEB.
The 25K was basicly their life savings.
Fry the bas-turds.

[Bubba McBrewski]

scumbags.

[Robinator]

Check out this 419 information at http://www.secretservice.gov/alert419.shtml

Check out some funny 419 stories where the scammers get scammed at http://www.thescambaiter.com/ or Go to the forum and read about the "Martins Cole Saga" here http://postarchives.entensity.net/040105/scam.htm