Law Professor With Three Doctorates Tricked By Nigerian Scammers

from the oh-come-on... dept

If anything is clear, it's that the details of this case are not made clear by the AP article about it. However, it appears that a Miami law professor with three doctorates (they don't say what those doctorates are in) was clearly duped in part of a Nigerian scam. The professor continues to disclaim all responsibility saying he was tricked by "the Nigerian government," when it's pretty clear that the tricking was done by scammers who were probably not associated with the government. It also doesn't explain why the professor didn't question why the Nigerian government apparently needed him to deposit a $1.68 million check into his personal account and wire the money on to them. The guy was obviously suckered by the promise of an easy $200,000 (like all other Nigerian scam victims) and tossed any skepticism right out the window. What's not clear from the article, however, is how this scam really worked. It involves Penske, the trucking company, who apparently sent out a $1.68 million check to buy trucks. It's not clear where that check went. That's not explained. Instead, somehow, somewhere, a new, counterfeit check, in the same amount, went from Penske to this professor, starting the process. Penske is now suing Fleet bank and a credit union for letting this happen -- but there are plenty of other questions about how this all happened in the first place. It sounds like someone took the original check for the trucks and altered it, or copied it, replacing the truck company with the professor. If so, then Penske shouldn't be going after the banks, but whoever altered the check and those who ran the scam.

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