11/13/2008
On Your Side Investigator Anna Song comments:
We came across this story while attending a conference on financial crimes in Eugene. State attorneys for the Oregon Department of Justice were using this case as a teaching tool, with the name of the victim redacted. I was astonished, as many of you are, that someone could lose $400,000 in a Nigerian scam. These are the emails we all routinely get in our inbox, if our spam filter doesn?t catch them first. I inquired with the state attorneys about whether this victim would be interested in talking with me. To my surprise, she agreed.
I went to Sweet Home with a high level of skepticism. What I found was a normal, middle-class home near an elementary school, a deaf husband trying to fix his phone so that it would vibrate instead of ring, and his wife, Janella Spears, trying to get their grandkids to calm down so we could do a television interview.
Investigators with the Oregon Department of Justice initially came across Spears when they were investigating a different money laundering case. While looking at Western Union money transfers, they discovered someone had wired $144,000 to Nigeria over the course of three short weeks. It got their attention. They honed in on Spears, and did a full ?money bust? at her home. After scouring her house, looking at all her financials, talking with local bank representatives and otherwise doing a complete investigation,
the detectives concluded she was a victim. Remember, they also had hundreds of emails to go through, revealing her correspondence with the Nigerian scammers, and their creative stories aimed at bleeding money from her. Spears was never charged, and I have to go on the investigators? judgment for that.
For good measure, they?ve warned Spears that if she sends any more money to Nigeria, they will charge her with a crime. She admits herself, it may be the only real deterrent for her, as fixing this became somewhat of an obsession.
Whether you believe her, Spears claims she wanted the money so she could help others in need.
The Nigerian scammers look for people like Janella Spears. Most of us have the sense to hit delete. But what about that older relative who has email, but is gullible, or easily confused? Obviously, the scam works. That?s why it continues.
Thanks to all of you who have commented.
Anna Song
Investigative Reporter / Anchor
KATU News
503.231.4207
asong@katu.com