Nigerian Money Scam and Mary Winkler; An Odd Couple Indeed
We hear and read about the Nigerian money scams all the time on the internet. We get emails from long lost friends and relatives in Nigeria promising us fortunes if we would just help them. I did not even realize I had family living in Nigeria. The fact that this scam is so widely known just makes it all the more amazing that it involved Mary Winkler and the eventual killing of her husband Matthew Winkler. I just never knew people could still fall for this. It is a sad event where “Nigerian scam” not only caused financial hardship, but also death.
Mary Winkler, who is charged with murder, had gotten tangled up along with her husband in a swindle known as an advance-fee fraud, or the “Nigerian scam,” in which victims are told that a sweepstakes prize or some other riches are waiting for them if they send in money to cover the processing expenses, her lawyers say.
“They were always kind of living on the edge of their budget,” defense attorney Steve Farese said, “so I’m sure this would have just wrecked their budget.”
The financial problems gave rise to arguments between the couple that wound up in Matthew Winkler shot to death, Mary Winkler charged with his murder and their children without parent. Who said that the Nigerian scam only affect people monetarily.
“He had really been on me lately, criticizing me for things – the way I walk, what I eat, everything. It was just building up to a point. I was tired of it. I guess I got to a point and snapped.”
Advance-fee scams became associated with Nigeria in the 1980s when government corruption and a failing economy left many well-educated, English-speaking Nigerians unemployed. “But we see it from all over the world,” said John Kane, research manager for the National White Collar Crime Center.
(Seattle PI)
[...] One other important thing – my mom is no slouch and uses technology in her life. She has a laptop, a wifi home network (yeah, I installed that), a TiVo, surround sound, uh, and, uhm, well, a microwave (although it just broke, so I guess that doesn’t count). She also knows about blogs, plays online games, and has never even come close to falling for a Nigerian scam (nope, she’s no Mary Winkler)! [...]
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