Baysider
Secret Service: Don't bank on reaping African rewards
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Like a bad penny, the Nigerian funds-transfer scam has turned up in the Tampa Bay area yet again -- and this time, The Business Journal Serving Greater Tampa Bay got its own version of the solicitation.
An official claiming to represent a Nigerian petroleum company sent a fax to the editorial department last weekend.
In capital letters and broken English, the official explained that an oil pipeline expansion in the impoverished country turned up a $30-million surplus -- and we were entrusted to hold the money.
The fax requests (in confidence, of course) a bank account number, plus home phone and fax numbers.
The hook is that the participant stands to make $9 million during the next two weeks.
Unfortunately, the U.S. Secret Service has been battling the scam for several years in various degrees.
An agent with the Tampa office said a new variation of the scam involves a high-ranking government official from Sierra Leone.
The Secret Service wants anyone receiving such a solicitation, whether by fax, letter or e-mail, to turn it over to the agency.
For more information on so-called "4-1-9" scams, log on to the agency's Web site at http://www.treas.gov/u
.
FAMILY TIES: It was the stuff cell phone commercials are made of when during the May 5 Stetson University College of Law spring commencement a guest in the front row, Stanley Giannet of New Port Richey, talked on his cell phone during the entire ceremony.
That's almost two hours. Giannet, psychology professor and dean at Pasco-Hernando Community College, was at Stetson to see his brother Billy Giannet receive his dual law degree and master's in business administration.
As Billy walked across the stage, he tore off his cap, raised his hands to the sky, burst into tears and screamed, "I did it. I did it my way."
As it turns out, listening on the other end of the cell phone connection was the Giannet brothers' grandmother, Stavroula Roussos, 92, of New Port Richey.
She couldn't make the trip to Gulfport, so she listened to the ceremony via speaker phone.
Loula Giannet, sister of Stanley and Billy and a 1996 Stetson law graduate, stayed at her grandmother's side to translate the event -- including the address by CNN legal analyst Greta Van Susteren -- from English into Greek.
"She heard my name called, heard the cheers, heard everything crystal clear," said Billy.
Sensors and sensibility: Although the timing might not be the greatest, it's the thought that counts, right?
The city of Clearwater is offering water customers a new rebate program on rain sensors.
A rain sensor switch will turn off a sprinkler system when it rains.
Latest News |
Most Viewed Stories |
Most Emailed Stories |
