Internet fraud. 
Well done, you were right to be suspicious!! Most users of the Internet are nice people but, as in any large population, detestable creeps sometimes emerge from the shadows. Some notes on current fraud techniques follow but check the linked pages for more detail on the false names and company titles used by the criminals:
The lottery fraud  The money laundering fraud

Nigeria. Despite the false European sounding names and false addresses in London and Amsterdam, most of the criminally inspired junk mail you will receive will be from Nigerians. Nigeria, in West Africa, is the world's 6th largest petroleum exporter, the world capital of child trafficking (UN report, 2004) and the centre of a huge criminal web. The "you are a lottery winner" is still their favourite approach but recently they have targeted small Web businesses, placing orders with stolen credit cards. Traders soon find that they are charged back by the card company, but only after they have sent goods to Victoria Island, Lagos, Nigeria, for example. (If you have recently reported such a fraud to the Nigerian authorities, the writer would like to hear from you. The criminals will sometimes ask for payment to bank accounts. I am especially interested to know details of these and will pass along relevant  information to the appropriate police agencies.) Note: it would be wrong to tar all Nigerians with the same brush. As far as the writer can tell, the Muslims of the north are innocent of Internet fraud. The offenders seem mainly to be from the Igbo (or Ibo) tribe in the south east of the country. The Igbos profess Christianity and African religions.

March '05.  If you are selling a car on the Web - take care. The criminals are likely to make you an offer! They will send you stolen or forged cheques. You will spot some strange requests for shipping and payment. Let the writer know if you are in doubt, but a request for movement of funds via Western Union will strongly indicate a fraud attempt . Yahoo Chat. The criminals are grooming victims via Yahoo Chat, pretending to be African maidens in distress and employees of African banks. Sooner or later the subject of millions of dollars will be introduced and a cut will be offered. 

March '05. They're pretending to be women! Look out for "maidens in distress", perhaps seeking help with passports, or finance for medical operations. One such is " Linda Johnson " (supposedly of Senegal) and this name is associated with a long list of "companies" and "officials" in support of the scam: Yormie Johnson,  Mzulu Chambers & Associate, Christian Mzulu, Rue 22 yoff Dakar senegal, Mark Fisher, Anglo Financial Trust Bank, London, Melissa Fowler, Jason Griffin, Interbond Creditors, 1 Berkley Street, London, Martin William etc. ROSEMERY CHRISTAINA MARCULY "in Dakar refugee camp" but wants money sent to AMBRO BANK PLC LONDON, attn of RAY PAULSON. They are also pretending to represent the Nigerian ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL CRIME COMMISSION (with a Yahoo address! ifcc_fbi@yahoo.com) Plot 1017 & 1018 Custom Close Off Adetokunbo Ademola crescent, Wuse II, Abuja.
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January '05. Interested to hear from you if you have been referred to an Internet site www.privatsuisse.com , privatsuisse , Uetlitbergstrasse 233 CH 8070 Zurich. (Website seems to be hosted in Panama).

November '04 junk mail. They want your bank account details and hope they will be able to con you into sending them money via an untraceable Western Union service. UK residents should not reply to current mail offering "Job for UK citizens". As in the example below, you will be asked to divulge personal details and ultimately to send money - yes, probably by Western Union or MoneyGram.

Dear Friend.
We are looking for business partners in the USA, Europe and Canada. Our companys name is Currency-Exchange. We are in partnership with such payment systems like PayPal, WebMoney, E-gold, Evocash etc. Our Office is located in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Most of our transactions are made in the territory of the USA, Europe and Canada. Our partners prefer to pay us using wire transactions through regular banks. The bank system in Russia is not effective as the bank systems in countries which mentioned above.This is the main reason why we are choosing the American, European and Canadian partners with bank accounts for our money transactions.They are fast, reliable and easy. If you want to somehow help us and at the same time earn money, you are always welcome. In order to become our partner, you will need to open a regular checking account from any major American, European or Canadian bank. When you opened an account, you will have to send us the account |nformation (Account Number, Routing Number and Branch Location), so we could proceed transferring the funds to the account you have just opened or opened before. As soon as you receive the money from us, you will leave for yourself from 5(starting value) up to 10 percent from the each amount you have received. Rest of the money you will send to us using Western Union. You can easily make from $500 up to $5000 per month.
For more information, please feel free to contact us at piterexchange@hotmail.com, piterexchange@yahoo.com . Similar junk mail offers "additional income" from Antiquitaeten-Schwaighofer GmbH, and WALTERS COMPANY, WALTERS GATE COMPANY, WORLD TRADE CENTER, LONDON.

Doing business on the Web? Look out for mail like this, apparently from a store in Nigeria: "Hello. I will like to make an inquiry on some of your products but firstly i will like to know, if you can be able to ship to nigeria,if you can i will like you to email me asap so that we can proceed with the transaction and also i will like you to include your website address. I will also like to know if you accept credit card as a method of payment. Waiting to read from you asap. Best regards." Please do not fall for this one. If you accept an order, process the credit card and send goods, the items will appear in the markets of Lagos or Accra at around the same time that the card company calls back the transaction amount from your account. An experienced British businessman offers the following advice: "Your Readers I think should be made aware more strongly that charge back exists, as I am not sure that many do understand that a credit card payment offers no security at all, and that as well as losing the goods they have to pay charge back fees. Also fraudsters that ask for a website address should be ignored straight away, if they don't know your website address how did they get your e-mail address? ...
With regards your advice of express clearance of cheques, our own Bank has suggested that even if a cheque clears, payment is still not assured as fraudulent cheques can still be demanded back several months after the cheque has cleared. We believe the only safe option is international wire transfer or TT (telegraphic transfer) as this is real time authorised transfer from a bank account and has to be set up by the issuing branch. Of course then you are providing your sort code and account number, it's a matter of judgement."

Look out for names like: GLORIA KEMI, GLORIA ventures NIGERIA LIMITED. " kingsleystores ", "smithstores" ," Dan Andrew ", " linda jones, fem shop" ," sandrabills4me ", coupled with the typical Netscape or Yahoo anonymous e-mail address. Also: onas ventures in mushin area, Lagos, Seyila Ahmed (or Ahmeed). ABDULAH JAMIL, (abdula junaid) MINISTRY OF FINANCE & NATIONAL ECONOMY OF IRAQ, UNITED NATIONS AFFILIATE OFFICE, LONDON, U.K. REF: RE-CONSTRUCTION OF IRAQ, ADIL. A. MAHDI. Jane Brown, BROWN ALL STORE, 14 akinbayode st, mushin, lagos, nigeria 23401. Mrs Sandra, The Sales Rep. of clark_store, clark_store, 42 Folarin str., Palm avenue, Mushin, Lagos, 234-01 Nigeria. Balogun Hawau. Sue Enterprises, Nigeria (looking to "buy" HANDHELD INFRARED THERMOMETERS). Also Adebari , totolisco tobi, Lagos.
They are trying to "buy" art prints: Tunde Gabriels, Director, Tunartricks ENT, asking for artworks to be shipped to 80, palm avenue, Mushin, Lagos, Nigeria, 23401. Another very artistic person, also shopping for books: Mrs Melina scot, K.B.M.B, #10 Malikota Road, G.R.A Nairobi, Kenya. Also:  Dr. Sonya. Prof. Clara Johnson, Mr Demurin Oyekan, 19, Docey Street, victoria Island, Lagos, Nigeria, Zip code: 23401. Sanusi Fanfunwa, Ms Kay Ashton, 214,C.a.c street, Off palm avenue, Mushin, Lagos state, 23401,Nigeria. John Adekunle, james jim, jamesproduct. jeff Bailey & Dr Akin Davis, 65,water carrington road victoria island lagos state, Nigeria.23401. Jones.M. 5 Maryland St. Lagos, Nigeria. andy cole, andy_me11@yahoo.co.uk. Tom Chad, 17 A Afolabi-Obe Str. Ori-Oke Bus/Stop, Ejigbo-Lagos, 23401, Nigeria. charles moor, charles investors, 19 ogo chesun avenue v/island lagos nigeria. Mike Roland 3 Igbasan Street Opebi Ikeja Lagos, NIgeria 23401, 2 ojolowo street opebi, ikeja lagos, nigeria 23401. Pastor Samuel Phillips, flat 4 100 wilson road ikoyi lagos nigeria. samuel oyebokun 100 awolowo rd ikoyi, lagos, akeem shonola 45 balogus st ojodu, lagos. James Morgan 16 kodjo street seme border nigeria. Egebomi Olusola Emmanuel 10 parkview estate ikoyi lagos, nigeria, milkemike4real@yahoo.com , milkemike4real@hotmail.com, harrywade4real@yahoo.com . March '05 they have stolen, and are using, UK cheques in the name of Kenneth J Baines . Ebun Fred, ebunt store, OGUNOWO NIGERIA ENT, 37 FOLARIN STREET ,OFF LADIPO STREET, MUSHIN, LAGOS, NIGERIA. Mike Silver, Greece and South Africa ? re Brian Wolfe, 206 Be Happy Ave. Victoria Garden City, Lagos. 23401 NIGERIA. joyce meyer re late Andy cole. Maria collins, Ibadan, 23402 Nigeria.
 

 A Nov. '04 fraud attempt carried the name Chiko and the address chikotradings@yahoo.com . The criminal asked for a Western Union payment to Mr. Adebayo David, 42 Allen Avenue, Ikeja, Lagos 23401, Nigeria. Another address used in a recent fraud attempt: Mr Martins Lawrence, 76 greek road souther land, off park view,  lagos iceland (sic) 23401 nigeria 2348023516945 (BSG OCEAN SHIPPERS WORLD). You should also be aware of: Lisa Monac, Morrison Jude, Frank Osei, Sulaim Ibrahim, Abdul Razak Saeed and these addresses: 100 Hawley street, Lagos Nigeria. 21 Atiko St. Accra, Ghana. Cowlane street, Lagos, Nigeria. 190 Saka street, Lagos Nigeria. 43 Bamgdose street, Lagos Nigeria. 102 Odunfa street, Lagos Nigeria. 25 Adenta street, Accra Ghana. 2nd Adowa st. Apt 102, New Town, Accra, Ghana. Liberty street, Accra Ghana.

(October, 2004). The criminals are "offering loans" to charitable organisations. Don't even bother to reply to junk mailers like MUSA MOHAMMED of Universal Link B.V. Amsterdam. They will try to extract your personal / banking details before they demand a fee for their non-existent services.

 If you are selling high value goods on the Web, you are a target! There follows a recent e-mail from the USA describing a classic fraud attempt. The criminals will ask you to send money by Western Union or MoneyGram.

"I had a 4wheeler advertised for sale on the internet. I received an email from a Fredrick Jones interested in purchasing it. He said he was from Maryland. We agreed upon a price and then he asked me to remove my for sale ad. Then he informed me that he was visiting family in London and wanted to have it shipped with some other belongings to him there. He said he would send me a money order for the amount of the 4wheeler, plus shipping charges that I am to wire Western Union to the shipper and then contact them for pick up. His cousin here in the states was to send this to me. I received the money order yesterday and am very suspicious of it. It was sent from Lagos, Nigeria(not the US) and the shipper I am to wire the shipping fees to is in Victoria Island, Lagos, Nigeria. I came across your site when searching for Fredrick Jones, Nigeria / Maryland. Fredrick Jones (frickjones@yahoo.com) is the name used by the purchaser. Mahoney W James was the name on the Fed-ex package and money order. The following is the supposed shipping agent that I was to Western Union the shipping money to: Femi Fowler, 39 McGuary Road, Victoria Island, Lagos, Nigeria. 23401."

Other names popping up in relation to the Internet Car Fraud scam; MR FRANKE DER BOER , 341 JAN VAN GOGH ALLEE, OSLO, NORWAY. me ( mel ) stuttard.  Highwaves Shipping Agency, Lagos, Jim Billy, Netherlands. Joseph Well, Norway / Nigeria, Teddi Toni, kwell bee, kwell rice . Someone called SANDRA ELISA writes about ordering goods for Nigeria, but has a Czech e-mail address. You should also know of Mr. Chestnut Benjamin with addresses in Lagos (re ANDREW NELSON, 23 RING ROAD, IKOYI LAGOS, 23401, NIG.)  and Sweden (Snovits Vag 21b, Tyreso, 13557, Stockholm, to be precise). TIP: ask your bank for "express clearance" of cheques or drafts and be extremely suspicious if you are asked to send money by way of Western Union.
E-Bay Scam: Helen Ruth Smith, Via Alimena 105 87100 COSENZA, ITALY has been "selling" a motorhome via E-Bay. Yinka Olaoye.

They want to clone your identity and access your accounts. Don't answer those "Bank Security Update" e-mails and don't give out personal information to "lottery" fraudsters! If you have already done so, you should talk to your bank / credit card company as soon as possible and explain that you are a fraud target.