The email from Dr. Olad Olayeni asks for help. As director of his country's engineering and project services, he wants to transfer what remains of a "total contract sum of $283 million" out of his country. He's offering to pay you 25% to help him.

These "Nigerian money offers" are named for the country where they purportedly started. They are commonly called "advance fee frauds". But these scams also come from other countries. Wherever they're from, they all have a similar pattern and all the money collected is used to fund other crimes.

You can avoid becoming a victim of a Nigerian scheme by following these steps:

• Never respond to this type of email, USPS mail, or fax from Nigeria;
• Don't try to get more information about the offer;
• Delete it or throw it away;
• Report Nigerian money offers you receive to the fraud section of your local police and postal inspector;
• Do not travel to meet the e-mail’s sender.