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What the U.S. Government Will Do For You If You Get Ripped Off

Mostly not a lot.

Which is not to say that they are not concerned, but you will never see your money again. The State Department is pretty concerned about this, and has been working with the G8 since 1996 to come up with a solution. (The G8 is an informal group of eight countries: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States—plus the European Union.) So far, a total of 39 nations have complained to the Nigerian government about it. Nigeria is working to end this, but they currently have a lot on their minds, and there seems to be a lot of foot-dragging. The U.S. government suspects that to at least some extent, the Nigerian government may be involved.

In 1998, Congressman Ed Markey of Massachusetts proposed and managed to get a bill passed ("Nigerian Advance Fee Fraud Prevention Act of 1998"), which doesn't really do much except acknowledge that this is a problem and that people ought to know about it. Still, it's a step in the right direction. You can check out the text of the bill here: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c105:h.r.3916:.

The Secret Service has a special branch (cleverly code-named "Operation 419") that receives more than 100 phone calls and five hundred pieces of mail every day. If you've been a victim, you can add to that load by emailing them at 419.fcd@usss.treas.gov. If you haven't lost any money, put "No financial loss—for your database" in the subject line. Make sure to include the full headers. If you have lost money to this scam, put "Financial loss" in the subject line.

You can also call your local FBI field office, but chances are they're not going to be terribly interested except from a statistical point of view. Especially if you've suffered no financial loss.

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Collection and Use of Information


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Customer Service

We communicate with users on a regular basis to provide requested services and in regard to issues relating to their account we reply via email or phone in accordance with the users' wishes when a user submits their information through our Contact Us form.

Other Collection and Use of Information


Application and System Logs

Pearson automatically collects log data to help ensure the delivery, availability and security of this site. Log data may include technical information about how a user or visitor connected to this site, such as browser type, type of computer/device, operating system, internet service provider and IP address. We use this information for support purposes and to monitor the health of the site, identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents and appropriately scale computing resources.

Web Analytics

Pearson may use third party web trend analytical services, including Google Analytics, to collect visitor information, such as IP addresses, browser types, referring pages, pages visited and time spent on a particular site. While these analytical services collect and report information on an anonymous basis, they may use cookies to gather web trend information. The information gathered may enable Pearson (but not the third party web trend services) to link information with application and system log data. Pearson uses this information for system administration and to identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents, appropriately scale computing resources and otherwise support and deliver this site and its services.

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Do Not Track

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Security


Pearson uses appropriate physical, administrative and technical security measures to protect personal information from unauthorized access, use and disclosure.

Children


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Marketing


Pearson may send or direct marketing communications to users, provided that

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Pearson may provide personal information to a third party service provider on a restricted basis to provide marketing solely on behalf of Pearson or an affiliate or customer for whom Pearson is a service provider. Marketing preferences may be changed at any time.

Correcting/Updating Personal Information


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Sale of Personal Information


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While Pearson does not sell personal information, as defined in Nevada law, Nevada residents may email a request for no sale of their personal information to NevadaDesignatedRequest@pearson.com.

Supplemental Privacy Statement for California Residents


California residents should read our Supplemental privacy statement for California residents in conjunction with this Privacy Notice. The Supplemental privacy statement for California residents explains Pearson's commitment to comply with California law and applies to personal information of California residents collected in connection with this site and the Services.

Sharing and Disclosure


Pearson may disclose personal information, as follows:

  • As required by law.
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  • To investigate or address actual or suspected fraud or other illegal activities
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Links


This web site contains links to other sites. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of each and every web site that collects Personal Information. This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by this web site.

Requests and Contact


Please contact us about this Privacy Notice or if you have any requests or questions relating to the privacy of your personal information.

Changes to this Privacy Notice


We may revise this Privacy Notice through an updated posting. We will identify the effective date of the revision in the posting. Often, updates are made to provide greater clarity or to comply with changes in regulatory requirements. If the updates involve material changes to the collection, protection, use or disclosure of Personal Information, Pearson will provide notice of the change through a conspicuous notice on this site or other appropriate way. Continued use of the site after the effective date of a posted revision evidences acceptance. Please contact us if you have questions or concerns about the Privacy Notice or any objection to any revisions.

Last Update: November 17, 2020