Sarah Jane Cochrane-Ramsey, Australian Woman, Cons Nigerian Scammers Out Of $33,000

How does it feel when the tables are turned?

The Courier Mail in Australia reports that Sarah Jane Cochrane-Ramsey pleaded guilty last Thursday to one count of aggravated fraud for scamming Nigerian con artists out of $33,000.

Cochrane-Ramsey opened an Australian bank account that the Nigerians could use to funnel payments they got through their "dodgy account on a popular car sales website," according to the Courier Mail.

The terms of her arrangement with the con artists said that Cochrane-Ramsey was supposed to keep eight percent of all monies sent to the account, with the rest going back to the Nigerians. Instead, she kept the money for herself.

Slate points out that Cochrane-Ramsey denied knowing she was working for fraudsters, thereby "denying herself the defense that she was somehow attempting to give her fellow scammers a taste of their own medicine."

Nigeria's The Nation notes that Cochrane-Ramsey is not the first person to con Nigerian scofflaws.

In fact, "This American Life" produced a story in 2008 on a group of people who made a Nigerian scammer travel 1,400 miles in search of a promised cash reward.

Photo by Flickr user B Rosen.