Florida Woman's Driveway Stolen As Part Of Nigerian Scam

A US woman has caught social media's attention after becoming an unwanted victim of a scam that originated in Nigeria, after she returned home to find her driveway ripped up and hauled away. In February earlier this year, Luz Lenzi came back to her house in Sanford, Florida, about 30 miles north of Orlando, to discover a pile of rubble where her driveway used to be, which she had got repaired for a minor crack a few weeks earlier.

According to police, someone posing as a representative of a real estate company hired a contractor to redo Lenzi's driveway. The job stopped abruptly when a $15,000 check meant to cover the work bounced. That check had been issued by a company called SOIL Realty LLC, listed in New Mexico, but investigators eventually traced it back to Nigeria.

"I didn't hire them, I didn't need to have my driveway redone," Lenzi was quoted as saying by News 6.

Police said the contractor never actually met the client and never filed a permit before starting the work. Investigators pieced together the scam's true origin by following bank transactions and Google records connected to an email address used in the deal, which led them to internet addresses in Nigeria.

"I said, Nigeria, like in Africa? And he said, yes," Lenzi said. "I said, how? I was shocked."

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'I Was A Loser'

It remains unclear exactly how the scammer stood to profit. Investigators suspect the goal may have been to extort money from the contractor. They also believe Lenzi's house was targeted because it was listed for sale at the time.

"I was a loser in the whole thing," Lenzi said.

The contractor initially refused to repair the driveway, arguing that the company itself had also been defrauded. Eventually, though, Lenzi said she was reimbursed for the cost of fixing it.