'Nigerian Scammer' Nearly Auctioned Off Elvis's Graceland!
A Nigerian Internet scammer has taken credit for creating a hoax that nearly auctioned off Elvis Presley's famed Graceland mansion!
That's right. No longer do we have to be worried about a random message from an AOL.com email address pleading for $5,000 because a Nigerian princess wants to meet you, but now they're going after one of music's most iconic historic landmarks.
The drama all happened last week when out of nowhere it was claimed that Elvis's daughter, Lisa Marie Presley, had previously put up Graceland as a form of collateral for a $3.8 million loan that she needed in 2018. After Lisa Marie's death, Elvis's granddaughter Riley Keough was informed of her mother's alleged debt and that Graceland would be auctioned off - an experience that she says left her ‘traumatized.'
Elvis Presley's Graceland mansion was nearly auctioned off before a judge halted the proceedings due to irregularities. (Photo credit should read MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)
IT WAS ALL A SCAM
A company called Naussany Investments & Private Lending LLC claimed the right to auction the 14-acre property that averages over 500,000 annual visitors. However, Keough and Lisa Marie's eldest daughter filed a counter-suit claiming that Lisa Marie's signature was a forgery, and that the company itself was a ‘false entity' that was created to defraud the Graceland estate.
Fortunately, the judge issued a halt to the legal proceedings as he found some irregularities in Naussany Investments paperwork.
… Turns out, he was right as a day later the filing was withdrawn - with the entire ordeal appearing to be an elaborate hoax!
In an email to the New York Times from one of the emails associated with Naussany Investments filings, a person claiming to be a Nigerian ‘Identity Thief’ took credit for being the ring leader of a group of ‘worms’ that are set up throughout the United States. Speaking between both English and Luganda - which is a Bantu language spoken in Uganda, the hoaxer explained his motives behind the Graceland stunt.
Graceland annually sees over half a million visitors. (Photo by Brad Vest/Getty Images)
GRACELAND REMAINS WITH PRESLEY FAMILY
"We figure out how to steal, that's what we do. I had fun figuring this one out, and it didn’t succeed very well," the author of the email told the Times. He then went on to explain how the ‘Identity Ring… preys on the dead, the unsuspecting and the elderly,' while using birth and death certificates and other personal information to help pull off their schemes.
Fortunately for Riley Keough, who inherited the Presley estate after Lisa Marie's death in January 2023, the plot was revealed before any major damage was done.
But that doesn't mean she wasn't all shook up.