Is a buyer’s deposit in an unconsummated real estate transaction refundable? As you may have guessed, it depends, though a recent court decision returned a “non-refundable” deposit to a buyer.

While many victims of the so-called “Nigerian e-mail scam” would be too embarrassed to trumpet that fact, others end up infamous for their victimhood like the appellant in a published opinion of the California Court of Appeal in Riverside. Also known as an advance-fee fraud, the Nigerian scam baits the victim with an advance sum [...]