Every day, trillions of dollars transact among countries in the world, in the forms of trade, investments and various other transactions. Mostly are legitimate businesses that work hard to satisfy the needs of their consumers. Unfortunately, there are also unsavory scam artists that try to rip off the very businesses that intend to do business the right way.
Business scams artists operate from all around the world but the most notorious group of scam artists are from Nigeria. They are not notorious because of their ingenuity but more for the sheer number of con artists that originate from the country of Nigeria. These Nigerian scam artists give a bad name to their country.
I actually would like to recount a recent experience our company had with one of these scammers. They initially contacted our company to inquire about our wooden door products and asked for some catalogs to browse through our designs. Despite the notorious reputation of the country, we proceeded to quote them. That’s business as usual. Now having obliged them with a quotation on a standard model, they proceeded to select a design rather quickly.
Soon they have decided to order a substantial quantity from us worth USD400, 000. It is not too big to be uncommon and big enough to entice you to pay some measure of attention to them. So with adequate attention, it is natural that we notice some strange aspects in the deal.
Firstly, the measurements and specifications they select are not practical and the cost would be much higher than the quote we sent to them earlier on based on a standard design. Naturally, we replied to them regarding the matter with a more practical recommendation of our own. Without ANY hesitation, they agreed to it.
Secondly, this is even more interesting. The recommended design is actually cheaper than the one in the quote we sent them. Before we can update them with a new quotation, they emailed very quickly to confirm an order with the quantity worth USD400, 000. At this point, we were 99% sure it was a con job, but for the sake of an interesting experience, why not take this a little further just to see how deep the rabbit hole goes?
So faced with the prospect of higher but imaginary margins and quantity, we prepared the necessary documentations they required and emailed to them. Very soon, the day to transact the money dawned. We had the feeling that this was too easy and as we expected, it came with a catch.
They needed a certificate known as the Anti Drug Fund Certificate. Once the certificate is available, the government will permit the bank to transact the money to us. According to them, the certificate is available to us via a government body in Nigeria. They even had someone called us up, pretending to be a representative from their bank to inform us of the need of the certificate. Upon contacting the supposed government body, it replied to us with a jpeg picture resembling a certificate made from shoddy ms paint job. At the bottom of the picture, was bolded letters to remit USD2, 500 to them while returning the filled form.
So all this trouble for the sum of USD2, 500! Basically, USD2, 500 is not a huge sum compared to the prospect of having USD400, 000 transferred to you immediately after that. Plus it’s refundable according to them! So naturally, we played with them a little before ending contact with them for good.
Basically, the ploy is quite straightforward and anyone in their mind will not fall for them. However, the reasons the scams still get quite a number of people are because of the greed that blinded them of their ability for logical reasoning. A final word of advice, is that scammers can operate from anywhere around the world and it is not only limited to glorious Nigeria!