Nigeria! Anyone know anything about doing business there??

Sandy Jasper · Post by **Sandy Jasper** » Wed Dec 22, 2004 1:56 pm

Hello!

Please drop me an email if you can help me with the finer details of dealing with stores in Nigeria. I have a really large order and am not sure of some of the details.

Thanks!

Sandy

Cayden · Post by **Cayden** » Wed Dec 22, 2004 1:59 pm

They offered to send a very large cheque as payment and asked you to refund them the surplus once you receive it?

jim stone · Post by **jim stone** » Wed Dec 22, 2004 2:00 pm

On the face of things, be careful.
I've had friends who lived there.

JessieD · Post by **JessieD** » Wed Dec 22, 2004 2:02 pm

http://419eater.com

deals with Nigerians all the time!

emmline · Post by **emmline** » Wed Dec 22, 2004 2:19 pm

I suppose you'd want to make sure the $ was in a real, recognizable bank before you sent anything, and don't provide any personal information.

PhilO · Post by **PhilO** » Wed Dec 22, 2004 2:49 pm

Sandy, if you're getting that funny little feeling in your stomache...be guided by it..walk away....walk away.

Philo

Daniel_Bingamon · Post by **Daniel_Bingamon** » Wed Dec 22, 2004 5:48 pm

I'd stay away from it. There is a Nigerian scam that targets small businesses in addition to the usual email scam.

Unseen122 · Post by **Unseen122** » Wed Dec 22, 2004 8:55 pm

I vote stay away unless you be really careful they like those scams over there.

Sandy Jasper · Post by **Sandy Jasper** » Thu Dec 23, 2004 1:26 am

Thanks everyone,

I am getting that feeling in my gut so I emailed him and re established my original boundarys. Hopefully all will work out in the end.

Don't you hate having to be so careful? I live in a small town where everyone is nice, I can leave the keys in the car, my videos on the car seat and 99% of the time they will both be there when I return.

Daniel, what are the small business scams you were talking about? I know about the usual "I am the wife of the late prince and need somewhere to stash $15 million..." But what is the one you are talking about?

Thanks again,

Sandy

s1m0n · Post by **s1m0n** » Thu Dec 23, 2004 2:48 am

The newest scam is to offer to offer to buy something for more than the asking price--to be paid by bank draught/cashier's check--while asking that the vendor refund the difference between the asking price and the face value of the paper.

Essentially, what you're being asked to do is to cash a cheque for a complete stranger.

However, the draught will invariably be forged. It typically takes longer than your bank's five day holding period for this to be determined, so if you wait for the check to clear and then send the money, you're not covered--when the draught is returned as a forgery, your bank WILL debit your account for the amount.

With today's desktop printing capacity, it is no trouble at all to produce a phony cheque which will pass superficial examination.

avanutria · Post by **avanutria** » Thu Dec 23, 2004 3:18 am

http://www.data-wales.co.uk/nigerian.htm

"The 'you are a lottery winner' is still their favourite approach but recently they have targeted small Web businesses, placing orders with stolen credit cards. Traders soon find that they are charged back by the card company, but only after they have sent goods to Victoria Island, Lagos, Nigeria, for example."

"Small business on the Web? Look out for mail like this, apparently from a store in Nigeria: 'Hello. I will like to make an inquiry on some of your products but firstly i will like to know, if you can be able to ship to nigeria,if you can i will like you to email me asap so that we can proceed with the transaction and also i will like you to include your website address. I will also like to know if you accept credit card as a method of payment. Waiting to read from you asap. Best regards.' Please do not fall for this one. Look out for names like 'kingsleystores', 'Dan Andrew', 'linda jones, fem shop', 'sandrabills4me', coupled with the typical anonymous e-mail address. Also: onas ventures in mushin area, Lagos, Seyila Ahmed (or Ahmeed)."

Charlene · Post by **Charlene** » Thu Dec 23, 2004 5:07 pm

Sandy - you might want to read this article at http://www.bankrate.com/dls/news/emoney ... erian1.asp and see what you avoided.

Merry Christmas!

Charlene

Kelhorn Mike · Post by **Kelhorn Mike** » Wed Dec 29, 2004 8:45 am

Hi Sandy,
They are most likey using stolen credit card numbers to pay for merchandise. Ask
them to pay via Bank Draft in Dollars (Canadian or USA) and you'll never hear
from them again. Sorry ass folks if you ask me.

Kelhorn Mike

Flyingcursor · Post by **Flyingcursor** » Wed Dec 29, 2004 9:49 am

It's too bad the whole country of Nigeria is getting a bad rep in international business because of a few scammers. I'd think it would hurt their relationships in exports but 89% of their export business is oil and that goes to the US and EC so it's not going to hurt at all.

JessieK · Post by **JessieK** » Wed Dec 29, 2004 9:53 am

Sandy, I am almost positive that this is fake. I have had MANY solicitations to buy jewelry from people wanting it to be shipped to Nigeria and paid by credit card. The credit card numbers are stolen. In Nigeria and in Indonesia, they actually manufacture credit cards with stolen numbers on them (they might say Citibank, but be MBNA numbers, for example). They are open credit ccard accounts that have not been used by the true account holders in years. The charges will go through, but you will be out the money and the merchandise (if you ship) when the credit card company checks into it. RUN away from this.