Advance Fee Fraud: How Not To Be A Victim
I didn’t want to blog about this, but another attempt on the evening of the same day made the urge stronger! What happened?
On Friday last week, I woke up late. At a few minutes to 7.00am, I received a call. It was Charles. Purportedly an “unknown” colleague at the University of Ibadan who, by his own unsolicited admission, is now the Head of Maintenance at an unmentioned oil company in Port Harcourt. He called me by my name and put me on the defence by accusing me of having lost his number!
What did Charles want? Charles used to be the Procurement Officer at the "yet to be mentioned" oil company and now the person who succeeded him wants him to give him the contact for his usual suppliers of some “undisclosed” items. According to him, he makes around 80,000 Naira (€380) on each of the items. And at each point, the “oil company” procures about 50 units of that item. He doesn’t want his successor at the lucrative Procurement Office, to know his supply source and the difference between the real cost and the price he sells to the "company". So he needs me to front as the importer of the said item (that I was yet to know its name or what it is actually used for).
“I just need someone that I can trust,” he pleaded gustily. “We will now share the proceeds after the deal has been done. I will be very happy if you will do this for me.” The word "trust" struck me as odd because I wasn't still quite sure who he was and he trusted me already. I wasn't even sure I could trust him, and he trusted me already. If anyone should be afraid it should be him because it is his money. But he wasn't! I needed money too and his offer was just too good to be true. That is the first sign. When it's too good to be true and it's coming from an acquaintance you hardly remember, watch it!
Now, I have talked about these crazy characters on my blog before with the title "Na Me You Wan Do Wayo." Then, I have not experienced this kind of direct assault on my intellect. I call it an assault because I was still grappling with identification of this so-called Charles, and in an unrelenting manner was bombarding me with numerous information that were so confusing by their not really being mentioned. It sounds crazy but that is exactly how it felt. Someone telling you so much in so short a time that you forget that you are not being told anything at all.
I told Charles I will help him. The offer was too attractive. And for some of us who are church people, we can make a testimony out of it and call it a miracle from God.
Charles then told me to get pen and paper in order to get the address of his supplier in Asaba, Delta State in the south of Nigeria. I was going to do that and already had the materials in a jiffy when he told me to call him back. I could decipher from his tone that this was someone who doesn't make calls for more than a few minutes due to cost. Even in my present state, I may not be as rich as he pretended to be, but I am not that phone credit conscious when I make calls even international ones.
So, he hurriedly rang off. I did place a call immediately. But not to him. It was to someone I remember being at Ibadan with and he confirmed the Charles's we knew back then: one is in Europe now and the other is teaching at a higher institution. None is in any oil company. So I didn't return his call till date. Probably, he has taken his malicious good fortune to a more gullible fellow.
That same evening my wife received an SMS that her phone number has been selected by Nokia for a whooping 10,000 Pounds Sterling. We didn't even bother reading it a second time.
How not to be a victim: DO NOT BE GREEDY! No one can swindle you without your consent.
On Friday last week, I woke up late. At a few minutes to 7.00am, I received a call. It was Charles. Purportedly an “unknown” colleague at the University of Ibadan who, by his own unsolicited admission, is now the Head of Maintenance at an unmentioned oil company in Port Harcourt. He called me by my name and put me on the defence by accusing me of having lost his number!
What did Charles want? Charles used to be the Procurement Officer at the "yet to be mentioned" oil company and now the person who succeeded him wants him to give him the contact for his usual suppliers of some “undisclosed” items. According to him, he makes around 80,000 Naira (€380) on each of the items. And at each point, the “oil company” procures about 50 units of that item. He doesn’t want his successor at the lucrative Procurement Office, to know his supply source and the difference between the real cost and the price he sells to the "company". So he needs me to front as the importer of the said item (that I was yet to know its name or what it is actually used for).
“I just need someone that I can trust,” he pleaded gustily. “We will now share the proceeds after the deal has been done. I will be very happy if you will do this for me.” The word "trust" struck me as odd because I wasn't still quite sure who he was and he trusted me already. I wasn't even sure I could trust him, and he trusted me already. If anyone should be afraid it should be him because it is his money. But he wasn't! I needed money too and his offer was just too good to be true. That is the first sign. When it's too good to be true and it's coming from an acquaintance you hardly remember, watch it!
Now, I have talked about these crazy characters on my blog before with the title "Na Me You Wan Do Wayo." Then, I have not experienced this kind of direct assault on my intellect. I call it an assault because I was still grappling with identification of this so-called Charles, and in an unrelenting manner was bombarding me with numerous information that were so confusing by their not really being mentioned. It sounds crazy but that is exactly how it felt. Someone telling you so much in so short a time that you forget that you are not being told anything at all.
I told Charles I will help him. The offer was too attractive. And for some of us who are church people, we can make a testimony out of it and call it a miracle from God.
Charles then told me to get pen and paper in order to get the address of his supplier in Asaba, Delta State in the south of Nigeria. I was going to do that and already had the materials in a jiffy when he told me to call him back. I could decipher from his tone that this was someone who doesn't make calls for more than a few minutes due to cost. Even in my present state, I may not be as rich as he pretended to be, but I am not that phone credit conscious when I make calls even international ones.
So, he hurriedly rang off. I did place a call immediately. But not to him. It was to someone I remember being at Ibadan with and he confirmed the Charles's we knew back then: one is in Europe now and the other is teaching at a higher institution. None is in any oil company. So I didn't return his call till date. Probably, he has taken his malicious good fortune to a more gullible fellow.
That same evening my wife received an SMS that her phone number has been selected by Nokia for a whooping 10,000 Pounds Sterling. We didn't even bother reading it a second time.
How not to be a victim: DO NOT BE GREEDY! No one can swindle you without your consent.
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