WARNING - Another Nigerian Printing Scam

[PositronicDave]

ATTENTION PRINT SALESMEN - SCAM WARNING

Hello All,

I got this email a few weeks ago and I've developed a correspondence with the fellow to draw him out a bit. I reproduce the entire exchange here to warn away others. These guys are slick, and only play stupid. Seller beware! I know companies personally who have fallen for this kind of stuff, and they've always been unable to recover anything once they do.

Don't be that guy...

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Daniel Owen ("godssfriend" at yahoo) wrote:
> Hello,
>
> We are photographic and small-scale printing company based in Nigeria. We are urgently looking for a digital printing firm to partner with us in printing of brochures for Akwa Ibom State Hotel and Tourism Board.
>
> We will supply the images and wordings;you will design and print. If you are interested to partner with us in this job ,please send us samples of your work so that we can attach to our proposal.I like the Renewable Energy Brochure,Committe on Women Population and the Environment.
>
> I look forward to your co-operation and timely response.
>
> Yours sincerely,
>
> Daniel Owen
> President.
>
> Conrad Sales & Marketing Company
> Suite 1-Multicam Building
> 8 Nwaniba Road
> Uyo 52001
> Nigeria

------------------------------
To which I replied:

From: David Caputo
Subject: Re: JOB: PRINTING OF BROCHURES
To: "Daniel Owen"
Date: Tuesday, August 18, 2009, 3:04 AM

Are these brochures to be distributed in the US?

Please advise. Thanks.

DC

----------
And got the following response:


Daniel Owen wrote:
> Hi David,
>
> Thanks for contacting me. The brochures will be circulated internatinally and not specifically US. High quality prints is therefore what is expected! Copies may run into million(s).
>
> I hope we can work together. Please send your sample works to reach me by next week.
>
> Best rergards,
> Daniel Owen

---------------------
To which I replied:

From: David Caputo
Subject: Re: JOB: PRINTING OF BROCHURES
To: "Daniel Owen"
Date: Sunday, August 23, 2009, 9:15 PM

Hello Daniel,

I can find no references for Conrad Sales & Marketing Company at the address you list.

Does your company have a web site?

Do you have any operations currently in the USA?

"Copies may run into million(s)" does not impress me, rather makes me more suspicious.

No offense, but Nigeria is the international poster child for internet scams.

Your email address does nothing to dissuade me from this concern, rather it intensifies it.

What evidence do you have of your legitimacy?

Please advise. Thank you.

David Caputo
Positronic Design

---------------------------
And I got back the following:

Daniel Owen wrote:
> Hello David,
>
> Your email is funny. Scamers are everywhere but very unfortuntately,I am not one of them even when you cannot find my details online! Thanks anyway
>
> Daniel.

-------------------------
To which I replied:

Hello Daniel,

"Scammers" has two "m"s in it.

And you say it is unfortunate that you are not one of them. Really?

Also, if you're making "Millions" of copies, why on earth would you want to use a digital press?

They are much more expensive than offset presses if you're making a lot of copies.

Does "Conrad Sales & Marketing Company" have a web site?

You mock me but offer no answer to my questions.

Nice try. I'll be forwarding our correspondence to the proper authorities and post about it online.

Try getting a real job.

David Caputo
PositronicDesign.com

------------------------------
So that's where it stands for now. Beware of this or similar variations. Never take an order from overseas unless you know the person yourself or have some other REAL evidence of their legitimacy. Don't hesitate to be curious. The legit will understand, the bogus will protest, and that will prove who they are, as the above clearly demonstrates.

[cmitchprint]

So, what is the angle? It sounds as if they send you the 'job', you print it and they send you a 'check' for the amount of the job PLUS a bit extra to wire to their 'partner' who will pick it up and ship it for them. Of course, the shipping charges go straight into their account, their 'partner' never shows up to pick up the job plus the check you cashed bounces leaving you stuck with the couple hundred you wired to the 'partner'. Close?

[Heather]

We get a lot of those scammer emails, and even had a few TTY/TDD relay calls that were scammish. The phone calls are a lot more annoying because they take up our time. The emails are usually obvious and we can respond if and when we'd like to. We're a small print shop and when they want us to print 50000 banners that just say "Save the children" we can usually tell it's a scam. It's usually for huge quantities and something really simple and religious or about children, I guess to play on your emotions and make you think "they want to save the children, they're not bad!" And then they want you to ship it somewhere far away, like Africa. Which always makes us think, then why did they call our tiny print shop in Southeast Georgia?? They almost always have poor spelling and punctuation and 90% of them are from Reverend so and so. Be careful and be smart.

[CMCRhonda]

We had a similar scam - the artwork was Jesus on the Cross, some sort of revival thing, and the scam was, I'm sure, going to involve the "pick up" of the printed pieces - had to use their freight company, etc. And of course, the flyers had to be printed right away for an event. When we looked closer at the email address, it had also been used in multiple other scams, including wives for hire lol. Glad the AM didn't get "rushed" into printing this...

[rbailleu]

has anyone ever fallen for this. I know people still get taken on the original president of nigeria needs to put $20 mill in a us bank. but what printer would print these silly flyers with out question.

[Mark H]

These things are old as the Internet, and unfortunately consumers and businesses get stung by these EVERY DAY still...

The scam is simple - he gets you hooked on the idea of a large sale. Submits basic language and graphics, some large numbers and sets ridiculously short turn around. You reply that you can't do the job without some cash in-hand for supplies and he says "sure, no problem. just give me your bank info so I can wire it right in...." Of course, the info he asks for includes account numbers, social security or EIN numbers, passwords, etc and he strips the account clean....

Mark H

[claude72]

Try getting a real job.

Hey, guys, let's be lucid and realistic: there is no job in Africa!!!

Today, and since more than hundred years, we steal all the ressources of Africa: oil, of course, but also bauxite, nickel, diamonds, and many other mining ressources... and we buy local production of exotic fruits and other vegetables at such a low price that the population is starving...

* saying "we", I mean north-american/USA and european people and companies, because my country is as involved than yours in the ruining and pillaging of Africa...

... so, it's sad to see that today scamming has become a real job in some african's countries, mainly as a way to get money, but also as a way for Africans to revenge on Europeans and North-Americans thieves... and scammers have now become local heroes, like Robin Hood who steals the riches to give back to the poors... and each time they succeed a good "deal", they make a feast to celebrate the revenge of Africa!!!

Again, let's be lucid and realistic and see the world as it is really today: WE are the thieves, and Africans only try to get back a very little part of what we have stollen and still steal to them.


Edit:

They almost always have poor spelling and punctuation

You know why? because english is not the native language of all people on the earth...
... and because in some countries of Africa most children don't go to school, because there is no school, because their is no money for school, and they even cannot learn reading, writing and spelling their own language, so they surely cannot learn english...

... but perhaps that all african children will have the possibility to go to school and learn good english spelling when the USA and Europe will stop to pillage Africa and will pay oil and all other goods at their real value!

[Mark H]

I'm sorry, maybe I misunderstood your post. But I *thought* you just said that it was not only okay, but actually justifiable to rip someone off if you feel you've been wronged? Not only that, but you can rip off anyone you want - not just the person or entity who wronged you.

Did I get that right?

Really?

So, if customer A doesn't pay for their work I can prebill customer B and not deliver their order and can call it even...

Mark H

[claude72]

I'm sorry, maybe I misunderstood your post. But I *thought* you just said that it was not only okay, but actually justifiable to rip someone off if you feel you've been wronged?

First, Africa has been and is still wronged: it's not a feeling, it's an economic reality.

Second, I didn't said neither "it's OK" nor it is "justifiable", I just explain to you WHY it happens.

Third, in France, we have a proverb that says "who sows the wind, will harvest the storm": it means that whatever our bad actions are, one day or another we will have to pay for them: simply don't be amazed to have to pay.
We (Americans and Europeans) have sown the wind of slavery, poverty and stealing in Africa, now we collect the storm of the revenge...

So, if customer A doesn't pay for their work I can prebill customer B and not deliver their order and can call it even...

No, you don't understand: there is not two different customers... you have to think more globally: in that economical revenge, North-Americans and North-Europeans (mainly the countries that had colonies in Africa: France, Belgium, Germany and other...) are considered as only one commercial entity that threw Africa in poverty... we are all responsable, we all take profit of pillaging Africa...
... so no matter if it is you, or me, or another printer living in USA or in France, or in Germany, or somewhere else, or somebody else: you live in USA, I live in France, we both have got profit stealed from Africa, so they want make us pay for that.

Using your example, the comparison could be: if a customer doesn't pay you, revenge by stealing somebody of his family, or somebody in the same village... you understand?

[gordo]

We (Americans and Europeans) have sown the wind of slavery, poverty and stealing in Africa, now we collect the storm of the revenge...

You make the scammers appear noble.
Slavery existed in Africa before the Europeans and before the Americans.
Slavery continues to exist within Africa today despite the abolishment, well over a century ago, of slavery in Europe and the US. For example, in Mauritania, Arab Muslims can own black slaves and it is estimated that some 600,000 black Mauritanians, or 20% of the population, are enslaved. As for Nigeria, at least one million Nigerian children are sold into internal and external slavery annually, according to experts. This has put the country on an odious list of the world’s eight worst abusers of the rights of children.
The governments of some of the countries in Africa appear to be able to afford to buy military equipment but not food for their people.
Exploitation of one group of people or their resources by another, in one form or another, is not exclusive to Europe or the Americas - it's a pretty well universal activity that's been around since prehistory.
Nigerian scammers are not doing anything for revenge. They are doing it for the money. They are criminals pure and simple.

best, gordon p

PS I'm not sure why the Nigerian scammers have so many spelling mistakes in their emails - after all, English is Nigeria's official language and the software they use has spelling checkers.