Nigerian accomodation scam

[jacqui50www.davealexander.co.uk]

Hello

A friend of mine owns a very good B&B in the Charente, and had the following enquiry sent to her;
==============
I am Mr Jeffer Mindo of Brighthall(coral) Agency,London .I need to book
reservation for a christian organisation from London coming for a
Christian summit on the 10th of DEC to the 20th of DEC. Get back to me if
the dates mentioned above are free,so that we can book reservations
immediately.Thank you and have a nice day.

Kind Regards,
Jeffer Mindo
+447031930884
=================
He then follows up with a reply to a further response with;
=================
Thanks for your reply and assistance so far .I am glad to tell you
that we have concluded payment with the delegates.

However, we are going to send you the Credit Card Information first
thing tomorrow morning that will cover the cost of your accommodation,
and the necessary arrangement for the delegates.

Moreover, we also made an arrangement with a pre paid car-hiring
firm who will supply the delegates with cars they will use during their
stay, but because of security reasons and confidentiality, we have decided that only one person will have to handle the credit card information.

So once you are in receipt of it, you are required to charge the
credit card, confirm the amount of (6,000 EURO), in your account then deduct the cost of your services 3,050 EURO and send 2,950 EURO via Money Gram Transfer, to the car hiring agent whose information will be forwarded to you once this is confirmed.

So confirm this and provide me with your (1) YOUR FULL NAME (2)
ADDRESS (3) PHONE NUMBERS for office records.

Please remember that the integrity of our agency is involved, so
this business requires prompt response. I also hope the stay of the
delegates will be made comfortable.

Kind Regards,
Jeffer Mindo
===============

This has turned out to to be a scam, the organisation does not exist, and the email comes from Nigeria.

Thanks to the Technical support people at BNB Choices ( www.bnbchoices.com ) our friend has not been caught up in this and they have have advised her;

"That it's a typical Nigerian email and scam, not to respond and to avoid all contact now with these people.

If your web site is able to accept PHP code and a MySQL database, then you might want to consider using a site we've recently launched called www.nigerian-ip-addresses.com.

This web site provides a service which will block more than 110,000 known IP addresses from Nigeria. As a result, Nigerians that use one of these IP addresses won't be able to use your web site thus preventing such a problem.

Hope this helps other in a similar position

[Alcazar]

THIS IS NOT A RACIST POST!!!

What IS it with  some Nigerians? How come 90% of these scams originate there? Are they just criminal? Or do they think the rest of us are thick?

Alcazar

[Deimos]

There are so many of these things going around and they are all so “blindingly obvious”, I wonder if there should be a separate forum area for such posts (e.g. for people with rental accommodation).

[Miki]

[quote]There are so many of these things going around and they are all so “blindingly obvious”, I wonder if there should be a separate forum area for such posts (e.g. for people with rental accommodation).[/quote]

Ah....but they are blindingly obvious.........only to those of us who have experience of such things by being sent one and finding out is was a scam or reading about them somewhere.

What is it that Chris Tarrant says on Millionaire, "They are only easy if you know the answer"!(or something similar as we does not wotch it guv)

Seriously, imagine that you have just opened a B&B, Gîte or whatever, you have not long had email facility or indeed a website perhaps (made for you by someone able to do so, as you do not even know azerty from berty) then you get a very interesting email, offering you the chance to earn some nice money from a good looking booking, what are you going to do and remember, you have not got a clue what an internet scam actually is ?

Well let's be honest, many will try and convert it into a booking until the penny (euro ?) finally drops, then that person then joins the legions of us that can smell scams a mile off.

In other words they become obvious once you have either read about it all(on here for instance but not all who have this kind of business here, will read any of the French forums) or get stung in some way for the first time.

[Deimos]

In these days of people trying to separate you from your money by pretty well most means I would have thought such an un-necessary convoluted story pretty obvious to anybody with an “ounce of savy” (anybody with any sort of business awareness).

It really is a bit like the days when every couple of days you get a warning about this that or the other virus – yet all you have to do to avoid them is to behave sensible with your computer/e-mail. One does not need a e-mail every couple of days.

However, if they are useful to people, why not create a “Gites” or maybe a “B&B” area of the forum where they can be seen by those who they affect (some people who may not look regularly in “The Postbag” as I guess not everybody looks in all areas of the forum).

Ian

[jacqui50www.davealexander.co.uk]

Actually I was hoping that this would be useful to Gite owners, I didn't want to start a smug dialogue about how obvious it is. I don't think I'll bother in the future.

There are two reasons we posted this, firstly to alert those who are unaware of this sort of scam and secondly to let people know that there is a web-site available to web-site owners enabling them to block this type of  fraud.

As mentioned before, the advice given to our friend was; If your web site is able to accept PHP code and a MySQL database, then you might want to consider using a site recently launched called www.nigerian-ip-addresses.com.

This web site provides a service which will block more than 110,000 known IP addresses from Nigeria. As a result, Nigerians that use one of these IP addresses won't be able to use your web site thus preventing such a problem.

Thats' all.

[Miki]

"...In these days of people trying to separate you from your money by pretty well most means I would have thought such an un-necessary convoluted story pretty obvious to anybody with an “ounce of savy” (anybody with any sort of business awareness)."

Oh how wonderful it must be to be so terribly clever !

So these scams exist just for fun do they ? They are about, as they do work, albeit no doubt, on rare occasions and to put anyone who falls for one of them as not having "an ounce of savvy" is a little bit rich. Does everyone have to be privy to your high (or low intelligence) then, or can people be allowed by berth ot whatever reason, to have a little less intelligence, or as you put it, simply have no savvy.

Stings (or scams, these days) have operated for many many years, and believe me, far more intelligent people than you (or I) have been conned and I am afraid they work best on people with your outlook, that one could never be conned than on anyone else. Bluntly, they mostly work on the greed principle and how many people do not have that gene in their armoury eh ?

Don't judge all by your intelligence, that is to show that we are no more than robots and there are no individual, higher or lower intellect minds amongst us.

Ever read or listened to some French who wish to reserve a place ? They can be very long and convoluted, believe me, now should I, with my experience, simply put it down as a con or know that is how some bookings can be ? You don't know ? well there you go then !

[Penny29]

Hi,

The original poster should be applauded for putting this on the board. Please, forget the smug "blindingly obvious" comments from the Poster above (who would have been better keeping their mouth shut on the subject), I think it's very important that websites continually broadcast warnings to their membership.

If anyone wants more information check out the FAQs on this website:  http://www.419eater.com/ they give facts and figures on how many people are taken in by these scams - if victims weren't plentiful then these scammers would not continue to exist would they?

 

[Miki]

".....if victims weren't plentiful then these scammers would not continue to exist would they?"

Send us a tenner Penny and I'll let you know the answer

Trust me

[Penny29]

Hi Miki,

I'll do better than that - I'll send you a cheque for £100,000,000 & all you have to do is send £400 of this onwards to my friend (naturally by Moneygramm or Western Union, certainly NOT by cheque!) in Lagos/Sarajevo/Moscow/Amsterdam !

You can phone me to confirm his - I believe you have my Beanz-Meanz-Heinz phone number.

Trust me also

 

 

 

 

[Miki]

Cor fank you kindlee Penny !

Money on its way, just send me a grand in readies, to help smooth the deal you understand and when I get your cheque, I'll send your mate the £400 plus you the grand and a bit more for yourself. There can't be fairer to each other that that, can we

P.S Yes still got your bean can number, mines changed now, to the Crosswell network but will send it with the £1000 (and a bit !).

[The Riff-Raff Element]

It is worth posting on these scams occasionally, just to keep people up to date and to inform those who are new to them.

Many of course do arise out of West Africa, mostly because of the widspread belief there that Europeans are all incredibly wealthy (in relative terms I suppose that we are) and that this kind of activity is therefore justified as a redistribution of wealth. Ahem.

I'm not sure that blocking IP addresses from Nigeria is necessarily an answer. After all, fraud and spam are so widespread and to block every "suspect" IP address would probably reduce e-mail enquiries to zero.

Having had the dubious pleasure of having tried to do legitimate business in that part of the World, I should point out that formal written English is frequently couched in the somewhat unfamiliar terms that is typical of "scam" emails. Being an optimist, I always progress these enquiries until they ask for overpayment / refund in the (probably vain) hope that one day one might actually turn out to be real, I hit a mother load of evangelical church business, become rich as a result and can finally buy the Renault 4TL of my dreams (pale dog-poo colour, previously owned by nuns, regularly serviced and with 30,000 km on the clock).

[Deimos]

Quote [Penny29]: who would have been better keeping their mouth shut on the subject

Thank Penny29. IMHO, people in business need a little “savy”. The three identical posts in different areas of the forum (within 3 minutes of each other), just clogs things up. It is like the old e-mailed virus warning days. Fine, people are quite welcome to post what they want, but maybe a “Gites” or “Accommodation” section is more relevant (which was actually my point if you read before criticising). Absolutely nothing whatsoever smug about my comments – just suggesting that something relevant to people renting gites and accommodation might be read by a more relevant audience in e.g. the Gites thread (one of the few threads in the forum the post did not appear in).

In France we do not all run gites – some have other interests and business activities.

Basically Penny29, my impression is that the post is one of specific people with specific business activities. The “Postbag” is a “General discussion” area – so why not post things to relevant threads and not to irrelevant threads (e.g. if it is in the Postbag thread, why not in e.g. the Pets threads as well as some people with Pets might be new to the B&B business).

So now I’m being to and getting the Oh how wonderful it must be to be so terribly clever comments. And all I suggested was that this is not a “mad panic” type of thing and that there are relevant thread for these (if people feel they may be victims).

Ian

[Teamedup]

Deimos the nigerian scam thing is not limited to giter people. A friend of mine (french in France) received a snail mail letter some years ago, and it was a nigerian scam.

So maybe everyone should be warned.

[Lyndap]

[quote]THIS IS NOT A RACIST POST!!! What IS it with some Nigerians? How come 90% of these scams originate there? Are they just criminal? Or do they think the rest of us are thick? Alcazar[/quote]

Apparently they have special schools in Nigeria to teach Fraud and various scams, or so I was told by the fraud dept of the Credit Card bank I used to work for.

They make loads of fraudulent credit card applications by setting up fraud rings within the Post Office and then they intercept Credit Card mailings, make their applications, and pick up the credit cards when they are sent out in the post!

Lynda

 

 

[Miki]

[quote]Quote [Penny29]: who would have been better keeping their mouth shut on the subject Thank Penny29. IMHO, people in business need a little “savy”. The three identical posts in different areas of the...[/quote]

"....And all I suggested was that this is not a “mad panic”"

Ian,

Do at least have the courage to admit to more than that. You were taking a more than critical pop at "less savvy" people, supposedly less clever than yourself. So for goodness sake, do stop trying to worm out of it and post all over the forums repeating what has been said about you.

You were trying to be a clever dickie and you really ain't coming out as such, so climb down and forget it. You have had your bottom slapped now grow up.......You've already said how terrible another forum was, so please, try not to make it two !

Where people wish to post is up to them, we have "policemen" on here already, you could ask to join them and ask to be Thread controller !! The Post Bag is normally the best place of all, as most members read it, nothing wrong with putting a post on one or two places, it is prtetty common. And as TU rightly says, it is not just gîte people that receive these emails.

[Alcazar]

[quote]Apparently they have special schools in Nigeria to teach Fraud and various scams, or so I was told by the fraud dept of the Credit Card bank I used to work for. They make loads of fraudulent credit c...[/quote]

Really? Or are you just revving me up?

Alcazar

[Deimos]

Quote [Miki]: … and post all over the forums repeating what has been said about you

I only posted a couple of comment directed at me in one other thread because somebody posted a comment along the same lines as my (apparently) controversial “blindingly obvious” comment. It was actually the same thread as this one but in a different forum area. I think that posting in one other thread when relevant is not quite “all over the forums”. But them why let a “good dig be” restricted by …

As you say this is a free forum and people can post how and where they want. Thank you for “the bottom slapping” – though wonder why you (as a controller maybe) feel the need to “dish-out” bottom slappings.

I made a one line comment (and one virtually identical to one made by another forum member in a different/identical thread), yet people jump on me, “slapping my bottom”. I fail to see why I would want to convince anybody I am a “clever dickie” – gave up the urge to do such things to people I knew many years ago and certainly no interest when I don’t know people as it makes no difference what you think of me.

If people don’t like a comment they can always ignore it – or make a big deal of it.

I’m going to give up on this thread now because people are starting to exaggerate what I said and my intention so they can have a good dig. Fine – could not give a monkeys, dig away all you like. Also, clearly my intellect is inadequate for these things (plus I would not want to upset others further).

Ian

[Miki]

Ian,

Sorry but is becoming apparent to me, as to why you left the other forum. You have posted in such an arrogant way about people with no savvy and have tried (badly) to defend that by going on the offensive, in such a pathetic manner. Sorry but that won't wash. Get out of your short trousers and mature up a bit.

"I made a one line comment (and one virtually identical to one made by another forum member in a different/identical thread), yet people jump on me.."

Now the whingeing starts. Put your shorts back on, it's more in keeping !

"....If people don’t like a comment they can always ignore it – or make a big deal of it"

Haven't you just eh ! You were totally out of order and are simply too small to admit it.

"....I’m going to give up on this thread now because people are starting to exaggerate what I said and my intention so they can have a good dig"

Mmm we shall see !

No exaggeration at all but accusing people of having no savvy, then going on to defend it, in such a ridiculous way, is indefensible though.

[Lyndap]

[quote]Really? Or are you just revving me up? Alcazar[/quote]

Really! Probably a bit like the pick pocket school in Oliver Twist!

Lynda

[Dick Smith]

I did a Google on this and it seems to be true:

"From a member of the Nigerian Police Force Special Fraud Unit

we have received hardopy of an article published in the Nigerian

news magazine The News 16 OCT 2000 issue. The title is "Route

419 To Organised Crime" by Peter Lilley, and the piece is excerpted

from his new book "Rip Off: The Global Fraud Explosion & How To

Survive It."

The article gives a good overview of the magnitude and variety

of Nigerian 419 operations. Among other things, it maintains that

Nigerian 419ers infiltrate business and even governmental organisatons

worldwide in order "to acquire inside information from banks, local

authorities, benefit agencies, and anywhere else where money can

be obtained through fraud."

Mr. Lilley also states that "The really serious and alarming facet of

the Nigerians' operations is that they are, contrary to popular belief,

highly organised on a global scale. They operate a complicated cell

structure -- like that untilized by terrorist organizations such as the IRA.

It is now accepted as fact, rather than apocryphal, that there are

professional fraud schools operating in Lagos and major Western

cities which train new recruits. These schools also issue a manual

showing how to commit fraud, one example of which I have seen."

Just because it's on the internet it isn't necessarily true, but it seems well attested.

Web reference : http://home.rica.net/alphae/419coal/news2000.htm

[Quillan]

First - I agree with the other poster that the original post was good in the fact that it bought this to everyones attention.

Secondly - There are THREE (as I have been corrected) other posts about scams and I see no reason why this was not posted in one of these but thats just me and NO offence was intended to the originator.

Thirdly - Having these sort of posts about scams in one place is a good idea and I shall go through the other threads and copy the scams in to a post in the FAQ section. If anyone has a email thats not in the list they can add it there (it will be checked first my the Mod's). That way we can have all this information in one place.

Fourthly - In the case of most Gite and B&B owners we all seem to get hit at some time or another with these sort of emails. It's difficult to say how but you develop a sixth sense about them and can (99% of the time) spot them a mile off. In fact many of us get fed up with them which is probably why some people made glib comments although I am sure they did not mean to offend.

And Finally a general forum comment. - If somebody is not happy with a post made by a fellow member they can either discuss it via PM's or PM one of the moderators. Carrying on these altercations in a public forum is not professional and does actually contravene the C of C as it detracts from the original post.

[Simon]

More dangerous than these scams is the phishing done by those posing as being from eBay or Paypal. These can look absolutely genuine, I had one the other day from Paypal saying that the watch I'd supposedly ordered from the states had been successfully paid for and the $350 was on its way to the vendor. There was small print at the bottom saying if I thought there was a problem with the transaction to click here and log it within the Paypal system. If you do that then you get taken to a website that looks just as it should, you log into your account, thus giving the dummy website all your security details.

I forwarded it to Paypal for their action.

My tip is if you get an email from eBay or Paypal then use your normal favourite link to open the login screen, never use the one on an email. I do this even of I think the email is genuine.

These pray upon peoples' paranoia about using the internet for purchases, I was concerned about the watch I had not ordered, and I did visit the Paypal site to check that the transaction was a myth, which it was.

Regards

Simon

[Russethouse]

One tip with paypal is that if they email you they ALWAYS use your name -

[Miki]

"...Carrying on these altercations in a public forum is not professional"

What ! and who are the professionals on here, when it comes to posting, never heard of such a person, what's the pay like ?

Many, if not most, surely would not claim or intend to be a "professional" and as the saying goes "Let he who hath not sinned cast the first stone" It is certainly not unknown, not by a long chalk for one or two of the Mods to have altercations, now that is unprofessional...or is it ?

If you want to give me a schoolboy ticking off, do it privately or forget it !