# Nigerian Scam **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 10, 2001, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nigerian-scam/86526 "2001-10-10T05:25:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![NiceGuyJack](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/niceguyjack/32/3069_2.png) [@NiceGuyJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NiceGuyJack)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2001, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nigerian-scam/86526/1 "2001-10-10T05:25:42Z")
Got this letter in my email inbox today. This is a scam. If you receive these emails just delete them. What these guys do is request your bank account details on the pretense that they are going to transfer millions of dollars into your account. The truth is, once they have your account details, they will instruct your bank to transfer all your money out. Don’t fall for this scam! Jack > [@](#): > > \*\*John Gambo > E-mail: [Jonhgambo@yahoo.com](mailto:Jonhgambo@yahoo.com) > TEL: 234-1-7750933 > > CONFIDENTIAL / URGENT BUSINESS PROPOSAL > > It is with trust and confidence that I write to > reveal > this business proposal to you. I was assigned by two > of my colleagues to seek for a foreign partner who > will assist us in providing a convenient account in a > designated bank overseas for the transfer of > US$45,500,000.00 ( Forty-five Million, Five Hundred > Thousand United States Dollars only), pending our > arrival in your country for utilization and > disbursement of the fund with the owner of the > account. I am the Chairman, Tenders Board of the > Federal Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, > Lagos, Nigeria. On 26th January 1998, our Ministry, > The Federal Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral > Resources, awarded a contract of US$200,000,000.00 > (Two Hundred Million United States Dollars only), but > my colleagues and I being members of the Contract > award Committee over inflated the contract to the > tune > of US$ 245,500,000.00 (Two Hundred and forty-five > Million, Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars > only), with the intention of sharing the remaining > balance of US$ 45,500.000.00 (forty-five Million, > Five > Hundred Thousand United States Dollars only) amongst > ourselves. The Contract has been successfully > executed > and the actual contractors have just been paid their > US$ 200,000,000.00 only in full, leaving a balance of > US$45,500,000.00 which we now want to transfer out of > the country in our favour, making it look as if the > payment for the contract has been completed, since we > as Government Officials are not permitted by Law to > operate Foreign bank accounts and secondly, we cannot > collect the money from the source because the > contract > was undertaken by a foreign firm. My colleagues and > have agreed if you/your company can act as the > beneficiary of this fund (US$45,500,000.00), we will > transfer the money to your account and you will > retain > 30% of the total fund for the assistance rendered, > while we retain 65% of the total fund, and the balance > of 5% of the balance will be set aside for the > offsetting of all expenses that might be incurred by > both parties during the fund transfer process. We are > requesting you to co-operate with us and provide a > convenient account number in a designated bank where > this fund can be safely transferred into since this is > our only chance of making something for ourselves > after many years of service. We intend to come over > there on the completion of the fund transfer to > secure > our own share of the fund. Please note that we have > been careful and have worked out all the modalities > for a smooth transfer of the fund to your chosen or > designated account before contacting you. We would > therefore not want you to expose this proposal to > anybody for the purpose of security and its > confidential nature. We also believe you will not sit > on our money when it is eventually transferred into > your account, as you would get 30% of the fund. > Please > be rest assured that this transaction is 100% risk > free, and the nature of your business has nothing to > do with it. If this proposal is accepted, please\> > indicate your interest by contacting us through the > Tel No. 234-1-7750933,betweenthe hour of 9.00am > morning to 5.00pm Nigerian time and sending us our > Account number in a designated bank, Address of the > bank, your Company name, and your Tel/Fax numbers. On > your acceptance, more details about this transaction > will be given to you. > > Yours faithfully, > > John Gambo\*\* ---
**Author:** ![Violet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ebca7d/32.png) [@Violet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Violet)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2001, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nigerian-scam/86526/2 "2001-10-10T05:33:15Z")
I rec’d 2 variations of these. Here’s more info.: [http://home.rica.net/alphae/419coal/](http://home.rica.net/alphae/419coal/) ---
**Author:** ![NiceGuyJack](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/niceguyjack/32/3069_2.png) [@NiceGuyJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NiceGuyJack)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2001, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nigerian-scam/86526/3 "2001-10-10T05:54:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Violet \* > \*\*I rec’d 2 variations of these. Here’s more info.: > > [http://home.rica.net/alphae/419coal/](http://home.rica.net/alphae/419coal/) \*\* Excellent link. Thank you. Out of curiosity how many other doppers have seen these? Has anyone fallen for it? If so, would you care to share your story? ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2001, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nigerian-scam/86526/4 "2001-10-10T06:12:17Z")
A new variant is [this](http://www.fairtrading.wa.gov.au/media/2001/august/gord.shtml) ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_H](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a5b964/32.png) [@Bill\_H](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_H)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2001, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nigerian-scam/86526/5 "2001-10-10T06:34:03Z")
Gotten two separate ones this last week. On the Secret Service site, they ask to be faxed instances of the scam, so I did. I don’t imagine much will become of them; I’m sure they have plenty of better things to follow up on. [http://www.treas.gov/usss/index.htm?alert419.htm&1](http://www.treas.gov/usss/index.htm?alert419.htm&1) ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_H](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a5b964/32.png) [@Bill\_H](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_H)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2001, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nigerian-scam/86526/6 "2001-10-10T06:37:58Z")
That link mentioned earlier ([http://home.rica.net/alphae/419coal](http://home.rica.net/alphae/419coal)) has good info, but they begin with the statement that the scam has taken in $5 billion. Sorry, but I’d bet my left nut against that. In fact the whole page comes off awefully UL-ish. True scam though. ---
**Author:** ![Rye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e56c9b/32.png) [@Rye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rye)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2001, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nigerian-scam/86526/7 "2001-10-10T06:42:45Z")
I didn’t really read that, how do they scam you out of your money? ---
**Author:** ![NiceGuyJack](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/niceguyjack/32/3069_2.png) [@NiceGuyJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NiceGuyJack)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2001, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nigerian-scam/86526/8 "2001-10-10T06:44:44Z")
I think **Bill H** may be right and as explained on the link provided by **Violet** , how can you arrest the scamers when they appear to be protected by the Nigerian government. I would think that the Spanish crooks as shown on the link by **don’t ask** would be arrested eventually. Oh and in my previous post I wrote Doppers. That should of course read Dopers. Jack ---
**Author:** ![The\_Wrong\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b782af/32.png) [@The\_Wrong\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Wrong_Girl)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2001, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nigerian-scam/86526/9 "2001-10-10T13:30:25Z")
Interesting. My dad’s a petroleum geophysicist, and gets these letters on an average about about 3 or 4 times a year (he gets them in the mail, though…didn’t know that this scam had moved to email, although I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.) He’s been getting them for the past 10 (I think) years or so. I had no idea these were so common. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2001, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nigerian-scam/86526/10 "2001-10-10T15:00:51Z")
Yeah, I posted a thread on this a while back: [“An urgent massage to the manager”](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=84936). Info on the scam can also be found on [Snopes](http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/scams/nigeria.htm). It has spread to several other West African countries besides Nigeria. I just received another one of these last week. I’m thinking of replying to it just for laughs, to see what they ask me to do. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2001, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nigerian-scam/86526/11 "2001-10-10T15:32:27Z")
There’s a recent thread about this started by **Bear\_Nenno** in MPSIMS: [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=90841](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=90841) ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2001, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nigerian-scam/86526/12 "2001-10-10T19:00:21Z")
This scam has been going on here in the UK for several years. In fact the Serious Fraud Office (a branch of the police) have set up a special department to deal with this fraud which originates in Nigeria. It has also been the subject of several TV undercover programmes with these fraudsters being caught on camera when they have ventured to the UK to entrap their victims. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2001, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nigerian-scam/86526/13 "2001-10-10T20:21:05Z")
At some point, you will have to provide some of your account and/or personal info to these folks, which opens the door to them defrauding you. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_H](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a5b964/32.png) [@Bill\_H](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_H)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2001, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nigerian-scam/86526/14 "2001-10-11T00:12:48Z")
**Philster** wrote > [@](#): > > At some point, you will have to provide some of your account and/or personal info to these folks, which opens the door to them defrauding you. Actually, that’s not the nature of the scam. I could figure out your bank account number and phone number without running a scam. The problem is that it’s pretty tough for me to withdraw money with just that info. And after I do it the cops are all over me. A scam usually works in such a way that when it’s all said and done, the mark doesn’t go to the authorities because they are embarrased. And that’s the nature of this scam. You are trying to help someone take money from someone else in Nigeria. It’s just that you’re only incidentally helping them, so it eases your conscience to know you aren’t the one holding the gun. But it’s greed that drives the mark ultimately. Here’s how the scam works: a) They send you the initial letter (like the one in the OP) b) You send them the info. c) They call/write you and say the moneys on the way. d) Then they contact you and say there’s a problem. There’s some minor tax that needs to be paid or some official who needs to be bribed. They say they need $5k or $10k or whatever. e) The mark (you) thinks greedily of the supposed $5m to be made and sends the $10k. f) goto #c