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...

----------------------------------------
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.

 

[mrheidelberg]

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.

because they are stupid........they are producing so many scamming notices every day they don't have the time or intelligence to push the spellcheck button !!

 

[claude72]

You make the scammers appear noble.

No, because I don't believe that revenge is a noble feeling, nor a solution to problems, in no case.

Sorry, you know that english is not my native language, and perhaps that what I write is not understood the same way I write it?

I don't make them appear noble, I simply explain to you that "today scamming has become a real job in some african's countries" and that IN THEIR COUNTRIES "scammers have now become local heroes"... "local heroes", not "international heroes"!!!

Please try to understand that I don't make any judgment, I don't express my opinion, I just explain some facts as they are.

(and I live in France, not in Africa... even with my poor english spelling and ponctuation, the difference can be understood).

Nigerian scammers are not doing anything for revenge. They are doing it for the money. They are criminals pure and simple.

America is not the only country to be victim of African scam... you receive scams from Nigeria, because english is Nigeria's official language...

... but scammers send their scam e-mails to people having the same language than them, and french is the official language in some african countries... and these french-speaking scammers send their french-written scams to France... and more and more naïve french people are tricked by these scams, mainly people involved in helping Africa, in religious things or saving the children, or men looking for love...
... so much people are victims, that we had some monthes ago an 1-and-an-half hour TV reporting made to warn people by explaining all the systems used by african scammers: who they are, why they scam, how they proceed, etc. and also what are the possibilities of prosecution, what do the french authorities and government to (try to) stop the problem, and what do the local authorities to prosecute the scammers...

It's a TV reporting, made to be a warning, as much to inform than to frighten, with some real sequences taken with hidden cameras, and some others with real scammers "playing" their own role and showing how they do, explaining what are their motivations and what is their life... Of course they "made a show", with some exaggeration...

... so, you're right, they are criminals and they do it for money... but believe me, not only for the money: for the fun, for the prestige and the proudness of having tricked some rich french people (because they are sure that all french people are rich), parading with their friends, paying drinks to everybody in bars...
Everybody knows that they are scammers, everybody knows that they have cheatted and tricked to steal their money, but everybody follows them, helps them and is happy to profit of this money...
... and everybody is especially happy to know that this money has been stollen to french people, being a "collective" revenge.

And what does the police against them? nothing... or almost nothing... in the town where the reporting was made (not the capitale, but a big town), a special team has been created to fight against scam and scammers: 5 cops in an old office, having only ONE computer, not connected to internet, having no official car and obliged to use their personnal cars... a team created only to show that the authorities are aware of scamming and fight against it, but with such poor equipement that in the facts they can do nothing.
And of course, each time they go out of their office, they are spyed by the population who warns and protects the scammers!!!

Ok, perhaps this TV report exaggerate some situations, perhaps some are faked, but looking at it, you just have the feeling to see an Hollywood movie about Robin Hood!!!

 

[gordo]

You point out an important fact. I think it is not the job of the police to protect people from their own naiveté. Hopefully, education will reduce the number of people who become victims of scammers. If anyone reading these posts has kids in school, I wonder if they can tell us if their kids are been taught about internet (and other) scams and how to avoid becoming victims?

best, gordon p

 

[claude72]

I think it is not the job of the police to protect people from their own naiveté.

Right... It's the job of african police to put african scammers in jail, and it's the job of french (and american) police/authorities to create a link with african authorities to allows the victims to prosecute the scammers...

... and I agree with you again, it's necessary to educate all people so that they don't become victim of their naïveté... (althought in that case only few people acts only with naïvete, and many other with some naïvete of course, but also much kindness, generosity, solidarity and humanity...)


But fighting against the consequences is only one part of the solution, and it is also important and necessary to suppress the causes, by erasing this revenge needs, first by stopping stealing oil and mining ressources and paying african goods at their real value.

 

[oxburger]

* 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...

Don't get me wrong. I'm all for helping the underprivileged, but you must understand that there is someone on the receiving end of all of the money we are sending to Africa by either buying their commodities or giving aid. They are the ones who are guilty of not getting the money to their poorest people. The corrupt business owners, warlords and governments keep all that comes in for themselves and the poor end up suffering even more, so don't blame it all on the western governments and people. We are (for the most part) only buying goods and trying to help.....

 

[CD102]

I dunno, you can probably find instances where the western powers have enabled corrupt governments and warlords to stay in power because it meant we could have access to the natural resources there. Things such as oil, gold, platinum and diamonds.

 

[oxburger]

I dunno, you can probably find instances where the western powers have enabled corrupt governments and warlords to stay in power because it meant we could have access to the natural resources there. Things such as oil, gold, platinum and diamonds.

That's both a fair statement and the sad, sad state of affairs this world is in these days.......

 

[Carter]

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...

----------------------------------------
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.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hello to all that have read this thread;

I have been in email, Phone and IM. with pictures of date and time on a news paper with the Cameras that He found for me. Daniel is totaly legit in all ways. I have been in contact with him in regards to finding 2 very special Minolta Cameras and he has made 2 24 hr round trips to obtain first the pictures of the Cameras to show me the items that I was in question about. The second 24 hr trip was to pickup booth of the Cameras after I sent the money to him and he accepted PayPal for the payment. Daniel also did not want any money for the 2 trips and I said "no way were you doing all that including Motel stay for 2 nights with out some sort of reimbursement for that time and lodging." He is an Elder and Pastor in his Church also. Daniel is a Professional Photographer and I am sure that he was looking for a company to make up brochures for and from his Photography work. Daniel also wears another hat in finding only Minolta Camera items for people that are looking and wanting like myself. I am sure that there are many other hats that Daniel wears in his Church as an Elder as I said before. As I have stated in this thread, you could not ask for a more honest and God fairing person.

Yours Truly;

Carter

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[gordo]

[SNIP]Daniel is totaly legit in all ways. [SNIP] He is an Elder and Pastor in his Church also. [SNIP]As I have stated in this thread, you could not ask for a more honest and God fairing person.

Are you referring to this Daniel Owen? : Daniel Owen's Page - Black Preaching Network

gordon p

 

[customfolders]

oh great sharing, thank you...