Small business on the Web? Look out for mail like this, apparently from a store in Nigeria: “Hello. I will like to make an inquiry on some of your products but firstly i will like to know, if you can be able to ship to nigeria,if you can i will like you to email me asap so that we can proceed with the transaction and also i will like you to include your website address. I will also like to know if you accept credit card as a method of payment. Waiting to read from you asap. Best regards.” Please do not fall for this one. Look out for names like “kingsleystores”, “Dan Andrew” “linda jones, fem shop” , coupled with the typical anonymous e-mail address. A Nov. '04 fraud attempt carried the name Chiko and the address > chikotradings@yahoo.com > . The criminal asked for a Western Union payment to Mr. Adebayo David, 42 Allen Avenue, Ikeja, Lagos 23401
Nigeria.
I received one similar to this today and one a few weeks ago. One of the messages mentioned that they wanted ‘WHISTLES’. I’m posting this so that other whistlemakers will be aware of it.
Yes Daniel.
I have had a couple to but I just deleated them, although I did think it would be to bad if someone in Nigeri was realy wanting to buy some whistles
But then most folk ask about prices first
Hi Everyone,
I was just going to post a warning to whistle makers and others selling whistles about these latest generation of Nigerian flim-flammers.
I have had 3 or 4 of them contact me in the last two weeks. One of them, who said he was a teacher in a music school wanted to buy 10 C whistles and did not ask any questions about them. Very odd…
Then I told him that I would sell him whistles, but he had to pay with a cashiers check drawn on an international bank like Citi-Bank.
He agreed, but wrote back and wanted me to buy him some cell phones and he even offered me an extra $500 if I would do it for him with some cockamamy story about their being too expensive over there. I wrote him back and said that he could order them on EBAY and pay by Cashiers check and he said that EBAY stores would not sell to him. (Imagine that!! Yeah, right, EBAY is the center of free market exchange and everything is for sale and they find a way for you to pay, unless you are bogus.
I did some research and what is recommended is that if you want to sell to Nigeria, demand a cashiers check. That will not assure payment, however, because they are very good at forging the checks, including a great watermark too. Often, the checks are stolen and are actually good, but what you need to do is to go to your bank and ask them to check out the check and wait until you are sure you have received payment, and then and then only ship anything to them. Also, another scheme has you sending partial payment to his “friend” in London on the check. So he sends you $5000 and asks you to send $3500 to this account in London.
You keep $500 for your trouble and get the $1000 you want for the goods, for example. Then the money disappears and the cashiers check is returned and you lose the goods and the $3500.
No telling what the next scheme will be, but please be careful. It is a shame as one person said, that all Nigerians be painted with a big brush though. But the honest ones are too busy working and have not time for scheming and lying and other criminal activity. We never hear from them.
Well, sorry this post has been so long. I hate this kind of thing. Whistlers are amazingly honest people. It is a shame that these scum are inflicting themselves on our community.
Anyway, Happy Thanksgiving. It is grand to live here and not Nigeria.
Mike
I work in a music store. A few days ago we got a fax from Nigeria requesting DJ equipement and to contact them by e-mail. They mentioned that they would pay with a credit card. We have also gotton phone calls similer to this during business hours!!
It is pretty simple for us though because we mostly do local business and only ship things to people we are aquainted with. It is strange though to get those kinds of requests.
I’ve gotten two “orders” so far for charms (really odd amounts, too - 20, 15, 35???). I’ve told the “purchaser” that I will ONLY take Pay Pal from a verified account, and that usually ends all communication!
I kinda wonder what a Nigerian store would do with 70 dulcimer themed Italian charms, however!!!
