₦airaland Forum

http://sweatingthebigstuff.com/a-nigerian-scam-could-be-a-legitimate-transaction/

We’ve all gotten our share of emails from Nigerian prince’s promising us money for various things. I’m pretty sure I’ve won a lottery in Nigeria more than once and my friends have been kidnapped several times and desperately needed money.

For the most part, legitimate business deals and “Nigeria” don’t go well together. So I’ll start off my story with an admission. I sent $1,000 to a man in Nigeria yesterday as part of a business transaction. I went to a Western Union and had the money sent to a man I had never met but whom I emailed back and forth for the past week.

If you think I’m crazy, you are not alone. While I told a few people that I sent money and was just waiting for him to send over the goods, in reality I’m not one to fall for scams. I wanted to title this post “How To Scam a Nigerian Prince” or “How Not to Get Scammed By a Nigerian Prince” the truth is that those are misleading, while the actual story has plenty of twists and turns to keep your attention.

I’ve been looking to acquire a new website, so every once in awhile I search Flippa for quality sites that aren’t too expensive. I rarely find anything, and when I do, most are either out of my price range in a few days or unrelated to the personal finance niche that I’m most interested in.

Well this time I found one I liked, much to my surprise. It looked like a quality site for a decent price, and while the price was not cheap, I was surprised that nobody else had bid yet. So I quickly messaged the owner asking if I could pay $1,000 for his site if I bought it now rather than waiting for the bidding to end in a week.

After a few emails back and forth, we agreed on a price and since these transactions with an online partner require some trust, I offered for him to call me just so we could chat and get comfortable with each other.

My phone rang, I picked up, and a man from Nigeria was on the other line. That as my first red flag. A few things ran through my mind:

1. Wow, that was unexpected, I just assumed he was American from his emails.
2. This is obviously a scam and there’s no way I am sending him any money

I immediately made it clear that I wouldn’t be playing any games and that I would need the site to be completely in my hands before I released any money. He was ok with it, so I sent him a list of steps that would needed to be complete.

First, he needed to transfer the hosting to my account.

We ran into our first problem. His company was going to charge him $100 even though my company would do it for free. So I offered for my company to do it. But this guy said that his company wouldn’t allow it, so he asked me to send $100 via Western Union to him to cover the expenses. Another red flag.

He couldn’t get the full amount out of me, so he would try and get $100, right? Well I was having none of it.

I was determined not to get scammed. If the deal broke down, I was ok with it, I don’t mind wasting an hour on a deal, but I was not willing to risk any money on something that sounded to sketchy.

He agreed to pay for it and suddenly I thought that this could be a legitimate deal. I had daily conversations with the seller about why he wanted to sell (he was starting a new site and needed money to pay his developer), but was still suspicious because this is the oldest line in the book. He sent me a half-built site, but hey, if there’s no risk, why not keep going?

A few days later, he got the hosting transfer taken care of and all that’s left was the domain transfer and the money aspect. He got a friend in Texas who has a legitimate online presence to vouch for him, and I offered to send her money and she could send it to him. That’s something I could be comfortable with, right?

Well, that wasn’t an option, because as the seller put it, “her horses got stolen and she had to pay the FBI to get them back.” Um, what? This is just getting weird.

Then I kept thinking that if I took control of the site, there was no way for him to scam me, so really there wasn’t much to be afraid of, right? Still, I was hesitant.

On Friday, I got full control of everything. The Facebook page, the Twitter account, as well as the entire site and login details. After changing the passwords, I went over to my local supermarket to make the Western Union transfer.

I was denied because I tried to do it over the phone (at the Western Union kiosk). I ran out of time on Friday, so I had to tell him that it would have to wait until Sunday. Now he starts to worry that I’m going to scam him! I have his site, I owe him $1,000, and he has no way to get his site back. I had no plan to do that, but I thought it might be funny to be the only man in America to scam someone in Nigeria.

Sunday came, and I went to the first location Western Union told me could do it. Fail, the store was closed. Next, I went to rite-aid. Fail again, their system was down. I told the seller what was happening and now he gets really nervous. Was I just messing with him? Why was I delaying?

I went to a third location, but their system was also down! Now this was starting to waste my Sunday, so I told him I would try one more store before giving up for the day and trying again at a bank on Monday.

I got to the gas station, gave them my information, and ran into a little trouble. I could only send $500 via debit, so I’d have to get cash. Luckily, there was an ATM in my network across the street so I walked over and tried to withdraw $500. Fail, the ATM was “temporarily unavailable.” Finally I found one that worked, got my money and sent off my second Western Union transfer.

I got home, spoke to the seller again, and he thanked me for my cooperation. Then, he sent me the website he had built, justretweet.com. He had been telling the truth! They had just launched, had a bunch of new users, and I was stunned.

So, this guy had been telling the truth all along. While at the beginning it certainly looked like a scam and there were plenty of red flags, this was a very legitimate transaction and the only weird thing about it was that that seller lived in Nigeria.

Readers, did I handle the situation properly to avoid the possibility of getting scammed? Or should I have avoided the whole situation as soon as I heard where he was from?

Are you at ikeja? Can this go for Used HP G62-225NR, 3GB, 320GB, 8xDVD-RW,
WIFI, Webcam, Bluetooth, Windows 7, 6-cell Battery -
60K ??

I will pick it up tomorrow and pay cash. Let me know.

Thanks

Can this go for 65k? If yes, I will give you a call because am going to buy laptop tomorrow at ikeja.

Thanks

Hi @ poster,
As a nigeria, the only way you could get your money is through paypal or you open a escrow account. I have sold one of my site there but I use my friend's paypal info as means of collecting payment.

Thanks

Hi,
Can this go for N100k? I will pay on Sat this week because am looking to buy this ipad 2 this week.

Thanks

What a question?, He is just a human being like us and he only delivered the message God sent to him to his people of Nigeria. Had it been we respect and fears God, we should have seek God's face before a week of the match, but the NFA went and bring another man of God thinking Tb Joshua is fake. Shame to africa!

What a question?, He is just a human being like us and he only delivered the message God sent to him to his people of Nigeria. Had it been we respect and fears God, we should have seek God's face before a week of the match, but the NFA went and bring another man of God thinking Tb Joshua is fake. Shame to africa!

What a question?, He is just a human being like us and he only delivered the message God sent to him to his people of Nigeria. Had it been we respect and fears God, we should have seek God's face before a week of the match, but the NFA went and bring another man of God thinking Tb Joshua is fake. Shame to africa!

So many problems with human being is that, they condemn man of God just as they condemn Jesus saying he was fake!, So many ppl carry bible in their hands but not such in their heart and that is why so many of you are dying with poverty because you don't believe in God. You ppl were asking what concerns man of God with a football?, very stupid question, does it mean God has no right to send a message to his people?, Does football being played by Devil once?, This is the problem with africa, so much hatred when it comes to Man of God. I remember when they brought Jesus to Pontius Pilate, the man told the crowed that Jesus is Innocent and he should be set free but people shouted to him "No! No!, release Barnabas the criminal to us and kill the Jesus!". You see, the same hatred jews had with Jesus is still exist today. There is no love with the world. Nobody listen when God is speaking through a prophet!.

Thank you.

So many problems with human being is that, they condemn man of God just as they condemn Jesus saying he was fake!, So many ppl carry bible in their hands but not such in their heart and that is why so many of you are dying with poverty because you don't believe in God. You ppl were asking what concerns man of God with a football?, very stupid question, does it mean God has no right to send a message to his people?, Does football being played by Devil once?, This is the problem with africa, so much hatred when it comes to Man of God. I remember when they brought Jesus to Pontius Pilate, the man told the crowed that Jesus is Innocent and he should be set free but people shouted to him "No! No!, release Barnabas the criminal to us and kill the Jesus!". You see, the same hatred jews had with Jesus is still exist today. There is no love with the world. Nobody listen when God is speaking through a prophet!.

Thank you.

New Delhi, August 31 (IANS) A 54-year-old foreign exchange agent was found strangled to death in his office in west Delhi, police said Wednesday.

Gurucharan Singh Saini was found dead in his office at Tilak Nagar market around 1: 45 a.m., police said. A resident of Rajouri Garden, Saini was running a franchise of the Western Union Money Transfer.

“A computer cartridge salesman, Satish, entered the office to find Saini lying on the floor, blood spilled across the area, and dollars scattered around,” Additional Commissioner of Police V. Renganathan told IANS.

Police reached the spot and took Saini to the Deen Dayal Upadhyay hospital where he was declared dead. “There was a cable wire noose around his neck,” Renganathan said.

Police said that around Rs.2 lakh cash was lying untouched in his briefcase and a few thousand at various places. “We haven’t ruled out the robbery but prima facie it appears that he might have been killed over some other issue. We are probing through all angles,” said Renganathan.

About five Nigerian nationals visited the office to exchange money around 12:30 p.m. They left after half an hour. However, people in the neighbourhood said that only three left and two remained there.

However, Renganathan did not comment on the issue.

“We have not ruled out anything so far. It’s too early to say anything,” he said.

http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/uncategorized/foreign-exchange-agent-found-strangled_100560519.htmlal Commissioner of Police V. Renganathan told IANS.

Police reached the spot and took Saini to the Deen Dayal Upadhyay hospital where he was declared dead. “There was a cable wire noose around his neck,” Renganathan said.

Police said that around Rs.2 lakh cash was lying untouched in his briefcase and a few thousand at various places. “We haven’t ruled out the robbery but prima facie it appears that he might have been killed over some other issue. We are probing through all angles,” said Renganathan.

About five Nigerian nationals visited the office to exchange money around 12:30 p.m. They left after half an hour. However, people in the neighbourhood said that only three left and two remained there.

However, Renganathan did not comment on the issue.

“We have not ruled out anything so far. It’s too early to say anything,” he said.

http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/uncategorized/foreign-exchange-agent-found-strangled_100560519.html

From CNN that she died in a car accident. Take a look at this photo.

Is this for real?, I will call u though

Aright, I will get it, I have 20k now need to save more,

Nice site. I think you are doing a good job. You will go far as a blogger. ride on bro.

http://pmnewsnigeria.com/2011/06/30/lagos-taskforce-swoops-on-area-boys-arrest-217/

The Lagos State Taskforce on Environment and Special Offences (Enforcement) Unit this morning swooped on area boys at Oshodi and Alausa area of Lagos , South West Nigeria and arrested 217 of them.

At least, 192 area boys were arrested at Oshodi while another 23 were arrested at Alausa. The street urchins included men, boys and girls and will be arraigned at the Special Offences Court at Alausa today.

Officials of the taskforce swooped on the area boys around 3.00 am under the bridge at Oshodi where they have their abode and parked them in a Black Maria to its office at Alausa.

Last week, 19 area boys were arrested by the taskforce at Mile 12 area of the state while they were smoking Indian hemp at a joint in the area.

P.M.NEWS gathered that today’s raid of the area boys in Oshodi lasted between 3.00 am and 5.00 am.

The taskforce officials were armed with guns to ward off any attack the street urchins and the raid was well planned and executed.

The raid on area boys in Lagos which began two weeks ago is on the order of the state government to rid the state off street urchins and prevent them from disturbing the peace of Lagosians as some of them constituted gang of robbers tormenting hapless people.

When P.M.NEWS contacted the taskforce Chairman, Supol Bayo Sulaiman, he said the raid lasted for two hours in the early hours of today and that some of those arrested said they were not from Lagos and that they came to the state to seek greener pasture.

According to him, the state government was determined to rid the state of area boys and make it safe for the citizens, saying that the era where area boys held people to ransom was over.

He added that the taskforce would liaise with the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Social Development so that those arrested who are not from Lagos and had no relations could be taken back to their states.

Sulaiman said the exercise was a continuous one and warned street urchins that the taskforce could swoop on them anytime and unannounced. He urged them to go away from the streets of Lagos .

—Kazeem Ugbodaga

Alright then, somebody has already told me 40k last

Bold 2, is how much last, Can I pay 39k, I will pay tomorrow Friday!

Nobody will buy from u because the prizes are too expensive,

The phone is very neat and it can't fly for 25k, I will give you charger and memory card

I have Curve 3 G for sale, London use and it comes with the s.06 version. REASON for selling it is that, I have upgraded to Torch. It's very clean and very neat. asking prize is 30k. call me or sms me at 07062416170 Thanks

Who cares?

Then keep your software and am happy that am using the 3400 weekly browser.

Bye

that's not true bro because am using mutilinks but seeing is believe. if it's through and you think this will work, then sms me at 07063373068 or email me at bigmoneywebs @ gmail. com for details, if i tested it and it works fine, i will send you a card of N1500, MTN.

Thanks

Please am paying N3400 every week for 50hours, could you tell me how to migrate to N250 per day because am using a starcom now incase if i wish to use mutilnks.

Thanks

Festac and yes it's mint

Guy, how far, U remember me so?, na me buy 2 fones from you at Ozone one day, so how much can u sell the bold 2 white last?, sms me at 07063373068 we will meet at ozone again if we conclude for the payment.

Thanks,
Val