Nigerian Bank Scam!!!

I probably would not have written this if it did not happen last week, In writing about Nigerian Scam, I always thought I could neglect the common ones and concentrate on the sophisticated ones, I never believe some people will still fall for the oldest trick in the scam books. True, they say old tricks don't get outdated, but, this was unbelievable.

Some miscreants sent mails and made calls to some unsuspecting persons abroad that they just inherted millions of US dollars from their deceased uncle who was a politician but because they are mere students they could not withdraw the money - because they could not afford to have it and they don't want the government to probe the assets of their late uncle - so they are looking for businessmen abroad who will partner with them in a phoney business and they will register with the Nigerian Business Promotion Agency, and with time, they will withdraw the money and own it and the government will not raise eye brows.

They also promised to share the loot in a specified percentage and because they were poor students, the foriegn businessmen were supposed to finance and sponsor the phoney business' registration and start-up - That money was what they were looking for.

It was to prevent such an incident that a Nigerian Bank, Intercontinental Bank, published a post on their website warning foriegners to avoid such scam. This is a copy of what they posted:

We wish to alert the general public that some fraudsters claiming to be Directors or staff of Intercontinental Bank Plc have recently been sending phony e-mails/letters or calling unsuspecting persons, with intent to defraud them. It is important to note that these fraudsters are criminals engaged in “Advanced Fee Fraud” known in Nigeria as “419”. Typically, the fraudsters solicit assistance to remit bogus dollar deposits, in the form of large inheritances from deceased persons, large contract sums due for payments or large lotto winnings, from the bank into foreign accounts of their victims who they usually promise to share the proceeds of the scam with. Please be advised that there is absolutely no relationship between Intercontinental Bank Plc and the fraudsters claiming to be officials of the bank. The bank therefore disassociates itself from all correspondences and transactions so fraudulently contrived. Kindly discard all such fraudulent mails or calls. For more inquiries, call Corporate Affairs on 234-1-2773300, 2622930 or reach us at corporateaffairs@intercontinentalbankplc.com.

As you may have guessed, victims of this scam were trying to do illegal business and double-cross the Nigerian government, however, that is no excuse, it is in our overall interest that people don't get scammed by Nigerians and don't become discouraged from doing legitimate business with authentic Nigerians. (See my post on Nigerian Scam)

Please help us fight this crime; get in touch with appropriate authorities in Nigeria before doing business, send this post to a friend, send me a mail, let me know how you were defrauded, I will maintain your privacy.