Hello all…I just got a very strange email from someone in Nigeria.
They say they would like to purchase one of my pieces which they
refer to by it’s specific name. They say they want the piece for an
international exhibition that will travel to 8 nations including
Italy and Africa . Well, I’d like to participate in an international
exhibit for which my work is actually purchased, but that is
certainly an unusual scenario. If the format of the request
weren’t so odd and if there wasn’t some well circulated chatter
about frauds originating in Nigeria ( no offense to the wonderful
people of Nigeria!) I might have pursued this further right away.
Another odd thing was that the email contained a complete visa #
with expiration date from some other person. I called UPS ( they
wanted shipping charges ups included) and asked if they’d been
caught in the middle of any frauds of this nature and they were
quite familiar with them. the person I spoke with there recommended
I call the national fraud hotline at 800-876-7060. At the moment
I’m letting this sit until I’m less busy and can confirm whether
this is legitimate or not. Don’t you just hate it that you have to
think this way?! Marianne
Don't you just hate it that you have to think this way?!
Not thinking ‘this way’ is what the confidence games and con-artists
depend on. Whether it is an email letter, faith healer, or mystical
energy channeler.
Does the email look anything like the Nigerian fraud emails on this
website:
http://www.popsubculture.com/pop/bio_project/nigeria-petroleum.html
Almost everything to do with Nigeria and emails is a fraud. But they
do make a lot of money from the non-skeptical.
http://www.japantoday.com/gidx/news217591.html Investigate it
thoroughly and SKEPTICALLY. http://home.rica.net/alphae/419coal/
Fraud Email Gallery This page contains 482 (and increasing)
different form of Nigerian email scams. Also a short explanation of
how they get email addresses, names, numbers, and your faith in them.
At the bottom of the page are some links for more
There is a high probability that you will never see your work or
payment if you send it anywhere near Nigeria.
I received the same email last night too. It came late last night
but my person started off by wanting to do it by credit card, but
when I told them the price they now want to send a check and I told
them that if they did that, that I wouldn’t send the necklace until
the check had cleared and she said that was fine. It all seems too
weird. She told me that she found my work on Silverhawk. I find it
very weird that someone would buy a $3000 piece off the internet
sight unseen… so I am being cautious too. I told her that I would
call UPS this AM and get the total in insurance and shipping and get
back to her with the total. I certainly am only going to give her my
husband’s business address ( he told me that I need to think about
getting a p o box #) if this does happen…
I will keep you all informed… If anyone else has any I
sure would appreciate it. It sure sounds like a scam, but I agree
with Maryanne, I hate thinking this way…
Joan
A valid order could come from anywhere, but I suspect nigeria is an
unlikely customer base. The VISA number is the real givaway. Call
VISA, and ask them about it. But in general, a good policy is to
never ship anything to any address other than the verified address of
the card holder unless you can, with certainty, verify that the order
is from that valid card holder. This would be especially true for
addresses outside of your own country. The situation you describe
is a common scam, coming from a number of locations, including the
U.S.
Marianne, I got one too. They said it was urgent.
There was no number given but they indicated they’d send credit card
info as soon as I informed them of the total with shipping. Message
closed as "Mrs. Titi _ _ _ _ " (last name omitted)
I find this dilemma even more a concern as some credit card
companies point out that we would violate our agreement with them if
we should decline a purchase request because of country of origin.
Pam Chott
Song of the Phoenix
Hi Marianne. I would be very cautious about this. The offer is most
unusual I have gotten several emails from Nigeria requesting
that I assist in the transfer of funds from Nigeria to the U.S. All
they needed was my bank account number so they could make the
transfer, and I would be given several hundred thousands of dollars
for my help. I don’t fall for schemes like this, but sad to
report there was an article in my local paper about several people
in my area who have fallen for this scheme and have been
defrauded out of thousands of dollars. Your offer may be
legitimate, but needs complete verification. The fact that the
charge card is in someone else’s name is really weird. Stolen credit
card number perhaps??? You are right, it is awful to have to be
suspicious, but better suspicious than sorry. Alma
Hi Marianne, This is a fraud, I got a similar email asking for a
specific piece of my work. It has been tried on several people and
was written up in Crafts report I think
– Jim Binnion
Nigeria is the source of so many fraudulent scams it is hard to
believe some folks still have not heard of them. Their latest scam is
the urgent request for you to sell them something and hurry up and
send it UPS to them. And hurry up and give them a tracking number.
Likely the UPS charge is higherthan the item purchased. If you reply
to them they will also request you send them Cell phones or other
items which they can easily resell. My advice is never take an out of
the country credit card order. Of course you already know how risky
it is to take a credit card order without seeing and imprinting the
actual card. You will lose you credit card account if you do this. We,
as artists and gemstone dealers, do a lot of shows and have the
ability to take cards in various ways. The scammers know this and
will try their luck with you. Good Luck Josh@Coyote-Canyon.com