Interesting coincidence

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Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2008 2:20 am

Having just started in scam baiting not too long ago I thought this was an interesting coincidence.

I am currently attending a professional conference IRL and I was talking to one of the organizers. She mentioned that it was weird that a few people from Nigeria registered for the conference, paid their reg fees, then requested a letter of invitation (so they could get their Visas I think?). She mentioned that they showed up the first day, got their stuff (name badges, agenda, etc) and haven't been seen since. None of them were presenting at the conference and are not in our profession.

My question is: what is their motive for doing this? Registration costs about $400 per person, plus their flight was certainly not cheap. I'm not saying they're scammers per se, but obviously they were using this conference as an excuse to come over here.

Any ideas?

Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2008 2:25 am

Student Visas. Gets them into the country for whatever mission they're on, good or bad.

Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2008 2:42 am

Thanks sir scam alot! How long would a Visa like that be valid for since the conference is only a week long?

Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2008 2:46 am

Here in the US, it can go for a couple years. I think we cracked down on that a bit since 9-11 but if it wasn't for student Visas, I wouldn't have spent that happy summer of 98 with that lovely Russian girl.

Trophy Videos · Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2008 10:03 am

Oh, no question they are up to no good. Evil or Very Mad

They violated their visa invitation, and if I were the organizer, I'd report them to Customs, Immigration officials. I'm sure they can now be considered illegal aliens, and should be put on the list for law enforcement to pickup.

Wannabe Baiter Joined: 30 Jun 2007 Posts: 82

From what you said, that group are just economic migrants,the outcome of what they might do depends on what they came with,like education and qualifications and also on their ability to gel into the society they just arrived into.
Scammers dont wander into foreign lands without cause.

Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2008 10:54 am

And please let's not turn this into a political debate on immigration laws, etc. Wink

Just saying.

Anyhow, there's different student visa laws in each country and they do get abused by people who are here for a reason other than education.

Trophy Videos · Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2008 12:05 pm

I mean no disrepect, onyenekwu. I know you are Nigerian, and not all Nigerians are scammers.
^^That's the point I'm making as well. There both are legal and illegal ways to enter a country. If they were "economic migrants" they would have a visa to show that status. And that's fine, if it's all on the up and up. It appears that this group entered the country on a temporary or student type visa, making it look like the reason was attending the professional conference. They signed up, to make it look like they actually attended, then skipped town. I'm sorry, but this looks fishy to me. They may or may not be scammers, but their status in this country should be checked out. They may be innocent, or they may be trying to "blend into the society" along with the other illegals here, hoping not to get caught. Maybe they just want to stay awhile and will return home when their visa expires, and maybe they won't. Hey, if they are reported, picked up for questioning, and their "story" checks out, fine -no harm done.
I would let Imimmigration and Customs Enforcement make that determination.

If this conference occured in the USA, you can report the incident here, and see what they think about it.

http://www.ice.gov