Is it possible to be scammed by the Nigerian GOVERNMENT ????

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Hello I'm New here! Joined: 28 Sep 2014 Posts: 11

Hello Folks

Since you guys are the experts on all scam-related topics and Nigerian scams in particular, I would like to submit my question to the forum on behalf of a friend and colleague of mine who is, understandably, too ashamed to come forward in public with her problem.

The situation is quite complicated and simple at the same time. Simple in the sense that I feel my friend is getting scammed, period. Complicated, because the scammer(s) seem to be the Nigerian government and official authorities and banks and such.

I don't know all the details, but I will try to explan the situation. First of all, we are not Americans. We are from Europe (Belgium). My friend (I will call her Ann) has been in a relationship with a French engineer and contractor. This engineer has received a Nigerian governmental contract three years ago to build a bridge somewhere in Nigeria and went over there to do the work. Everything seemed legitimate and he hired local workers to do the job.

Of course, Nigeria being Nigeria, the project soon went awry. Money wasn't paid to the engineer and all sorts of excuses were employed to delay payments. In order to continue the work, Ann's boyfriend started to pay the workers from his own pocket and soon started to demand money from Ann as well. All this was supposedly backed by governmental guarantees that all would be paid back in due time.
This has resulted in the fact that my friend has lent her boyfriend a sum that totals about 300.000 USD over the last three years, completely ruining her in the process.
Nothing has been paid back by the Nigerian government.

Finally my friend's boyfriend began to realise that he was in the middle of a never-ending story and has decided to stop the work. This has resulted in the Nigerian government's retaliation - he was even imprisoned for some time because they demanded that he finish the bridge, even though he had no money left to pay the workers (who were of course going on strike and threatened to kill him).

My friend Ann has consistently tried to continue funding her boyfriend. She has sent him ridiculous amounts of money and is now completely ruined. She has, until now, always believed that the money would be paid back to her because it was an official governmental contract that her boyfriend was working on.

Her boyfriend is still stuck in Nigeria and has not been able to come home for almost two years now. He regularly finds himself in prison.
The case has now gone to a Nigerian court and the judges have decided that the engineer is entitled to a complete refund. However (and now comes the reason why I think this whole thing is a scam) even though there is an official judgement, the banks always come up with demands of extra money, 419-style : "if you pay us an extra 5.000 USD beforehand, then only will we be able to release the full amount of 300.000 USD".

I know that this excuse has been used at least 4 or 5 times now the last 6 months. My friend is completely desperate. Her brother, who is a lawyer here in Belgium, has started to represent her interests because she is near a complete breakdown, financial and emotional. She has to work three jobs to be able to pay for her own food, since all her earnings go to people she has lended money from in order to pay her engineer-boyfriend. The case seems to come to no end. The lawyer has now decreed that absolutely no money is coming from Ann anymore in order to help her boyfriend out of his troubles. Of course Ann doesn't trust her boyfriend anymore either.

As far as I can see, the scam includes the Nigerian government, the Nigerian courts and the Nigerian banks. Could they all be working together to operate on scams like this on an industrial scale ?

Does anyone here has an idea if this is possible ? And what can we do about it ?

Thanks beforehand for your replies and insights !
Cat

Posted: Sun Sep 28, 2014 10:35 am

This might be an obvious thing from your text, but I would like to have it cleared up:

The boyfriend is an actual boyfriend, and not an online-boyfriend - right?

Posted: Sun Sep 28, 2014 10:47 am

Everyone she is dealing with is fake. Possibly all played by the same scammer or a group of scammers. The email addresses used will be either free ones such as Gmail or yahoo or fake ones set up by the scammers.

It would be best for you or your friend to visit our sister site www.scamwarners.com and post full details there.

Baiting Guru Joined: 28 Feb 2013 Posts: 3152

I'm sorry your friend finds herself in this predicament. I would suggest that you both visit scamwarners.com, which deals with victims of 419 fraud and contains a wealth of information and advice, because this sets off a whole lot of alarm bells for me.

Starting with the French engineer boyfriend, and please forgive me for asking, but has she ever met him, or was it an online romance?

I ask this because

Quote:

This engineer has received a Nigerian governmental contract three years ago to build a bridge somewhere in Nigeria and went over there to do the work

and

Quote:

Ann's boyfriend started to pay the workers from his own pocket and soon started to demand money from Ann as well.

sounds very much like a romance scam.

Quote:

Her boyfriend is still stuck in Nigeria and has not been able to come home for almost two years now. He regularly finds himself in prison.

A French national in a foreign jail would surely have representation or some involvement from the French embassy. I'm guessing she had to pay to have him released?

Quote:

the scam includes the Nigerian government, the Nigerian courts and the Nigerian banks

You need to be 100 per cent sure that she was or is dealing with the legitimate entities. These organisations and the people in charge of them are routinely impersonated by scammers, in order to lend credibility to their scams.

Again, scamwarners.com is really the place you and your friend really need to start by visiting and reading, and they'll be able to help you much more.

Posted: Sun Sep 28, 2014 11:05 am

^^^^^
What CryHavoc has told you. I'm sorry, but it's a very well known scam from the beginning with the engineer boyfriend to the "officials", "barristers" etc. We've seen it frequently. None of it is true.

Please visit our sister site, they can help your friend. I am afraid the money is gone as are the scammers .

Posted: Sun Sep 28, 2014 11:25 am

Elizabeth1601 wrote:

PhillipJayFry wrote:

The boyfriend is an actual boyfriend, and not an online-boyfriend - right?

Yes. She has known him for more than four years. They had a normal relationship until he went to Nigeria. They still phone each other (I can sometimes follow the conversations if he calls her when she is at work).

Ignore phone calls, that could be anyone on the other end of the phone.

Can you guarantee 100% that she has actually met him in person? Has anyone else met him? Friends, family?

ETA: I think someone signed on with the wrong account Wink

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 28 Sep 2014 Posts: 11

No, it is not that simple. The boyfriend is real. My friend knows him for more than four years now and they had a normal relationship. Until he went to Nigeria. He has been involved in this contract for three years now and has been able to come back to Belgium before.

But now he can't come back because he is out of money. She does NOT, I repeat, NOT need to pay to get him out of prison.

The "need to pay" is only towards the banks. Not towards the judges either. The emails used are NOT gmails and hotmails as far as I know.

I am going to ask her to bring her file over, so that I can check if the legal documents are for real. Maybe I can scan a few to show you or to examine more myself.

I have been a baiter once, but I had to stop doing it because I had no time for it anymore. So I can regognize some of the tricks of the trade. Up till now I haven't asked for her file because I know she is ashamed, but I'm afraid she now needs all the help she can get.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 28 Sep 2014 Posts: 11

Yes, I had a baiter-account here once. But I don't start again and frankly I am afraid to get involved with these guys my friend is dealing with.
I am afraid she is never going to see her money back though. This "carrot & donkey"-playgame has been going on for too long.

One other thing : the bridge IS partly built. The contract was real.

Of course that is what her boyfriend tells her, but I can't imagine that this man has been living and working in France and Belgium for over 20 years and then suddenly decides to become a scammer in Nigeria.

Posted: Sun Sep 28, 2014 11:38 am

I repeat, can you guarantee that she has physically met him or he has met members of her family/friends?

I can be 99.99% certain that she has never met him in person and their "relationship" has been online/phone based.

And anything that the boyfriend tells her can be taken with a huge pinch of salt - he is a young Nigerian scammer and lies for a living.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 28 Sep 2014 Posts: 11

They had a normal living-together relationship for over a year before he went to Nigeria !!!

I know you guys are used to dealing with online and phone-scammers but this is not the case here. That is what makes this case complicated.
She KNOWS this man, has lived with him. It is also the same man she has on the phone.

Baiting Guru Joined: 28 Feb 2013 Posts: 3152

Assuming that the boyfriend is real, and not a scammer, the only way I can see to really help your friend is for her to contact the French embassy and explain the situation her boyfriend is in, taking them all the information she has as evidence.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 28 Sep 2014 Posts: 11

Okay, indeed CryHavoc, I will check with her if she has already done so or not.
I also can't believe a French national would be imprisoned like that in a foreign country without asking for embassy assistance himself. This is very weird. Or maybe the embassy's only solution was to get him back to France, which he refused. I know he refused this because he wanted to stay there in order to get his money back.
But now he has come to the point that he finally (!) understands that staying there is not going to be of any help in that regard.

Posted: Sun Sep 28, 2014 11:46 am

IF - and with my limited experience from in here I'd say that's a million to one shot - she has met him, then I would move forward with this from my legal experience.

I would then assume that the contract was initially handed to a nigerian company, subcontracted to the french company who then started work. And never got any pay.

This is something 3rd world building companies occassionally (I have heard of this only twice before) does in order to cash in the government pay for the build without having to lift a finger. Depending on the cost of the project it is often more cost effecient for the 1st world company to give up any law suits, count their losses and move on. Simply because the money (paid by the government) has been used or moved out of reach.

My approach forward would be to request the French Embassy to confirm that a french citizen by that name is located in a prison in Nigeria.

My next approach would be to request the Nigerian government to ask if this build is a real project.

Next step is to investigate the company the boyfriend worked for. How was the finances prior to this contract.

Last step might be to demand immediate repayment by the french company and file for bankruptcy in order to maybe regain some of the money.

EDIT: Make a point more clear.

Posted: Sun Sep 28, 2014 11:47 am

Catlady1971 wrote:

They had a normal living-together relationship for over a year before he went to Nigeria !!!

Do you know that because she is telling you that is the case or do you know for certain they lived together (i.e. you visited them)? As well as scammers lying, victims often do so too because they are ashamed to admit that their "relationship" is a sham.

Assuming it is real (which I don't believe for a second) then, as CryHavoc says the Embassy are the best people to help him. But the fact that as soon as they were imprisoned in a foreign country, any real French national would have involved their Embassy and they would have dealt with the situation and he clearly didn't sums the whole situation up I'm afraid.

Posted: Sun Sep 28, 2014 11:56 am

Edit I am an idiot

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 28 Sep 2014 Posts: 11

Thank you PhilipJayFry - I will print out these steps and handle them with my friend.
I will also try to get a hold of as many documents as I can.

As for the relationship with the boyfriend, I will ask her again for good measure but I can't believe she would lie about it, especially since her brother (the lawyer) and her parents and friends all also know this man. I don't, because I met her only a year and a half ago and at that point the man in question was in Nigeria.

For the record : he is not in prison at this time. He is out again. As far as I know, she has not paid to get him out. But I find this a really very very fishy story.
I asked her how she knew that he was effectively in prison, and she only replied that "he told her so". That was a huge red flag to me.

Posted: Sun Sep 28, 2014 12:11 pm

^^ If you can get me the name of the company he operates for I could do a little bit of digging in the company's economy. It wouldn't be the first time someone left everything, scamming everyone behind them out of a ton of money - later to be found in a beach home in (insert non-western country with a nice beach here).

Posted: Sun Sep 28, 2014 12:13 pm

If your gut tells you something is wrong,....believe it.

Posted: Sun Sep 28, 2014 12:14 pm

Several things.

You have been asked relevant questions and given good advice regarding scamwarners and consulting legal advice and the embassy. B8ers points about victims also lying is important to remember.

This part:

Quote:

(and now comes the reason why I think this whole thing is a scam) even though there is an official judgement, the banks always come up with demands of extra money, 419-style : "if you pay us an extra 5.000 USD beforehand, then only will we be able to release the full amount of 300.000 USD".

...really makes me think it is a scam. While I have never been to France, Belgium, nor Nigeria, I am pretty damn sure none of the use USD as currency." That is a huge red flag.

Finally, we do not allow multiple accounts here. Obviously, you are able to log in from both. Please choose which one you would like to stay with.

Posted: Sun Sep 28, 2014 12:15 pm

Catlady1971 wrote:

As for the relationship with the boyfriend, I will ask her again for good measure but I can't believe she would lie about it, especially since her brother (the lawyer) and her parents and friends all also know this man. I don't, because I met her only a year and a half ago and at that point the man in question was in Nigeria.

She needs to understand that if people are going to help her (and the boyfriend if he is real) she needs to be 100% honest - I would also ask the friends and family if they have physically met him - not just emailed or spoken on the phone with him. Scammers will sometimes speak to victim's friends/family and even try to involve them in the scam.

Also, as mentioned previously, Scamwarners is the best place for her to get help, but she is going to need to post all the details, email addresses, phone numbers, pictures and websites she might have been sent to, etc. if they are going to help her.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 28 Sep 2014 Posts: 11

Hello PhilipJayFry and all others.

Thank you for your help ! I will try to get as much information as I can the following week. If there is anything else you need, please don't hesitate to ask me. I'll make a list for my friend.

I have not yet told her of my suspicion that she is getting scammed because I want to be sure to know as many facts as possible.
Some things seem legitimate, but some things are such huge red flags that I can't get the idea out of my mind anymore.

Especially the conversations she relates to me regarding the Nigerian banks. They are the ones asking for money in advance.

The money in advance should be for releasing a large sum of money by the bank, a sum the bank has been ordered to release by a judgement from a Nigerian court of law. I have never dealt personally with any Nigerian bank but I can't imagine they really need money to release another sum of money. Which immediately was the hugest red flag of all to me.

As for my multiple accounts, I deleted the comment from my other account (which I haven't used for years and didn't know was still active, LastPass logged in automatically) so I guess it's pretty obvious this one is the one I'm using.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 28 Sep 2014 Posts: 11

My next question would be : if there really is a court order, how can we make sure that the order is executed ? I suppose Nigeria doesn't work with courts of appeal like we do...
I already know the answer I'm afraid : we can't Sad

Unless one of you has any ideas...

Posted: Sun Sep 28, 2014 12:34 pm

Ignoring the fact that there isn't a court order, because none of this is real, the only person who could do anything with enforcing it is the boyfriend, using whatever means the Nigerian legal system has for such things - which no one on here is going to have a clue about.

Baiting Guru Joined: 28 Feb 2013 Posts: 3152

First things first.

You need to sit and look through whatever your friend has. And ask the hard questions. You say several things have raised red flags in your mind, good. Keep thinking that way, and poke holes, try and verify everything, from outside impartial sources that you can. Do not accept "because he told me so"

Post what documents and email exchanges, including headers and email addresses you can on scamwarners for them to have a look at, isn't that why you're here after all? To get an outside opinion?
You'll get much more help and support, although we'll try our best, they are much better at it over there.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 28 Sep 2014 Posts: 11

OK. I'll also try to direct my friend to scamwarners herself.

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