Latest Crap!

[Guest guest]

Hi Madeline,

 

Yep .. right you are. In the international trade business, folks are

hesitant to deal with Nigeria because of the common practice of planning

from the gitgo to take the seller .. of course, their are exceptions,

but generally, they bear watching. Some of their attempts to scam are

shakey.

 

An example .. back in 1995, I was dealing lots of goods .. one was Levi

501. Minimum order was 2 each 40 ft containers .. it was what is called

the Gray Market .. many large brands are sold this way - all are goods

produced outside the USA for Levi, Marlboro and others.

 

Got a Corporate Order to Purchase from Nigeria .. wanted 5 of each size

(there were over a dozen sizes) as samples. They provided a Bank Letter

of Comfort from the Citibank, Lagos .. nice stationary .. stating funds

would be transferred to cover cost of samples upon Sight of Documents -

which means, when documents are faxed to them showing the export has

been executed. We checked .. there was no Citibank in Lagos, Nigeria ..

;-p

 

> I worked for a credit card company in the fraud department several years ago

> One country we got to know was Nigeria because that was where the

> fraudulent magnetic strips on the back of the credit cards were coming

> from!!! Nigeria is one country to be VERY careful with. Madeline

 

It remains my policy (and that of many others) to NOT deal with any

country South of the Sahara, or any Arab country without electronic cash

transfer. Other countries require a Irrevocable, Confirmed (by a major

bank) Letter of Credit - or cash transfer. This discrimination is based

only on commercial prudence.

 

But in fact .. the only time I have ever been cheated was by two medical

doctors - both were Americans .. one in Illinois and one in San Juan,

PR.

I had met with both and signed contracts .. had produced goods, sold the

goods and been paid by them .. I learned to trust them and in order to

be able to meet future shipments, I had to purchase raw materials in

advance and I felt comfortable in doing so. The one in Ilinois broke

contract and left me stuck with over $6,000 in oregano plants and the

one in San Juan fell on hard times, broke the contract and left me with

over $10,000 in packaging of his private brand of sunflower seeds. It

took that much of the packaging, boxes and mastercases to fill his

monthly order of 2 each 40' containers of seeds - and they had to be

produced in advance.

 

There was NOTHING I could do in either case because the USA does not

have a reciprical enforcement agreement with Turkey so judgements of one

court are not binding in the other country without going through years

of international litigation. The only option was to go to Illinois and

San Juan, hire an attorney and be present for trial. The cost would'a

been more than the gain.

 

I settled for VooDoo .. ;-p Butch

 

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> Sunday, January 27, 2002 05:11:42 PM

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> Re: latest crap!

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> there are hundreds of scams coming out of Nigeria I've read about...what

> they would want is for you to put up multi thousands of $ (maybe $50,000 for

> eg.) as a show of your good faith/integrity...you'll never see it again or

> the money they are promising...the whole thing is a scam...many people have

> been suckered into them. If it's too good to be true...well, you know the

> rest!