I have completely forgotten the experience I am about to share, after it all ended .i just realised I never spoke about it to anyone, I had completely forgotten that it even happened.
These weekly editions from the hive learner community had a way of reminding us about past experiences that we tend to forget and I love it.
So here is what happened
I remember just finding out I was pregnant over a year ago and being pissed because i and my husband had plans to relocate before thinking of a baby, we were tight on the funds but we had faith. I had joined the NSPPD prayers my mother introduced me to and my prayer point was money to Japa.
One morning after the prayers like immediately after I got a mail from someone called “DR KIM SEO KON”, don’t worry I will attach screenshots from most of the conversations but he saw my contact on LinkedIn as a geologist in Nigeria and needed my help purchasing some things to be sent to South Korea.
I checked the company name, its CEO and staff and all the names, address and it sounded very ok but I wasn’t comfortable because the email was gmail.com, really which CEO uses Gmail.
Normally I would ignore messages like this but my husband says
as far as you are not paying for anything why not just indulge, it could be answers to our prayers
I acknowledged the emails and told them to send complete information about how I can help and everything I need to make this purchase happen.
I saw an opportunity to earn some extra cash at least, but then I saw that they needed over 10,000 units and one unit is $1500.
HOOGE !!!right
I started to suspect from this point, I even asked why they didn’t send a representative to purchase the item because that is a lot of money.
He claimed it is urgent and sending people to Nigeria will take days of paper processing and they are sure they will increase the price cause they are foreigners.
The excuse made sense and besides it is their money so I agreed to help with the purchase.
They sent a contact of the person here in Nigeria that can supply the items.
I called the contact and the material they needed was available and it was selling for $1200 instead, I relayed the information and told him to call so I confirm it is a person talking via email.
He called, I recorded the conversation and my husband listened and truly it was a Korean voice speaking and a Korean number,I remember my husband saying if this was a scam, the person was good.
We went back and forth for about 2 weeks regarding the purchase, how he was using the time to send delegates to Retrieve the material, and many talks, I was made to sign a contracted self, I sent my lawyer the contract and he said it was legit but I insisted that I would sign and give the delegates when I see them.
When it got to the stage of purchase the Nigerian contact said they needed the passport page of the delegates as identification before they release the item or collect any payments, this move was brave because it made it very legit. But at this point too the Nigerian company I was in contact with requested 150,000naira about $250 for tax and sorting fees based on its foreign transaction
I sent an email requesting the $250 and passport page to process the material, the money was a red flag but $250 was nothing compared to $1500 per unit so I asked him for it and he gave the long story of how he doesn’t know how to send it, that I should pay and when the delegate land I would be fully refunded.
I almost considered it but I requested for the passport page of the delegates first to be sure and that is when he FU**ed up.
I am sure he assumed I was too naive to notice the passports were fake, whoever did it did a really poor job, the pictures were online pictures, and the passport numbers on the page were different. They changed one and forget to change it on the other page.
He tried .. it was a good scam job no doubt but for 150,000naira, too much effort for such an amount.
I sent a mail calling him out for his scam, the guy called and we had a good laugh. He is actually in South Korea using a legit company name and CEO to defraud people I told him he was too smart for all these, that he should end it and do better with his life.
He apologized, I wasn't having it o as much I was laughing because it was funny, I needed to badly report the guy but I didn't know how and I just felt bad for everyone else that may have fallen into his trap.
It may seem little but I can imagine hundreds of people paying 150k from the same scam, he must be cashing in.
So much time and energy for nonsense.
Images are screenshot taken by me from my inbox showing most of the conversation