Bad Nigerian Scam?

So, some of you guys know I have this little sumptin' sumptin' on the side selling these camera dollies (blatant plug for moveyourcamera.com).

So, last week I get a call from a Miami phone number...

"Hello, this is Ola Bantumin. I represent Dr. Jellili Onanuga from NIgeria. We like your camera dolly and would like to buy four of them. Dr. Onanuga will be in New York next week and we would like to have them shipped there to save on international shipping. What is your availability and can you give us a break on combined shipping."

I was a little dismissive, but told them I'd cut them a deal on shipping and I could ship their stuff on time (actually I couldn't, but I never expected to hear from them again) and I could send them an invoice right away.

Ola said he would contact the Doctor and let me know. A few minutes later I get a text saying they're good to go, so I hold up my end of the bargain and send a PayPal invoice, thinking that this is now the last I will ever hear of them.

Maybe 20 minutes later, the invoice is paid for, and I get a nice email confirming the New York shipping address.

So I quickly withdraw the money from the PayPal account to my bank, then bang out the dollies and make sure they ship on time to New York. Yesterday I get another nice email informing me they arrived and they love them and I'm great to do business with blah blah blah.

So, WTF? Here are my possible scenarios:

A. They paid with a stolen credit card.

B. I'm a huge racist and just assume that everyone from Nigeria is trying to scam someone.

C. They're new to the Nigerian scam game and suck at it and don't realize they're supposed to be GETTING money from me, not giving it to me.

D. They will use the dollies to do crimes.

E. I'm the only guy on the planet to ever actually get money from some Nigerian dudes.

Whaddya think?

jg

Oh, DOLLIES! My dyslexia kicked in and I saw DOILIES.

Now I can go back and read the rest of the post.

I like option C the best but they are all great.

I'm going with a combination of B, C & E. Maybe with a little A & D thrown in for good measure.

I think you found the two honest Nigerians. Congratulations!

In all honesty, there are 158,423,182 people in Nigeria. The odds of all of them being scammers is pretty slim. After all, some of them are children.

There are legitimate businessmen in Nigeria, but outnumbered by the scammers. How good is Paypal at protecting the seller? If you used a burn account with no real money in it, I would say you are safe. Please let us know how it plays out. If you have it on record that they approve of the product, it makes it difficult for them to make a claim in the future.

Toyman01 wrote: I think you found the two honest Nigerians. Congratulations! In all honesty, there are 158,423,182 people in Nigeria. The odds of all of them being scammers is pretty slim. After all, some of them are children.

A quick search of the google pipes showed a Dr. Jelili Onanuga who is a psychiatrist in NYC. Looks like you could be right. Pretty cool in a life-affirming sort of way.

jg

Can you imagine the burden placed on the honest Nigerian businessmen. I can hear the phone calls now, and all of them end with a click.

"Hello, this is _ from Nigeria. I'd like to place an order for...click"

Maga no need pay for me to buy correct motor.

I am expecting the other shoe to drop, but I am a skeptic.

On the bright side perhaps you've taken your first step into a promising career with the budding Nigerian porn industry

They will use the dollies for crime. They'll do unspeakable things, and have great video angles of it!

Yeah, gimme option C also. About PayPal: it's best to insulate your day to day checking etc account from them. Set up a separate savings etc account only for that, that way they can't snatch say $500 in some so called dispute.

karlaa wrote: lol. yea, i also think that you finally run into the only two honest nigerians

The air is thick with irony.

^^ Don't quote canoe-links in your reply. You're only helping it increase its google rank.

Ironicanoe?

I think the robots have already become self-aware, and this is the way they've chosen to destroy us.

jg

Jay wrote: ^^ Don't quote canoe-links in your reply. You're only helping it increase its google rank.

You know, I never thought about that, but you have a point!

Most likely E, somewhat possibly A, I'd say B but Nigerian isn't a race and it's hard to blame you given most of the Western world's interactions with Nigeria.

My mom's real estate business once got a targeted 419 email, it's nice when they at least put specialized effort into it.

call from miami, a representative for someone in NYC, i smell stolen credit card.

until

NYC shipping address, good english, follow-up with approval of goods.

i am confused. but i think you probably advanced the state of nigerian pr0n production. you should feel good about that.

and nigerian is a nationality, not a race. so you're not racist for hating on nigerians.

The large order (4 units) and short lead time (need next week - rush order) are two common traits to the typical scam.
I hope the best for you.

Or they could be trying to set you up for a much larger order in the near future, now that they have your trust.