Grand Slam Scams
On this page, I will be providing what I call Grand Slam Scams --- elaborate and very costly scams that have actually occurred. 

____________________________________________________

A TANKER OF CRUDE

So here’s the story. An American businessman, looking to make some serious money importing crude oil to the United States, received a call in which the caller offered this businessman the opportunity to buy a tanker full of crude oil. He was skeptical at first but after a number of emails, telephone calls and documents received from the NNPC, he was convinced that this was legitimate. No one asked him to send any money in advance, but he was invited to Lagos, Nigeria to meet with the oil minister of the country. All he had to do was book his flight, get on the plane and he would be met at the airport. The businessman made his arrangements, bought his ticket, got on the plane and flew for 10 hours to reach his destination.

Upon arriving at the airport he was met by an official of the Nigerian government. They grabbed his bags, put them in a beautiful limousine and took him to his hotel. After spending a day dealing with his jet lag, he had a number of meetings with government officials. In those meetings, he had to show proof that he had the funds available to wire to pay for the crude oil he was planning on buying, which he did. He was assured that everything was ready to go and that the next day he would be meeting with the Nigerian oil minister in the capitol to sign all the papers and arrange for the wire transfer of the funds. Imagine how excited the American businessman was. He had just completed the purchase of a tanker full of Nigerian crude oil and was expected to make millions. After the funds cleared the bank which took a couple of days, the Nigerian government official took the businessman out to the docks and pointed to a ship approximately 2 miles offshore. The minister said “there is your oil! It should take about 20 to 25 days for it to reach United States, where it will be unloaded.” The businessman was ecstatic. The following day, he got on his flight and flew back to the United States. When he returned home, he started sending e mails to the government officials to get updates on his shipment. At first, the replies came setting dates that the oil would be delivered. After about a week, though, the return e mails were not being received so quickly any more. By the end of about 20 days, no responses were being received. Our friend then tried calling, but the number was disconnected. He heard nothing more from Nigeria.

So here is the back story. Everything above is true, but there were some twists and turns. I have always joked that in Nigeria the biggest business was the printing business, because I saw so many different versions of NNPC (Nigerian National Petroleum Company)stationary, it would make my head spin. What actually happened was the following. All of the people involved in this operation were scammers. The person claiming to the government official amd the crude oil tanker out in the ocean. But the biggest part of the scam? The fact that the businessman had been brought to the oil ministry at lunchtime. While the actual oil minister was at lunch, a few dollars to the secretary made it possible for an imposter, wearing a military uniform with all of the medals and ribbons, to enter the office and sit at the desk of the oil minister. All of the papers were phony. The oil minister was an actor and the American businessman had been fully and totally scammed.

Share by: