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Nigerian and Other Employment-Money Scam Examples

Money Scam Background

In 1999 I was very new and inexperienced with email and gave away my new email address too freely. At the beginning of year 2000 I started getting those "old" Nigerian money scam letters. Usually it was a widow of a Nigerian general or government minister who had stashed away 20-25 million US$. The widow was asking my help to clear this money for a commission of 2-3 million USD. This was clearly "too good to be true".

Anyway, the first one I followed up to see where it would lead. The correspondence ended on my part a couple of months later when I was asked to transfer USD 700 to Nigeria to pay for an air ticket for the widow to meet me in Berlin in order to transfer the cash via my account to a new account in her name.

Since then I have received about 3-4 letters per year, until now I got this very professionally done job offer cum scam letter. There is a strong possibility also other ship officers and engineers already have or will receive a letter like this. Beware!

To the story must be added that all those earlier scam messages came to my very first e-mail address. When I first put up this website in 2001 I started getting a lot of dirty or nonsense messages so I had to change my e-mail address and put up the new address in an encrypted form.

The first message I received came to that same old email box and was an inquiry whether I would be interested, stating my email address had been found on the internet. That address, however, is not present anywhere on this or any other website. This was the first reason to get suspicious.

Second point is this American Recruiting Agent is using "gmail" which is a free email service like Hotmail. Gmail is Googles version and very new so it's not likely for an American company to have this kind of e-mail service.

Note the time e-mail sent: 08.06 PM. This is local time in receiver's time zone, in this case Philippine local time and that would be just after one o'clock in the afternoon in Nigeria but 5 o'clock Monday morning in California (See Don Pedro's Time Zone Explanation). I don't think even an American work alcoholic would work at five o'clock on a Monday morning. What do you think?

Beginning of 2007 the fake employment offers have moved strongly over to target offshore job applicants. May be because there are so many hopeful candidates who don't know about employment requirements and recruiting procedures (see Offshore Job Links). The Woodworth Recruitment, from where I received the example below hasn't been so very active anymore. I still show the offer because it's well made and quite typical.

Please note: Every link on this page opens in a new window. If your "Pop-up killer" is too efficient it can also stop new windows. When this happens, please press "Ctrl" and click on the link you want.

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Message as Received

In the copied message I have made those very suspicious points in red.

From: Woodworth Recruitment Agency <wrecruitmentagency@gmail.com>
Reply-To: Woodworth Recruitment Agency <wrecruitmentagency@gmail.com>
Sent: Monday, July 18, 2005, 8:06 PM
To: capt_donpedro@hotmail.com
Subject: Considered for the position of Master onboard MV Hamm

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Dear Capt Per Peter Forsberg,
With reference to your application for employment in pursuant to the service contract, we hereby notify you that your qualification was found suitable for the requirements of Avon Shipping Lines Nigeria Limited, after evaluation of details as contained in your CV. Hereinafter, you shall be required to serve as Master onboard MV Hamm for the fulfillments and requirements of Avon Shipping Lines Nigeria Limited in Nigeria.

Your salary shall be US$8,000 per month and your leave rotation shall be 3 months on and 4 weeks off and it's a one year contract, you will be expected to join the vessel on the 16th of August 2005. We recommend the following Vaccinations if travelling to Nigeria for the first time as required by the Health Authorities of that country, yellow fever.

Do provide us with the name of your nearest airport and copy of your international passport, as this will enable our Nigerian representative's process your travel documents, which includes your return flight tickets, visa and working permits.

You are requested to cover the cost of the following fee for the arrangement of your travel documents;
Temporary Working Permit (TWP):
Visa Fee:
Processing Fee:

The total cost for the above mentioned documents: US$300. This fee shall be used for your travel and arrival co-ordination that will be undertaken by our representatives in Nigeria, Slok Travel Agency Inc. which you can know more about at http://slok.bloombiz.com/ they will process and arrange your travelling documents including your visa, working permits and send you your prepaid return flight tickets to arrive at your port of joining in other to resume duties onboard the vessel on the given date and they will also welcome you upon your arrival to Nigeria and take you to your port of joining.

It is now due for you to remit this fee, which is US$300 to our representatives in Nigeria for the processing of your said documents as you have limited time to join the vessel. Make the Fee payable to the accountant of our representatives in Nigeria, MR.EMEKA OKECHUKWU through Western Union Money Transfer, and send us the Money Transfer Control Number (MTCN) and the Transfer Test Question & Answer for onward transmission to them in Nigeria, to enable their accountant retrieve your payment. The payment destination should be;
Name of Receiver: MR.EMEKA OKECHUKWU
City of Destination: PORT HARCOURT
Country of Destination: NIGERIA

As soon as we receive your payment details, We shall then send you your letters of contract and employment, and also authorize our Nigerian representatives to proceed with the copy of your international passport and the name of your nearest Airport you are to provide in the arrangement and processing of your Visa and working permits, then send you your prepaid return flight tickets to enable you arrive Nigeria to the Port of joining in other to resume duties onboard MV Hamm on the given date.

You shall be sent a pin code which you shall use to collect your electronic prepaid flight ticket from your nearest travel agency in your country.

We hope you understand our position and act accordingly to resume duties onboard the vessel on the given date.

Thank you for your attention and congratulations for your new job from us here at Woodworth Recruitment Agency.

Regards,

Anthony Flynn
Recruitment Officer Woodworth Recruitment Agency
4814-B Long Branch Ave
San Diego, Ca 92107
USA
Fax: 419-574-7686

[Typing errors have been corrected by Donpedro]

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Further Suspicions Confirmed

Let's check the small details:

My name: Per Peter Forsberg, was before written thus: (Peter). The name is not found in this form on the net, only as Peter Forsberg. Suspicious.
Language: I have received many messages and newsletters written by Americans with worse spelling and grammar errors than in this message, so faulty language is no indicator. On the contrary, it like assures the message was written by an American.
In my first answer I said I would be interested in the job and gave the internet address for my net C.V. Current message is the agency's response to my answer.
Avon Shipping Lines: I went to Lloyd's Register and searched for this company in the Shipping Directory which gives limited information on shipping companies, brokers, and agents for free. It was not found in that shipping directory.

In their next message they gave particulars on ship and company, saying the company had 97 ships with 2 gas tankers on order. Not exactly any small company - should be found. Next I searched in Google and Yahoo, couldn't be found there either. Added suspicions.
The ship MV Hamm: I went to ITU (International Telecommunications Union), which maintains a register of all ships' radio call signs and Inmarsat numbers. I found one MV "Hamm" registered in Germany and many other different versions of the same name. No ship of that name was registered in Liberia. To be absolutely sure I typed in the name of my last ship, the correct call sign and flag came up. In other words, both company name and ship's name are fake. Now I'm not just suspicious any more, I'm getting sure.
Salary: In the upper range for an old general cargo ship, even with American owners. Still not totally unbelievable.
Passport: Earlier they said having checked my C.V. A copy of my passport is available there, but still the agency asks for it. Have they really checked my C.V. or not?

Now it's not necessary to number the checks anymore - does anyone still think this is a real offer? I am already sure it's a scam. Let's still anyway check also rest of the points.

Work permit in Nigeria: In the first inquiry I was informed the ship is under Liberia flag. With a good national licence, like what I have, the employer gets a one year temporary licence from the nearest Liberian Embassy or Consulate issued on the basis of the national one. The employer or his agent always pays for this. In the case of a small company it's possible you are asked to pay for it yourself, but the fee is then deducted from your salary.

I have myself had both Panamanian and Liberian licence before (when it was needed). I do not need a Nigerian work permit to work on a Liberian flag ship. The smell of scam is turning to a stink.
The agent asked for a passport copy, which is available on the net but did not ask for a copy of my Captain's license, which would be needed for the Liberian licence.

On Aug. 16 when I should join the ship I would be a few days past my 65^th birthday. According to the particulars I received the ship is insured, but they didn't ask for my current medical.
USD 300 for a work permit that's not needed. Now it's clear this is a scam, but lets check the rest.
Money transfer by Western Union: this is not as suspicious as it sounds as bank to bank transfer in developing countries can be extremely slow. But, it makes the person receiving the funds untraceable.
Slok Travel Agency: I went in on the web site given. On my computer I have Netcraft's toolbar, which shows me the site is on an American server owned by The Planet.

Little bit irregular I would say, even if my own web sites are in USA and Canada respectively. This is because of unreliable power supply at the Philippine country side. But Port Harcourt is a big city, so there shouldn't be any problems like that. The agency's email address is not to be found in any form, not even when checking the code.
The travel agency says they are river travel and excursion experts. The site contains just nonsense, except a note they have been in business for 18 years (since when?). Not a single picture from the Nigerian rivers. One picture shows a cruise liner, which has "Star Cruises" painted on the side. Star Cruises are based in Singapore and Hong Kong. There are no connections with Nigeria as I strongly doubt those ships goes up the rivers.
The travel agent further states on their web site they are members of the "very exclusive" ASTA. This is the American Society of Travel Agents, the worlds largest travel agent association. On their web site you can check who is a member. Slok Travel Agency is not a member!
Their email is not directly available on the site (not even in the code), but that is not in itself suspicious. Only I wasn't able to check whether their e-mail is also on "gmail".
To be sure, I asked my own travel agent, who is the best in town, to check the travel agent in her International Directory of Travel Agents. Both she and her assistant checked every way they knew. Slok Travel could not be found anywhere.
In November the employer finally got a website: www.avon.xaper.com/. My Netcraft toolbar tells me it's an American server (for a big Nigerian ship owner!), the server is owned by Mega Web Services (= United Online), which is a free web site service. There is a Home page with 2 (two!) paragraphs of text extolling the excellence of the company plus three more very short pages. This for a ship owner with 97 vessels and recruiting world wide!

The Home page states the company started in 1978 but the page "About Us" states they have 5 decades (= 50 years) experience. There is a picture of a office building, with just a number only showing - No Company Name!. You can also find a picture of one (1) cargo or container ship . When zooming in on that picture the name seems to be either Pancaldo or Fancaldo. No ship by either name can be found in ITU (see above) register. This would be possible if the picture has been taken before the ship was sold for scrap and de-registered.
The Woodworth Recruitment Agency have a web site, same server as Slok Travel: www.woodworth.bloombiz.com. On that site they say they have offices in 10 USA cities and they are doing recruiting for ships. But that's only their home page. The rest of the pages are same nonsense as the Slok Travel Agency's pages. At one page you can find: "Aim and Objectives: Price/IncotermsConditions: Not Specified" ??

Case closed.

I answered the recruiting agent that I don't need work permit in Nigeria etc. In addition, I asked the agency to contact the American Embassy or Consulate in Philippines to verify, for instance by e-mail, that this is a real legitimate American company.

I haven't heard anything further.

If you or your friend have received anything similar, please send me some details like: company, agent, and ship name. I will add those data to this page for other "targets" to be aware about this scam.

Further reports:
To keep this page within reasonable limits I have moved the abstracts from August 2005 to July 2007 reports (including some job offer copies) to a new page: Nigerian Money Scam Example, Page 2. Below I'm giving only the specific details (the salient points) from the reports moved.

Targets: Captains, Chief Officers, Dynamic Positioning Officer, Chief Engineers, Personnel Consultant, Oil Rig Instrument Technician, Naval Architect, Asian Recruiting Agent, Russian Recruiting Agent
Ship names used: MV Anabel, MV Hamm, MV Light, MV Anable, ROVSV Merlin, MV Ken, MV Harrier
Recruiting Agents: Woodworth Recruitment (USA), Synergy Recruitment (Canada)
Employers: Avon Shipping Lines (Nigeria), Marine Dredging (Nigeria), Deckline Boats (USA), Cal Dive International (Helix Energy Solutions), Elf Petroleum UK (Jack Daniels), Shell Petroleum Development (Clifford Lewis), Nigerian National Petroleum Cooperation, Premier Oil Plc (UK), Nova Shipping Lines.
Charterers: Klime Shipping Lines (KSL) Mr James Parker (UK)
Representatives: Slok Travel Agency (Port Harcourt), Tapinok Consulting (Nigeria), Tapinok Consulting (UK), Kovalent Automation (Sweden)
Person receiving money: Always Mr Emeka Okechukwu, always by Western Union Transfer (Nigeria), Ebi Bipella (Sweden)

September 2006

Jack Daniels from Elf Petroleum (UK) sent a job offer to an Indian seafarer, who continued the correspondence until he was asked for advance payment - "placement fee".
In September I also received a fresh employment scam letter from:

THE NIGERIAN NATIONAL PETROLEUM COOPERATION ADMINISTRATIVE DEPARTMENT

The first offer gave as address: "Glass House Abuja". The same "COOPERATION" sent me a new copy in January and again in February 2007. The second and third copies say: "N.N.P.C. House Abuja" as well as giving a slightly different tel. number: 234-8061118154. The country code "234" is for Nigeria and "80" is a Nigerian mobile number.

There is a real Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Ltd. Note the real name is Corporation. The second offer was received on Saturday at 2:49 AM (morning) in the Philippines, so IF sent from Nigeria, that would be 6 hours less = 8:49 PM (evening) on Friday. In the first letter I was given 7 days to respond, that sentence was later cut out. Otherwise the text is a complete copy of the first one, see the copy on: Nigerian Money-Employment Scam Example, Page 2.

More information on the "Cooperation" scam, although it was in 2006 called Corporation - without LTD. At that time the "author" asked for USD 620 and referred to Nigerian Immigration Services, which is a Government Agency. E-mail address to the Immigration was on "@myway.com", which is a US search engine and free e-mail service. No Government Agency anywhere have their e-mail on a public free service, especially not in another country.

The "Head" of the Immigration was at that time Dr John Adenuga, who in his turn was already in 2001 involved in the scam business as "Credit Control Manager" at Ecobank, Victoria Island branch in Lagos (Nigeria). Now he is again involved in a new "Project": Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas - see below.

October

"Soku Gas Project" added a new "consulting company": Engineering Consulting Inc., Hennekijnstraat 37-B, NL-3012 EB Rotterdam in Holland. "Inc." is an American company designation (Incorporated) but the company is in Holland (where there are many Nigerians). No phone, no fax, yahoo e-mail.
A new scam letter from "Shell Global Employment Program", "signed by" shellnationalsecretariat@usa.com. No names, no telephone numbers or addresses. The real Shell is a Dutch (Holland) Company: Royal Dutch Shell. On Marine-Maritime Job Links there is a link to the real Shell Corporation employment vacancies.

November
Early November I again received a new employment scam letter from Premier Oil Plc (UK) - Copy on Page 2.

Summary year 2006:
During the whole of year 2006 Woodworth Recruitment and Synergy Recruiting (Martin Moore) were active with Avon Shipping and Klime Shipping (James Parker), the ships MV Anabel and Merlin still looking for crew - occasionally using Ebi Bipella in Sweden for money transfer.

The Dutch Engineering Company at Hennekijnstraat as well as Tapinok Consulting were still going strong.

All the others: Elf Nigeria, Elf UK, Shell Gas UK and Soku Gas Project as well as Nigerian National Petroleum Cooperation (Harry Browning) and Premier Oil (James Coker)were all active.

2007

In January I started seeing some small changes. Woodworth Recruitment seems to be exchanged for Tapinok Consulting UK and Synergy Recruitment, Canada. The others: Shell / Soku Gas and Shell Global together with Elf Petroleum were as active as before.

At end of January I received the following offer:
QUOTE:
From : bintulu port <bintuluport@yahoo.com>
Sent : Saturday, January 27, 2007 1:46 PM
To : (address deleted)
Subject : port offer

TO:HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGER/ CREW MANAGER
Copy of this message is on Page 2

The e-mail again is again at yahoo and the message is sent on a Saturday with no address or telephone mentioned, plus it came again to the same old box where all scam letters have come, I don't hesitate to make this a scam too.

In February a new scam letter was send to some Indian Engineers, the copy is on page 2 - it was sent by:

QUOTE:
NIGERIAN LIQUEFIED NATURAL GAS,
Plot 23, Engineering Close,
P.O.Box 2348,
Victoria Island,
Lagos, Nigeria.

And a second fake offer on January 2007: A fishing letter, clearly intended to collect CVs / résumés from unsuspecting seamen. It was sent from: heniking@aim.com with Subject: Marine Job Offer. See Page 2

February 2007 reports:
Woodworth seems to still be running their employment fraud but mostly using Slok, Klime Shipping, and Helix Solutions (now using new correct name) and offering jobs on MS Fancaldo.

Shell Oil (Clifford Lewis) and Nigerian National Petroleum Cooperation circulating together with the Bintulu port job scam, which was received by a Canadian seafarer.

In February and March 2007 most scam letters going around seems to have been targeting offshore applicants. A British Stewardess got a fake job offer from Texaco via www.oilcareer.com. Texaco recruiting is - as far as I have found out - handled by Chevron which is on Marine-Maritime Job Links.

In April and May Shell Soku Gas Project and "shellnationalsecretariat" came back, now was added a project also in Italy. Both Nigerian National Petroleum Cooperation and Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas were connected to the Nigerian Immigration Services; Premium Oil and Bintulu Port were likewise aggressively out hunting for victims. Even Cal Dive with diving support vessel Merlin ( DSV ) was back in circulation.

Most big oil company names are being used: Shell, Elf, Texaco, and Caltex (the real recruiting links to these are on Marine-Maritime Job Links - see Menu to the right). Also the Nigerian National Petroleum Cooperation (see above) and a variation on the earlier Synergy Consulting, which now has changed to "Synergy Oil". Both Bipella in Sweden and Okechukwu in Nigeria were used as money collectors.

DR (!) Adenuga's name is used although I do not believe the real person by that name is the one sending the fake job offers. Oceanic Shipping Links was still going on with some "traditional" ship jobs.

June 2007, at the very end of the month I received for me a new fake offer from Nigeria AGIP.
QUOTE:
Agip Agencies <agipagencies@hotmail.com>
Sent : Tuesday, June 26, 2007 4:57 PM
To : (address deleted)
Reply : agipagencies@hotmail.com
Subject : Employment opportunity/résumé needed Asap...

The copy of the letter is on page 2.

www.engineer.com is a US web hosting company with free e-mail service owned by "www.oversee.net". The message was sent from Hotmail and at the end there's no address, telephone numbers, or any names at all. Furthermore this is another scam that has been going on since 2005.

AGIP is an Italian petroleum company and a member of the "ENI Group", which is Eni S.p.A. [ Italiano ]. In my broken Italian that would be "Energia Nationale Italiana Societa pro Anonima" - translated into English: Italian National Energy Corporation Ltd. This is a government owned company and they would never use a free e-mail service. The company have it's own fraud warning.

For the rest of June all the same scams were running full power. Those targeting offshore oil personnel were most active. Anthony Flynn from Woodworth Recruitment was back in action with Avon Shipping again.

July Report:
In July a job offer was sent to an Indian national from Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas:
QUOTE: "... based on detailed recruitment by our official recruitment consultants FIDEL RECRUITMENT INC SERVICES" and referring to "earlier forwarded application" UNQUOTE although this person never directly applied for a job from that company. Salary as "Senior Account Manager in Nigeria" offered USD 39.920 per month. This is over 1.250 USD per day, which is about what an oil rig Offshore Installation Manager ( the BIG boss ) is paid!!!

He was told (as usual) to personally pay for all expenses related to permits with Nigerian Immigration Service, Contact person: DR Mike Adenuga, Head of Visa/Permit Operations. The message was signed by Mrs Wumi Osifor with email address: wumi-osifor_1@myway.com . "Nigerian Immigration Service" was given two telephone numbers, both starting with ++ 234 80 ..., which are Nigerian mobile numbers.

Obviously "John" has changed his first name to "Mike" ( Adenuga ), can't be two brothers, can it now?

At the very end of July I received an e-mail from EYOU GAS COMPANY LIMITED asking me to send my resume (CV) to: eyou_jobs2007@eyou.com - I regard this as a "fishing" attempt. It was signed by Mike Anderson and provided a UK address: 2 Jonson Bill Street, SW1W 0NR, London plus a telephone number: +44 702 405 8126, which is a UK mobile number with a redirect. If you send your resume to this address you will receive a fake job offer with the sole purpose of collecting an advance fee. www.eyou.com is hosted by a Chinese server.

EYOU was very active all of August, and in September attacking especially Indian mariners. The "eyou producers" didn't slow down a bit even in October but were going on as actively as before. At the very end of August I received another "phishing" attempt from Total Oil And Gas Nigeria Plc :

QUOTE; "There are Vacancies on our new oil field project Abuja. We are interested in international experts that can handle the post of: Mining/Drilling & Exploration" UNQUOTE plus many other very broad categories, that cover about the whole range you can find on an oilfield. It was sent from totaloilnigerplc@hotmail.com and signed by Mrs Pat Eze, Secretary. No address and no telephone number.

"Plc" is a British ( UK or Ireland ) legal acronym identifying a type of limited company whose shares may be sold to the public. It's not legally recognized for Nigerian Companies. Total Oil is not British, it's a French oil giant, one of the four biggest in the world.

There is a warning against fake recruitment organizations on Total's own recruitment page [ Français ].

In November / December 2007 a European engineer in East Africa received an employment offer with Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria from Wintech Engineering Limited, address:
Wintech Engineering Limited
Nolimpark 1810
Siberiestraat 10
3900 Overpelt
Belgium

There is a real Wintech Engineering Limited in UK. The real company works with curtain walls and windows, mainly for office building facades ( front wall coverings ) and have nothing to do with anything offshore or in shipping ( maritime ). The fake name listed from before in "Offshore Marine - Wordpress".

From those document copies I received it wasn't clear what job position or what salary was offered. There was, however, a new twist in this. The engineer was told not to pay for the immigration lawyer handling his documents plus the company would send him money so he ( the employee ) could pay for his air ticket and other travel expenses.

Shell Petroleum Development Company name has been used already before (see above). This time the offer was signed by Paul White. There was no requirement of any advance fee either BUT the engineer was told he has to choose one of 4 alternative Travel Insurance Policies ( OTIP ) from Unitrust Insurance Company Limited ( Nigeria ).

There is a real insurance company by this name in Nigeria, but the premiums seem to me to be way overboard (too much). I haven't been able to check if the company have this kind of insurance policies.

The premiums ranging from USD 1.500 to USD 3.000. This was to be sent in advance by Western Union to Mr Princewill Emeka, Port Harcourt, Nigeria. Now the surname of this person just "happens" to be the same ( Emeka ) as the given name of the person who was the receiver for Avon Shipping "job fee", also in port Harcourt, in the very first offer I ever received (see at top of this page).

End of December a Canadian Captain informed me there was a job advertisement on Marine Link's publication Marine Technology Jobs:

QUOTE Master/Chief Engineers/ Afloat Officers e.t.c
Nigeria Abuja; Nova Shipping Lines
Nova Shipping Lines, a Shipping Company based in Nigeria, West Africa seeks afloat officers on her Cargo Vessel, MV Harrier. The Company has recently acquired a new Cargo Vessel and is currently recruiting to man the Vessel. Vacant Positions : Master, Chief Officer, Second Officer, Third Officer, Fourth Officer, Navigator/Radio Officer, Chief Engineer, Second Engineer, Third Engineer, Fourth Engineer.

Benefits:
Attractive Salary ($8500 - $10,500). Remunerations would be in Dollars or Euro Equivalent.
Free Medical Care for Employee and Family
Free Access to Recreational Facilities in Nigeria
Excess Bagagge Allowances.
Qualifications include relevant degree from Accredited University or Institute of Marine Engineering.
Resumes indicating positions sought should be sent with references in confidence to novashippingline@aol.com
Telephone: 23448072141684 UNQUOT

The number 234-80 is a Nigerian mobile number. Could it be there has lately been added one more digit "4" to that ?

In ITU's register [ International Telecommunications Union ] there are only two vessels named Harrier with EPIRB, neither one registered in Nigeria. There is a copy of the advertisement on a Iraqi Job Board ( www.portaliraq.com/ ), which is not accessible to the public. There is (or was) a company named Nova Shipping Lines in Cyprus, but none found in Nigeria. On the other hand, read backwards the company name would be Avon, which is the company from where the very first fake job offer to me was sent (see very top of this page.

There is a "Nova Shipping and Trading" named company in Canada (Toronto), but they are handling export of textiles and machinery to South East Asia and are not involved with these kinds of jobs.

There was also a job offer letter signed by Jonathan Onwubiko, Human Resource Officer, Nova Shipping Lines. According to this the employee must himself pay Nigerian visa / work permit fees in advance before allowed to join the ship.

USD 8.500 is way too much for the junior positions and a seaman's job never involves relocation of family. What does a seaman on a cargo ship do with "recreational facilities" in Nigeria ?

2008

Eyou petroleum was still very active all the time in January and February. In February 2008 I received a new fishing letter with a fresh twist. It was from " The Ideal Concepts Placement " said to have a list of 150 employers from every country in the world, which means barely one employer per country (!).

The twist is that they promise to lend you 90% of cost of airfare to relocate. Signed by Frank davis, Public Relations Manager. The letter gives no information where this agency is located, not even what country. Furthermore they use as e-mail yahoo.com. I would absolutely not bother even with answering this kind of letter at all, and absolutely not send my CV.

In February two different offers were sent to an Indian marine engineer. The first one from "Shipping Containers Limited" with a website: www.shippingcontainerssl.8k.com/ . On the website they give two e-mail addresses - one in UK (?) infouk@shippingcontainerssl.8k.com and the other to Accra, Ghana (?) infogh@shippingcontainerssl.8k.com . Basically they just ask the receiver to send their CV - DON't Send!

On the "Employment" page the company is called "Shiping Containers Shiping Line" (spelling as on webpage). They also state they control three subsidiaries: Landyang Shipping, Senator Lines, and Cyberlogitec. The website have a total of 4 pages and is on a American free server. As they point out they operate 145 ships and 11 dedicated terminal facilities world wide, it's highly unbelievable such a company would use a free website. The job offer to the engineer came from a yahoo e-mail address, not from anyone of the "company" e-mail addresses.

Further they do boast they have 200 offices and third-party agents spread across 53 countries. Main areas Africa, West Asia and the Middle East, plus Europe and US East Coast. They say they employ 80.000 staff, including 5.000 foreigners (75.000 staff in Ghana ?), QUOTE: This company is located Worldwide. UNQUOTE. Some of the text on the home page is even duplicated.

On the "About Us" page the text is an almost exact copy of what I received middle of June 2006, including offering jobs for teachers on board the ships. Same salaries as in the 2006 letter. That letter came to me from Oceanic Link Shipping Line, see Page 2.

The second offer was for a job on M.V.RABADU - I checked in ITU [ International Telecommunications Union ] Register - such name ship doesn't exist at all. Said to be owned by JDAK Shipping Company London and managed by JDAK Shipping GH Ltd - neither company could be found. Furthermore they stated his CV had been sent to them by "the global maritime academy", which (of course) also doesn't exist. He was just asked to send his CV for verification purposes.

Again a typical fishing letter, may be they sell the CV to somebody else or use it later in another "company" name. This was sent from yahoo.co.uk e-mail address - Atlantic Consultants (?) - with telephone number: 00-447045757939, this is a mobile UK number with a redirect. The message was signed by Mr Joshua Kofi, which I believe is a Ghanaian name.

There exists two different "Atlantic Consultants" named companies, neither of which I can even imagine being involved with this kind of recruiting.

In March a Philippine Engineer received a job offer from "Caltex Ltd, London. Oil & Gas Company". As the letter is so distinctive I reproduce only the top of it below:

Fake job offer from Caltex UK

The address given as:
30 Leicester Square City,
WC2H 7LA, London
The telephone number again being a UK mobile number with redirect. The job offered was as a Project Engineer ( Gas Flaring ) in London with a salary of UK £ 12.920 per month ( about 25.000 USD per month ). This is clearly too much.

The job offer didn't include any money request, but he was told to contact "Xpress Visa Services & Tourism" in London to get residence visa & work permit. Obviously upon contact with this "office" he would have been told to pay for expenses in advance. But this is not how it works. From overseas you can apply for UK visa only through an overseas UK Embassy, plus the "visa agent's" telephone number was again 44 70xx - i.e. a UK mobile number with redirect.

Whenever you see this kind of a telephone number it's really and truly a fake offer.

Very soon afterwards he received another offer from Corporación Sidenor Oil Espana. Again I reproduce just the top of the "letter" only, see below:

Fake job offer from Sidenor, Span

The offer was signed by Engr. Samuel Fernandez, telephone 0034-634186359. The employee is to contact Carlos J. Santosso, Federal Ministry of Interior, Spannish (?!) Departamento de Justicia, telephone + 34-667003658 or Fax 0034 917 889 811.
Two e-mail addresses for the "Ministry" where provided: mint_espana@ozu.es and spain_permit@spainmail.com. The website of the Ministry said to be: www.workpermit-espana.fr.gd.

All these details are already from before listed as scam at 419 scam org.. Both e-mail addresses are free e-mail services and the "Government" website address has an .gd country extension code. "gd" is for Grenada, while the Spanish country extension is ".es". The real Gobierno de España - Ministerio del Interior website is in Spanish language only. I couldn't find any kind of reference to any "visa services" at all. The home page is mostly concerned with homeland security and problems with terrorism.

The "Grenada" is not Grenada in Spain. The .gd extension is for the former British colony, the island of Grenada in the Caribbean, also known as "Spice Island". The real Sidenor corporation is a big steel parts fabricating concern that have absolutely nothing to do with oil.

The position offered was AUTOCAD OPERATOR. If I'm wrong here, somebody please tell me (I'm not an engineer) - "CAD" means "Computer Aided Design", so "Auto Cad" could be a machine or machinery cutting or bending steel / steel profiles according to a computer controlled program. The operator then being the one using this machinery. BUT the job description is something else:

QUOTE: SCOPE OF WORK SHALL INCLUDE, BUT NOT LIMITED TO:
Appropriate monitoring/coordination services, planning and implementation, development, execution, responsible for the approval and purchases as shall be deemed necessary for job success.

Comprehensive infrastructure /management, policies initiation and approval of corrective actions, including regulatory agencies representatives, decisions making, changes incorporation when necessary. UNQUOTE

The whole "agreement" is written to look as if it had been written by a team of lawyers. It's, however, absolutely sure this text has never been touch by any kind of lawyer at all. I had great problems making head or tail out of it.

When you scroll down in the "agreement" there is a point: QUOTE "It is our official policy that our employees must pay for their work permit processing fees, as we have promised free visa to all employees and as a proof of the readiness to join our team, they have to contact the MINISTRY OF INTERIOR and obtain these documents." UNQUOTE

Common to all employment scams is the following:
1. "employees must pay for their work permit processing fees",
2. "as a proof of the readiness to join"
3. Common to many a variation of: "in line with the expatriate statuary law of [ the European Union ] in compliance with the [ EU. ] Terrorism Act" There is nothing such in the European Union.

Re: "Spanish Work / Residence Permit Visa" - there is nothing like that. Spain is a member of the European Union, so one would apply for a European Union Visa, also called a "Schengen Visa", which is valid all over the European Union, although the application can be made, for instance, at the Spanish Embassy overseas. You cannot, however, get it just by paying a certain fee.

Now a Visa for European Union and a work permit are two quite different matters. It's not easy for a non-European Union citizen to get an European Union work permit. Definitely not just by paying a fee only. And a European Union citizen doesn't need a work permit. For some more information on Spanish work permit for non-Europeans see: US Embassy, Spain, advice on residency and work permit (for US citizens).

Example of telephone re-direct: Say a Maritime Superintendent based in UK but who every now and then attends to the company ships in different ports around the world. He would need a permanent telephone number in UK where he can always be reached, regardless where he is himself. This is done with the mobile re-direct.

When somebody calls his 44 70xx... number in UK and he is, for instance, onboard a ship in Florida, USA, the call is transferred directly to his phone in Florida. The charge from UK to USA is billed his number, not the caller's number, so the caller doesn't notice any difference at all. For the caller it's all the same, whether the Superintendent is in his office in London or onboard a ship in Florida. The fake job offer makers and money scammers are abusing this system to their advantage.

Obviously some people have paid some money, otherwise these scams would have stopped already.

When a shipowner or recruiting agent contacts you to offer a highly paid job you haven't applied for, be very cautious. Every personnel office is too busy to surf the Internet searching for seamen CVs and then trying to contact people with job offers. Except when you have some very special skill or knowledge (like a top consultant).

The targets were offered "attractive expatriate salaries" or compensation packages. Obviously not only seamen are targeted now, but also other professionals with their CV on the net; i.e. their e-mail address is available, and obviously these are people who would like a job that's paid a little bit more than they are earning now.

Every seafarer with his/her e-mail address available on the Net is a possible target. See Don Pedro's How to Hide my Email Address.

Could there possibly be two or more different groups sending out these job offers? Please do not pay anything in advance. Sure your money will be lost.

Whenever an employer asks for a few hundred dollars first in exchange for a return ticket and a one year contract, which can be valued total at USD 60.000 or more, don't send the money, even if it's only "small potato" for you.

According to Kaspersky newsletter May 2006, a total of 565 people had been arrested around the world since March 01, 2005, in "Operation Global Con" targeted at individuals carrying out mass marketing fraud on the Internet. US Department of Justice co-operated with authorities in Central America, Europe, Africa, and Australasia.
Total number of known victims was close to 3 million people with average monetary losses of about 300 USD per person.

If an American person or organisation / company ( real or fake ) is involved you can report it together with a copy of the scam letter to The Internet Crime Complaint Center, which is a partnership with the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the US National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C).

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Additional sources for information on Nigerian money scams:

A very long UK webpage with names of companies and people used in scam and fraud letters / e-mails, some details go all way back to 2003. If you find the name in the job offer you have received on this page, then you can be sure the great offer is a fake.
Oilcareers' Forum, go to "Money scams".
Nigerian Money Scams, including the beginning of mobile phone numbers used to redirect the caller.
You can inquire from the Nigerian Consulate in New York by e-mail if a certain company is real and legitimate: info"at"nigeria-consulate-ny.org (instead of "at" you type: @ )
A searchable and indexed archive of scams received by email. You can check every email you are suspicious about against the archive. You can also include the scam search in the Google toolbar - if you have the toolbar.
Summary of Nigerian "419" scams since 1990's.
Wikipedia: Nigeria Scam.

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Nigerian and Other Employment-Money Scam Examples