Nigeria to Send Me $3000US for What?

A Nigerian business, Smeaton Consulting Limited, is offering me $3000 to travel to their country and a salary of $22,000US to become the head of computer operations. While I would like to do this, I am kind of skeptical regarding the fact I can't find any information on them. They have my resume, want to hire me and recently asked if I could make it there by July 3rd(day before Independence Day).
I responded to them through a local job web site and they have similar ads in other jobsites, but only in the US.

What should I do? Anyone able to get information on this company from other than google, couldn't find anything there?

I wouldn't if the salary was 22,000 thats just too low to relocate to a foreign country for any company much less a dubious one. If it was 6 digits then we might talk

Let me quess this company contacted you via the web is this correct? If you get an e-mail and even hints anything about nigeria then its a scam. Nigeria is the home of the largest group of scammers in the world , if im not sadly mistaken over half of its economy is generated by ripping off unsuspecting people in outside countries becuase even if they scam you out of two million nigerian officails will not extradite.

I'm not really concermed too much about money, I just believe it would be a good experience. Also, Nigeria has a low standard of living, the average Nigerian nets $320US a year, so I could live like a king most likely.

I found a job ad in a web site and I responded to their ad via e-mail and then they asked me if I could be there by a certain time.

By any chance is the 3 grand they want to send you in the form of a money oreder or cashiers check for more then 3 thousand? If so let me guess they want you to cash the check then forward the remainder on to thier accounts via western union.

This is called a 401 scam and its more and more common now a days, the check they send you looks official and it may even be a real check but if it is the check will in reality be for only a buck or two and the check has been forged to look like its worth more. Your bank will cash it without any problems and then you forward on the remainder to the nigerian account , 5 days later you check your bank account and its empty becuase the check wasnt real, your out the 3 grand they promissed you plus you are responsible for the money you sent them too.

Check it out:
regionalhelpwanted.com...

SMEATON CONSULTING LTD
7,ADEOLA IYANG CRESENT,
VICTORIA ISLAND,
LAGOS.
NIGERIA.
ATTENTION:
INTRODUCTION
SMEATON CONSULTING LTD, pursuant to the service contract with
The Chevron Nigeria Limited (CNL) and Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation Joint Venture Western Delta gas Program, intends to
Invite experienced and reputable persons having prime experience and
capable of providing IT technical support services (as individuals or
in a team).

I always get those e-mail but just turn on the spam filter, and that it.

You don't understand, THIS IS NOT AN E-MAIL!!!

It came from a website, if this is a scam its not one I am aware of, it was listed on a PUBLIC JOB WEB SITE.
I am familiar with their scams and if it is one, I have not seen this one before.

Last year i was offered money out the wazoo by nigeria via adds, e-mails , or forum postings and all turned out to be scams , rule of thumb is if it has the word nigeria in it , then its a scam. Also you never did answer my question about how where they going to send you 3,000?

Another little oversight is the company states in thier add 22,500 a month , given the economy there this screams scam me........

Yea, but they claim it is a six-month contract for that amount. Assuming they really work for a gas company that probably would not be ridiculous.

I am still waiting for their reply, they asked if i could be there by july 3 and I said I would need the $3000 to make it there, so we'll see...

But yes, I am aware of these scams as well, that is why I became so skeptical because it was in Nigeria. I didn't realize scams were posted on job websites like this, I will keep this thread updated as I get more information.

Well if is serious they money is not worth it, I just turn a legit job for 40k a year as a consultant her in US because I am to busy chatting on ATS, to work (actually is because I have to get shoulder surgery)

But to work in the middle east right now you know that you will be a target to radical groups just for been American.

My husbands (this is not a joke) is offering him a position in kwait in logistics (that his field) and communications and he will be able to carry a gun, and it pays way over 100 grants, now he have to sing a contract in wish he will not hold the company liable for any looses (you imagine what looses right) and is for a year I told him if he does I will divorce him. Half his pension is mine anyway


[edit on 17-6-2004 by marg6043]

Yea, thats what I was concerned about. Assuming they actually give me the 3000 to fly there, I don't want to get in the middle of any conflict. They have about half Christian half Muslim and I am sure theres some terrorists hangin out there.
I don't think I would get anywhere close to all the action in Iraq, Kuwait, huh, yea, thats definitely a risk. It would be an interesting experience to say the least for your husband, living on the edge in the mid east and all that. How could you even have any fun in a place like that, youd basically be holed up the entire time? He'd walk into a Kuwaiti bar and stick out like a sore thumb...

Here is an email I got just today

ATTN PLS;

IMMEDIATE CONTRACT PAYMENT.CONTRACT #:MAV/NNPC/FGN/MIN/009.

From the records of outstanding contractors due for payment with the federal government of Nigeria

your name and company was discovered as next on the list of the outstanding contractors who have not received their payments.

I wish to inform you that your payment is being processed and will be released to you as soon as you respond to this letter.Also note that from my record in my file your outstanding contract payment is us$65.7 million dollars(sixty five million seven hundred thousand united states dollars).

Please re-confirm to me if this is inline with what you have in your record and also re-confirm to me the followings

1) Your full name.

2) Phone, fax and mobile #.

3) company name,position and address.

4)profession, age and marital status.

5) Copy of int'l passport.

As soon as this informations are received, your payment will be made to you in a certified bank draft from central bank of Nigeria and a copy will be given to you for you to take to your bank and confirm it.

You must call me on my direct number as soon as you receive this letter for a serious discussion with me and also get back to me on this e-mail

Regards,

PROF CHARLES SOLUDO.

Executive Governor,Central Bank Of Nigeria.

Direct line:23 41 776 4085.

I believe this an identity theft scam.


Nutzo

I have seen a few job postings even on Monster.com that were scams. The thing that strikes me as odd is the low number per yr, its usually alot higher so to entice. Perhaps its an Identity Scam. Best bet ask for there credentials, Not just there website. But seems very fishy and you DONT wanna go to Nigera now unless you have a death wish.

My husband has been in kwait before but when US were welcome in the middle east.

Serouisly guys ive followed through with theses scams on several different occasions, the first style scam is the one telling you that you and only you can help this poor goverment official who has a ton of money and they want to give it to you. This scam works many different ways but in the end you are out cash no matter what. One way it works is they tell you they need some sort of processing fee or bribe to some official to get the money out of the country and they of course expect you to pay it. Then there is the one where they send you a check and you are to cash it take out a few grand for yourself then western union the remainder to some offshore bank that supposedly will then use the money you send to process the millions of dollars that your going to get. If you do this then 4 or 5 days later the bank will be calling but it wont be to inform you that your a millionare they will be informing you that the check you cashed and western unioned was bogus and you are responsible for the money.

Then there is the one where they contact you if you are selling something on the internet. They will send you an e-mail saying how they really want to buy whatever you are selling and you e-mail them back saying sure. Then you get an e-mail back from them telling you how they have an american buyer that owes them something like ten grand and that there american buyer will send you this 10 grand payment and you should take out whatever your item costs , ( lets say 3 grand ) The addtional 7 thousand is then to be forwarded on to some overseas account via electronic transfer. At that point in time they may or may not give you shipping instructions most of the time they dont ever contact you again. Then just like the rich politician scam you will get a call from the bank a few days later telling you that the check was bogus and that you now owe them 7 grand plus they took the 3 grand out of your account.

Ive done this whole thing several times and its fun as hell to watch how mad they get when they relieze that you didnt fall for it. Ive got over 10 checks they have fed exed to me and all of them look real as hell but if you call the bank they where issued from they will let you know they are bogus. Each time i do this to them it cost them the 30 bucks they have to spend to fed ex the check and it costs them a good fake check so i feel like im doing my little part.

Scam, account disabled. I sent some bait over to see who would bite and it was kicked back:

Message from yahoo.com.
Unable to deliver message to the following address(es).

:
205.158.62.134 does not like recipient.
Remote host said: 550 : Account
Deactivated
Giving up on 205.158.62.134.

--- Original message follows.

Return-Path:

The original message is over 5k. Message truncated to 1K.

Message-ID:
Received: from [65.171.207.194] by web13205.mail.yahoo.com via HTTP;
Thu, 17 Jun 2004 10:01:19 PDT
Date: Thu, 17 Jun 2004 10:01:19 -0700 (PDT)
From: rbtitian
Subject: SMEATON CONSULTING LTD Contract Positions
To: [email protected]
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="0-191337017-1087491679=:21497"

--0-191337017-1087491679=:21497
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Id:
Content-Disposition: inline

Hello. I came across your advertisement and wanted to
offer my services. I have attached my resume for your
consideration. As you can see I meet all of your
requirements.

My weekly rate for overseas work is $7,500 US per week
including reasonable expenses for travel, lodging and
food. This equates to $30,000 US per month or
$360,000 US per year.

I would like to hear more about your needs and how I
might be able to help. I will forward additional
contact information if you are interested in
contracting my services at the above-mentioned rates.

I look forward to hearing from you.

kindest Regar
*** MESSAGE TRUNCATED ***

Titian is right you were just sent a scam letter i have been sent what seems like millions of these kinds of letters obviously the best thing to do is just delete them

[edit on 17-6-2004 by drunk]

Please, run as fast as you can away from this scam. It is just another manifestation of the infamous Nigeria 219 scam. The US gov't even has an email site that you can forward the email to; they have been trying to shut these people down.

People have actually disappeared, and murdered in Nigeria chasing claims of money.

Ask them to send the $3,000 in $US CASH, up front, to your lawyer. See how much money you'll get.

DO NOT GIVE THEM ANY PERSONAL INFORMATION THAT THEY CAN USE, INCLUDING SS NUMBER, ACOUNT NUMBERS, HOME ADDRESS, ETC.

Go to www.snopes.com and enter nigeria into the search field. It will open your eyes.