Thread: [TUT] Posible ways to spot a scammer. Works most of the time.

Hey Judderman
Very unusual for someone to condemn their own country so vociferously would like to see your proof

In proper deference to your disclaimer at the start of this discussion thread, saying that you are sorry and you don't intend to offend anyone due to their country of origin, please understand that I am not offended. I only seek to clear the air about some matters, and in particular about Nigeria.

I am a Nigerian, and as much as you hear a lot about corruption and scams in Nigeria I am proud to tell you that I have never been involved in any of these scams; not because I am ignorant of the methods employed, but because of my personal integrity and commitment to hard work. And I must let you know that I am not alone in this. There are indeed MANY of us who conduct legal business, but a few bad eggs make the entire lot seem to stink to high heavens; and the general opinion is that "Nigerians are scammers".

I am a programmer/web developer and I have recently tried to conduct legit business with some people online. Thankfully I have a graduate education in engineering so my English (speaking, listening, writing, and reading) is flawless. But immediately they hear I am from Nigeria, most of the time, they balk and scamper. The funny thing here is that the Nigerians who would scam you, will ALMOST NEVER tell you that they are Nigerians or are resident in Nigeria. So if I tell you that I am from Nigeria and I am not asking you to send me any money or personal or confidential information but to DISCUSS business, I believe the least you can do (not to offend my sensibility) is to suspend myths and avoid doubt by hearing me out first of all.

Besides, those of us Nigerians who conduct legal and proper business online already face numerous frustrations from this gross and vulgar labelling. I cannot operate my PayPal account (registered while outside the country) because any logins from a Nigerian IP will cause PayPal to suspend the account. To make my transactions, I have to TRUST my friend (who is in the UK) with my funds, she would login on my behalf and carry out transactions. For similar reasons I cannot create a new PayPal account. Nor a ClickBank account. And the list grows much longer, as many other sites do not have Nigeria among their lists of countries in their registration forms. Of course it is possible to bypass some of these restrictions by changing your IP address or employing false location/residential data, but I am not one to use a false address for business transactions. I like to keep my business clean.

In all, I am only saying that no matter how ridiculed a country is for illegal activities, assuming that every one of its citizens is a criminal is a rather odious view that some of us here hold. Some of us in those unpopular countries indeed carry out entirely honest work.

Regards from Enxiad