Hello 4-1-9 Man...Check out my Dog, Monkey and Baby Fey-Scam!

By George Esunge Fominyen

It is the end of the year and many persons are trying to make some fast money to celebrate properly. Like it or not, one means of getting rich quickly is setting up a scam through the Internet.  Of course, 4-1-9 and fey-men do not only wait for this moment but you surely receive more intriguing emails at this time of the year... A Cameroonian blogger - Kamer Stories -  weaved an interesting post entitled "see me trouble" based on a letter sent to the author's email box by one of these scammers. She told off the scammer: "My man think again, I'm not that gullible. Better luck next time ya". Evidently she thought the author was definitely Nigerian.

True.  Our Nigerian neighbours have made themselves infamous through racketeering via the Internet and other tools... BUT, it could have just been another Cameroonian. We are not so clean either! Our fey-mania has grown (or crossed?) from fake money-doubling deals to selling dogs and monkeys on the net and now we are offering abandoned babies for adoption. There is even a view that this is new capitalist model...

Embassy Warning

If you do a quick google search about "Cameroonian scams" one of the entries on the first page is a US Embassy warning to its citizens:

"Americans are warned to avoid Cameroonian scams.  These scams target foreigners worldwide, posing risks of both financial loss and personal danger to their victims.  Scams are often initiated by credit card use, through telephone calls, from use of Internet cafes in Cameroon, and from unsolicited faxes, letters, and e-mails.  They have been known to involve the sale of puppies, birds, artifacts and parrots. Since July 2006, the Embassy has observed a dramatic increase in Cameroon-originated fraud perpetrated on the Internet. No one should provide personal or financial information to unknown parties or via Cameroonian telephone lines.  Likewise, the Embassy strongly cautions Americans against wiring funds to individuals not known to you personally for goods or services not yet performed or delivered."

While in Cameroon, I had heard of this dog and pets "fey-mania" thing but had little time to work on it. So, I picked up the lead from the US Embassy warning and searched for scams on pets in Cameroon. My heart sunk at the multiplicity of things I saw. Visit the following web thread ridiculing the scams from Cameroonians about dogs... Another thread is simply entitled: I'm sick of Cameroonian scams look at this: 

"Hello Woman,
i have just contacted the Doualaairportvtelling them to take care of my puppies.Listen and listen very carefully,yeah i am alredy a death woman since you have decided to kill me.but if i lost this puppies,i have earlier promised to my son that any body who plays with these puppies,i kill him or her.so i will use what is called Africa Juju and destroy you fro your animals to your last gran child.this is from the mouth os a crying old poor woman.i will kill you all spiritually and die too with you.if anything happens to my puppies.so make sure nothing happens to them.I WILL NEED YOUR BLOOD AND THE BLOOD OF YOUR FAMILY IF MY BABIES GET MISSING.
SO THEEALIER YOU PAY FOR THE INSURANCE AND GET THEM,THE BETTER.I HAVE EARLIER TOLD YOU I WILL HELP WITH $500 ALTHOUGH I AM VERY POOR BUT IT IS FOR THE SAKE OF MY CHILDREN.SO TAKE CRE OR YOU AND YOURFAMILY LOOSE YOUR LIVES.THEY ARE VERY IMPORTANT TO ME,.SO IF YOU KNOW WHAT IS GOOD FOR YOU AND YOUR FAMILY,GO AND SEND THE MONEY AND CLEAR MY PUPPIES FROM FRANCE"

Monkey Scams

As my search progressed, I stumbled on an anti-fraudsters web-thread:http://www.fraudwatchers.org/forums/showthread.php?t=2458They have noticed that apart from dogs, Cameroonians excel at promising monkeys! Here's an experience:

"I have been corresponding with a man claiming to be a retired Vet/pet trainer who is volunteering for "Tropical Research Program/Pets and Animal Welfare Support Services and Rescue Foundation,registered and supported by the International Fund for Animal Welfare in Cameroon.He claims they are able to offer monkeys for adoption and ship worldwide,except Austrila.

I sent him $750 to cover adoption fees and shipping which he claims was picked up by someone else from the bank and will not send my Capuchin.He says that their "board will send me one if I send another $490-250 adoption fee and 240 shipping-and refund the $750 after the so called investigation is complete! He is e-mailing copies of his license and shipping documentation to prove they can ship to the US tomorrow.I have tried e-mailing the IFAW but havent gotten a response yet! Will try calling them tomorrow though to verify his story but meanwhile I'm out $750!"

Baby's on offer on the net from Cameroon

I thought I read enough until I got this warning:

If you received an email that is written in broken English from a person who claims to have a baby for adoption, do NOT respond. These are nearly all Cameroon scams. These people are hoping that your desperation to adopt an infant will cause you to send them money. The person does not have a baby or child for adoption. Even if there was a real child, you cannot adopt privately from a foreign country. You must have an international homestudy, INS approval, a referral, and passports. They are lying to you when they say that you can adopt directly, without a lot of expense. 

The theme used on most of these letters is the same. The child is somehow abandoned. Either one, or both parents have tragically died or been killed. No relative is available to care for the child and the poor father of the orphanage is seeking a loving family to provide a home. The child is of course healthy and Caucasian."

 Cameroon is not perfect. Corruption is rampant, poor governance is a fact of life and poverty is a daily reality for many. But I love that little triangle and it aches badly when it's making news for really bad reasons. I therefore tried to seek an explanation for this rise in conmaniship. First, I thought it is the result of youths who have grown up in a state run by thieving leadership... It could be the result of poverty? Is it the result of brilliant minds being idle and thus using their intelligence in the negative way? Or is it a way at getting some honey from this western hemisphere that has been milking our resources away courtesy of a comprehensive leadership?

An African twist to perverse ccapitalism

In my quest for answers I landed on a deep academic piece: Cameroonian fey-men and Nigerian "419" scammers: Two examples of Africa 're-invention' of Global Capitalism"by Basile Ndjio. The author is a lecturer at the University of Douala in Cameroon and was a visiting Fellow at the African Studies Centre, Leiden in the Netherlands between April and June 2008. To him, this is basically an African twist to the greed and chauvinism of capitalism:

"It is a pity that both academics and experts have given insufficient attention to the strategies of malfeasance of young Cameroonian feymen and Nigerian advance fee fraudsters, their subversive play of the logics of neo-liberal capitalism, and their audacious challenge of the ethical and judicial codes and that inform the global economic activities. We have shown in this paper that one of the remarkable forms of African work on the global capitalism, was its mischievous transformation by young African business adventurers and transnational confidence tricksters into a global economy of magic trick and dissimulation. In this moral economy of dishonesty in which ethics no longer makes sense, business transactions are turned into a fool bargain: one business partner acting as the truant (trickster) and another playing the naive role of the bon (dupe or mark) who invests everything for receiving nothing. This third world mimic of global economy, as Homi Bhabha (1994) would put it, embodies not only African bricolages (patched-up jobs) of capitalism, but also the effort of some Africans to 'reinvent' the global capitalist system. Though some critics might disagree with our interpretation of feymania and '419' scam, we believe that a radical form taken by this economic of swindle and deception suggests that a new form of entrepreneurship may be emerging not only in Africa, but across the world, if acknowledges the fact young Cameroonian and Nigerian international swindlers and confidence tricksters are now exporting their expertise and craft in places as remote as the Caribbean, Philippines, Russia, China, Hong Kong, and Singapore (Roberts 2002; Perry 2003)."

Wow! I thought. There is really always more to a painting than generally meets the eye!

I should be proud then that  Nigerians and my countrymen have invented a new model of entrepreneurship aka feymania!? Instead of feeling hurt about how difficult it is to obtain a visa into Kenya because authorities there are wary that I may be up to no good, I should explain that we have a response to reckless capitalism!?  

No, that's not necessarily what Dr Ndjio's article suggests. It is more of an astute economic explanation to a social phenomenon and an intellectual positioning with regards to what capitalism is today. 

I wonder though how useful such arguments would have been for the Cameroonians in this case in the US in 2007 . Who knows? Had their lawyer(s) laid out these dimensions to their money-doubling act the judges may have mellowed their sentences?!

Which ever way you would like to look at this 419/Fey-mania business - it's not a Nigeria only thing; and I do not like the way immigration police officers scrutinize my passport and my face with piercing eyes and a quizzical facial expression on which you can read: "is this another dog/monkey/adoption and money-doubling crook?!"

Comments

[akwe]

OH Boy ! I just finished talking to my mum on the phone and she told me "scammers have invaded cyber cafés out here in Bamenda and am scared of using the internet these days". I laughed but I thought , that must be pretty serious and scary.A few minutes later I stumbled on this post.Confirming what I got on the phone! What's happening? Is it the search for "easy cash"?.
Thanks for the piece George.I found it so enlightening.

[Dibussi]

Hi Gef,

Here is another puppy scam that was reported today in a British newspaper:

Couple duped by Cameroon puppy scam

From left, Barry Johnson, Kayleigh Holmes and Joshua Holmes

« Previous « PreviousNext » Next »View GalleryADVERTISEMENT Published Date:
18 December 2008
By Stef Hall
A pregnant mum has told how she ended up hundreds of pounds out of pocket after being duped into buying a non-existent puppy by Internet fraudsters.
Mum-of-one Kayleigh Holmes, 23, from Deepdale, warned animal lovers to steer clear of the online pet scam after trying to buy a King Charles Cavalier puppy for her three-year-old son.

Kayleigh and her partner Barry Johnson, 29, responded to an advert on a UK classifieds website after deciding to buy a King Charles puppy – normally around £400 – for just £150.

The heartless online fraud involves adverts offering pedigree dogs for a fraction of the usual price.

Enticed by cute pictures and details of the pet's background, the couple were persuaded to send the cash by money transfer.

Kayleigh says: "We had our hearts set on the puppy and rang the woman, who told us she was in Aberdeen on a course but that she would use a cargo service to deliver the dog to us.

"We sent £150 for the dog to Cameroon – we thought it was odd but were gullible and just wanted the dog."

Kayleigh and Barry wired the money through a payment at their local post office, and received a phone call from a man claiming to be from a pet cargo depot saying the dog was being loaded into a wagon.

But moments later they got an e-mail claiming the dog could not be released until they sent a £600 fee to cover its insurance, injections and transportation costs.

Kayleigh, from Ringwood Road, added: "We smelled a rat and rang the woman who was selling the dog to see what was going on – but the same man answered the phone.

"We told them we would call the police which we did. However, we have lost the £150 because the payment can't be traced.

"It is a very cruel fraud because they know people have their heart set on a puppy. We were furious."

Police warned potential pet owners to be on their guard. PC Andrew Knight revealed a second family in the Lea area had suffered a similar scam.

He said: "We've had a number of similar scams involving a range of items. It appears the current issue is over dogs but as soon as the scammers are alerted we are on their trail it will change to something else. If it seems too good to be true then it probably is.

"If you see a £1,000 dog advertised for £500 it should set alarm bells ringing. You should always make sure you know who you are dealing with. Sending cash via Western Union or Money is OK if you know who the cash is going to but it is not a secure way of paying for something. "

Caroline Kisko, Kennel Club spokesman, said: "Puppy buyers should always be extremely careful. You should always make sure that you see the puppy with the mother and in its home environment."

http://www.lep.co.uk/news/Couple-duped-by-Cameroon-puppy.4802596.jp

[Dibussi]

Also, check out this link for the narrative of an American student whose email account was hijacked this summer in Kumba - http://wheredaveis.com/?p=1730

According to a recent posting on the camnet forum:

"This is a new scam that has been going on in Cameroon (and most definitely Nigeria) for over a year now. Criminals trawl internet cafes for customers with yahoo, hotmail and other accounts who fail to sign out from their accounts after checking emails. These criminals take the time to read the victim's emails so that they can develop an accurate profile of the person before drafting their 419 email.They then pull up names from the victim's contact list and send emails asking for money. This is why the recipients are always folks who have communicated with or know the victim. In this case" anyone who knows Paulinus Jua will agree that this is a very plausible scenario.

[GEF]

Dibussi,

The one about using yahoo-type accounts whose owners do not properly sign-out is reigning these days. I have received at least two such in the last month.

Fortunately, I had already encountered such a scam attempt last year. The scammer used a contact of ours who is a police officer and nearly got us on the hook.

Fortunately, he slightly mis-timed his coup as the man who was supposedly stranded in a hotel in Nigeria, was safely at home in Cameroon and spoke to us on the phone when we decided to call before reacting.

Sharp isn't it?

[Kamer]

Hi Gef, just came back from a long break in which I did not read my emails.
True that about Cameroonian fey persons increasing in leaps and bounds. Really, with these internet scams, the scammer could be from anywhere, you never know. Been hearing a lot about the Cameroonian puppy scam and I must say it is quite scary. The one about using people's email accounts is also alarming. Will there ever be an end to these?

[jeff paul scam]

Fortunately, I had already encountered such a scam attempt last year. The scammer used a contact of ours who is a police officer and nearly got us on the hook.

[BELL ROSE NTUBE NGOLE]

Massa, i recieved one here about some fake employment to work from home. A week later i recieved a check of 3800 dollars. Surprised at why someone would send me a check when i have not delivered the goods yet-my antennas went up. I knew the smart guyz were at work. I later got a mail from the scammers telling me it was an error.They explained that 2000 dollars was to be sent to their distributor and i should keep 1800 as part of my first pay check- how funny?
I send them a reply and told they i was not a "mugu"
Do you guyz know that all the different scams have been exposed on Oprah and on Msnbc? I heard Oprah describing scam victims the other day as "mugus. It was so funny.
I wonder when this naija guyz dem go stop dis their badmanners.
Almost all Africans are being discredited today because of some of these bad seeds.

[tony]

I can assure you that the 419 thing is now global BELL ROSE. The only certainty is that Nigerians were first out of the box with one particular variant. Believe me, Cameroon has now caught up. Along with CIV, Mali, Ghana and other countries in the sub-region. 419 has many applications, look at the Madoff 'Ponzi' scandal and global stock-market meltdown. The link between 419 and capitalism is long overdue. 419 is an acute form of this economic condition and as such, requires longer treatment!

[debbie goodwin]

I am not in the best mood I have been scammed for the purchase of a african grey parrot. I was told the bird would arrive by congo airlines and just about the time the bird was to arrive something would come up like a license for flight or document for insurance or rental for a cage or a document that says the bird can travel with us all over the world I was taken for a lot of money