The greatest ever 419 scam

[furball]

We did about this in Trusts on Friday. I thought I should bring it to everyone's attention - it's just that amazing. Quite how people manage to fall for this sort of this is completely beyond me. This lot were some oil barons from Kuwait - jackpot baby! They lost $1.375 million.


Adnan Shaaban Abou-Rahmah, Khalid Al-Fulaij & Sons General Trading & Contracting Co (crazy rich Kuwaiti people) v Al-Haji Abdul Kadir Abacha, Qumar Bello, Aboubakar Mohammed Maiga (scammers), City Express Bank of Lagos (the bank that the scammers used), Profile Chemical Limited


I won't go into the legal details, but here are the facts.

(scroll down to the 4th post in the thread for a summary - this quote's from the actual judgement in the case.

Originally Posted by The Hon. Mr Justice Treacy

1 This claim arises out of a fraud of which the Claimants say they were victims. The perpetrators of the fraud are alleged to be the 1st to 3rd Defendants. There is also a claim against the 5th Defendant. This trial has been solely concerned with the actions of the 4th Defendant, City Express Bank of Lagos.

2 The background to the fraud is as follows. In about May 2001 the 1st Claimant was contacted by the 2nd Defendant. The 2nd Defendant wanted the Claimant's assistance on behalf of the 1st Defendant to invest some $65m in an Arab country. Subsequent to this request, the 1st Claimant went to the West African country of Benin and met the 1st to 3rd Defendants to discuss the matter. During his meeting with them he was told that the 1st Defendant intended to create a family trust of some $65m which he wished to transfer to the 1st Claimant as a Trustee to invest in an Arab country. A formal Trust agreement was entered into on the 14 August 2001. In return for his assistance, the 1st Claimant was promised some 40% of the Trust capital and some 15% of the income produced. The agreement, he says, was that those monies once transferred to Kuwait, (from which country the 1st Claimant emanates), would be invested in real estate. He claims that the real estate market in Kuwait was very buoyant and that very generous returns on investments were possible.

3 The 2nd Claimant agreed to assist the 1st Claimant in making suitable investments with the proposed trust money and there was an agreement asserted to exist between those two claimants that they would share in any monies made from the 1st Claimant's agreement with the 1st to 3rd Defendants. That agreement between the 1st and 2nd Claimants does not appear ever to have been reduced to writing.

4 The 1st to 3rd Defendants claimed that the trust money was located in Benin. Having obtained the agreement of the 1st Claimant to act as their trustee in Kuwait in administering the scheme after receipt of funds, there then emerged, according to the 1st to 3rd Defendants, a series of bureaucratic obstacles to transfer which could only be overcome by payments being made. Over a period of time, the 1st Claimant was asked by the 1st to 3rd Defendants, to contribute towards those payments. A pattern emerged of unexpected requests for money which the 1st to 3rd Defendants said they would pay, but to which they eventually ended up asking the 1st Claimant to make a contribution. In compliance with their requests, the 1st Claimant, in August 2001, paid $100,000 in cash as part of the fee of $450,000 which it was claimed had to be paid to the Ministry of Finance in Benin in order to secure authorisation for the transfer of the alleged Trust money. In October and November 2001 the 2nd Claimant, at the request of the 1st Claimant, paid a total of $450,000 as part of what the 1st Claimant had been told was a fee which needed to be paid to the Benin Drug Enforcement Agency in order to obtain a drugs certificate required for the release of the money. On 9 January 2002 and on 5 February 2002 the 2nd Claimant, at the request of the 1st Claimant, paid $400,000 and $225,000 respectively into the 4th Defendant's HSBC Bank account in Poultry London. Those payments were made with instructions that the money was to be held for the benefit of Trust International, which was the name of the party to whom the 1st Defendant had instructed the 1st Claimant to pay the money. The 1st Claimant had been told that these two payments of $400,000 and $225,000 were VAT payable on the alleged trust money.

5 In March 2002, the 2nd Claimant, again at the request of the 1st Claimant, paid the sum of $200,000 as part of what he was told was the fee for an Anti-Terrorist certificate required for transfer of the alleged trust money. Despite these payments having been made and despite assurances throughout the process that each successive payment would trigger the release of the trust money, the trust money was never transferred to the 1st Claimant. The 1st, 2nd and 3rd Defendants have disappeared. It became clear that the scheme was a scam used to defraud the Claimants of a total of $1.375m, representing the sums referred to above.

6 The 4th Defendant is a Nigerian registered Bank, hereinafter referred to as "the Defendant". It has no branches in the UK. It held a bank account at HSBC in London known as the "CEB Independent Account". This account was used to receive sums in dollars and sterling in London. Against that account, the 4th Defendant could release sums in Nigerian Naira to customers in Nigeria. Payments of $400,000 and $225,000 matching those referred to at Paragraph 4 above were released to customers at the Defendant's branch in Apapa, Nigeria. The customers to whom the money was released do not appear to be any of the first three Defendants. The customers who obtained the monies opened the account using names of Mr Ibrahim and Mr Saminu. They operated under the business name Trusty International. The name of this account, it will be noted, varies from the name of Trust International for whose benefit the money paid into the HSBC account by the Claimants was instructed to be held.

The bank went into liquidation so the claimants never got anything. Shame :crymeariver:

[Mistwraith]

ohh dear.. the more money the less brain cells they have.

i've had mails like that, about goldand diamonds and south africa .. laughed and deleted.

[Deffeh]

far far far too long and uninteresting. summary plz

[furball]

Originally Posted by Deffeh

far far far too long and uninteresting. summary plz

Fair enough, on a re-read it's just one ****ing huge lump of text. Don't do law kids!


Scammers get in touch with the Kuwaitis, asking for help to invest $65m in an Arab country. They go to Benin to check things out. The plan is for the $65m (as part of a trust) to be transferred to the Kuwaitis, and then in return for their assistance, they were promised 40% of the trust capital and some 15% of the income produced by it from investing the money in real estate. MEGA BIG BUCKS AHOY.

Suprise suprise, a series of 'bureaucratic obstacles' arise which require 'payments' to be made to overcome them. The Kuwaitis get asked to contribute money towards them, which they repeatedly do, being told each time that that payment would release the trust money. The scammers then disappear, taking $1.375 million with them.

[jt25man]

I like the "I'm stuck in South Africa, if I could just send you this check and cash it for me, you can keep half."

[Appocomaster]

This is why I enjoy places like http://www.419eater.com/ so much