ScamVictimsUnited.com

Nigeria Scam aided by Western Union & Alibaba.com

First there was the Nigerian scam with the spam letters that
promised you a percentage of a huge inheritance from
their uncle or family member who just passed away.

I get these daily in my email as spam, I've learned to tune
them out, yet, people still get caught by them.

Recently, a more elaborate scam from Nigeria has evolved,
and one that I fell victim of, and lost $1200 U.S.

I was using the site Alibaba.com to find potential suppliers
to purchase goods from. I wanted to test purchasing some
Macbook Pro's, so that I could resell them and make money.

I'm mainly interested in dealing with suppliers from Hong Kong.

Since anyone can open up a free account, and post items for sale, I fell
victim to finding these scammers as a potential supplier to purchase from.

To make a long story short, we spoke on Yahoo messenger for about
10 days, before I finally felt comfortable with the arrangements to get the
goods delivered, they sent me pictures of the laptops, etc.

They agreed that I could hide the MTCN, while the goods were delivered
to me. In my mind I thought since they don't have the MTCN, they won't
be getting the money if they didn't deliver the items to me.

Boy was I wrong with Western Union!

Western Union is helping these scammers because they delivered
the money to them, WITHOUT the need for the MTCN. I hope
anyone reading this really brings up the issue at Western Union, because
Western Union is aiding these scammers.

Yes I know, how is that possible?

A fellow named Jonathan Aaron Mensah from Hong Kong,
either works at Western Union, or knows someone who
works there that is aiding this scam to receive the funds.

These guys received the money WITHOUT the MTCN,
when I called Western Union, the guy on the phone was
very rude, not helpful, and actually blamed me and said
that I should not have purchased goods on the Internet,
and it was my fault I was scammed.

I was under the impression that Western Union would NOT
release the funds unless they had the MTCN.
At least, that's what the lady told me when I purchased it,
and they had a big sign at the Money Mart window, that said
Western Union's new policies required an MTCN and proper ID,
before releasing the funds to the recipient.

Of course, there's much more to this story, but there's only
so much I can cover here. Bottom line is, I was scammed
out of $1200, Western Union delivered the funds to the scammers
WITHOUT the need for the MTCN.

Here's the key info to avoid from these scammers.

Their Phone # in Nigeria is +2348087208883, if anyone
can trace these scammers with the phone #, it'd be great!

They use the name Bestshop Sellers LTD.,
email bestsellers20@gmail.com

The scammer receiving the funds is:

Jonathan Aaron Mensah
30 Fue yeng street
Tai su, Kowloon
Hong Kong
1218

Of course, these are scammers we're dealing with,
so they'll likely change the company name, email, etc.

My advice is, DO NOT do business with anyone from Nigeria, PERIOD.

I have heard nothing but bad things from anyone that has dealt
with Nigerians, these people are heartless, they have no souls,
they actually laugh about it when I called requesting my money back.

If you deal with anyone from Alibaba, deal with Trust Pass members ONLY!

I know I've learned my $1200 lesson

Carlos Garcia

Hi

My name is Manuel, I am in Costa Rica, so I use to search bussiness on Alibaba.com, So I ask to the sellers for Dell Laptops, this man, under the company named Ricohong Electromart based in Hong Kong as it add appears on Alibaba.com.Whit this phone number +852 26035391. this was they contact card Name: Mr Jiang Woo Leave me a message
Company: Ricohong Electromart Ltd
Address: 75 Waterloo Road
Country: Hong Kong
Phone: 852-2603-5391
Fax: 852-2603-5391

They offers me Dell XPS M2010 Laptops, so I sent them via WESTERN UNION to Hong Kong US$2550, to receive it. When I sent it they said that they will ship via DHL to delivery in 48 hours. Time pass, and of course nothing. So I write an email at his email address "Philp Fernador" <unilagmobiles22@yahoo.co.uk> , and they answer me that the COMPANY changes its policies to ship goods, so they now need I send them others US$ 2000 to delivery the double quantity that the company wants to ship me.

The story is very long, I ask them to send me back the money, so they asked my phone number, and I gave it to them, and now every morning at 1 am, they called me, with a strong voice, with an Arab accent, ask me to sent them more money using inapropiated words. They are a very professional to do any dark bussines to obtain money from any who thought in invest and develop any bussiness. I also write to ALIBABA.COM, and they only close its page, but they never told me that it is frequently in this web page.

I also learn my hard US$2550 lesson. Plus US$120 that I paid to Western Union for the transfer cost. I lost US$2670.

Hope the people read about this Fraud Professionals.

Manuel Sancho.

Sorry to hear what happened to you.

You should report this to Western Union, though you won't get your
money back, they may prevent this person from receiving funds again.

You should also contact the Hong Kong police, if you did send the
money to Hong Kong.
http://www.police.gov.hk/hkp-home/english/index.htm

In Alibaba, I've learned that you should only deal with Trust Pass members.

These scammers need to be stopped once and for all.

Hi,
i wish i had seen this forum 3 days ago as i have just been scammed by our Jonathan Aaron.
We paid for 15 ipods but he tried to push 30 ipods onto us, it became clear we would have difficulty getting our goods if we did not purchase another 15, and so stupidly i paid for another 15.
I am currently in contact with him on 002347038069677 in Hong Kong, and the address i have for him is Happy Valley stand 48, he also gave us his CEOs number 002348028305534.
We have just parted with $4700 which has put us in financial trouble but i doubt there is any chance of getting the money back. But if we can catch this bastard it would be a small consolation.
If anyone has the ability to act on this please do so as the contact details given are true as of this moment.

The chances of the scammer being caught are very slim . . . they use fake names, addresses and free email accounts so that they cannot be found. But, posting all of the information that you do have on this person may help to save others. Often potential victims will google the name, address, company name, phone number, email address or other information of the person that they are in contact with. If you have posted that information here, then it will come up in their google search.

Yes its a bitter pill to swallow, but as you say if this message can prevent someone else from being scammed it is worth it.
Please to anyone out there, do not become a victim, we were so stupid we actually almost deserve to have lost the money. It turns out the number i gave above is actually a Nigerian number, and the website for the 'shipping company' is a front, the company is westpostonline.com, which had been created a week ago to con us into believing the items had been posted, we have notified the hosts and the website has been closed down.
To anyone about to buy over the net from abroad, check out the facts with a fine tooth comb and err on the side of suspicion rather than that of faith, this unfortunately is the todays world.

Hi, it really is tough!

I can't believe these guys are still getting away with this.

If I were you, I would call up Western Union and report this
incident, and lead them to these websites to show them how
they are aiding these scammers.

This is solid proof that they are aiding scammers, why you ask?

When I reported what happened to me, the operator was not only rude,
but very arrogant towards me, blaming me for being scammed, but most
importantly, he said he would file a scam report so that Jonathan Aaron Mensah
would not be able to receive any funds in the future.

I believe that the money is sent to Hong Kong, but the scam operations
are in Nigeria, since they sent me their cell phone #.

You should ask to call their cell phone to confirm when you're receiving
your goods, just to get more information on their where abouts.

Report these scammers to the Hong Kong Police as well:
http://www.police.gov.hk/hkp-home/english/index.htm

They have an open investigation now, PM me, and I will send you
the detectives email address.

Well, he has called me at least ten times this morning trying to get me to pay him more money. He does not know i realize what is happening, and i have told him i want to order 100 more units when this shipment arrives. He is now trying to get me to pay for the 100 units before his scam becomes apparent when the shipment does not arrive. The numbers i gave above are still valid, but i dont think i am talking to jonathan aaron as he must be in Hong Kong to receive the funds, or as you say he may have a contact in the money transfer company, the number he is calling from is a cell in Nigeria. I used a moneygram through Bidvest/ Rennies travel, i do not know if they are all interlinked or not but the payment should not have been made if you reported this person a week ago.
I would appreciate the police email in Hong Kong, i shall surely do all i can to thwart his further scams.

Ok , my mistake, I thought you used Western Union.

You should report it to Bidvest/ Rennies travel,
as I'm not sure whether it was Western Union or not.

You should also ask him to email you some info about the Ipod's,
and the specs that are sent, so you have it on record.

This will reveal their IP address from where they're operating from,
and can be useful to the investigation.

Good luck, and I've sent you the Hong Kong police email addy
via Private Message.

I've found the Nigerian police to be useless, as their site
doesn't even work!

thanks, i have emailed Hong Kong Police and i have numerous emails from the thief, but i think our only hope is that the partner in crime in Hong Kong is caught. Nigeria is lawless by all accounts.

If, as part of the scam, he requested that you send him the Western Union wire transfer information and the answer to the security question you set on the transfer then he could be ANYWHERE in the world and pick up the money, no matter WHERE you said that destination actually was, so you could think you are sending it to a guy in Hong Kong, but he actually picks up the money in Nigeria.

Basically, deleiver location means nothing if they have the wire transfer information and security question.

I think you're right admin.

Than Western Union should not give people the impression that
they are a secure service to send money.

When I filled in the sheet to send money, they asked what city
I wanted the money delivered to.

I didn't even know that they'd be able to get the money WITHOUT the MTCN.

I never gave these scammers the MTCN, yet, they were still able
to receive the money.

I will never use Western Union for any reason, Western Union makes
PayPal look amazing!

Your money made it to the hands of the scammer . . . safe and "secure"

If you sent the money to a specific person, by name, they can retrieve the money by showing their identification. They do not need the MTCN. That is the way the system works. If the person had no ID then he would need the MTCN or be able to answer the security question.

Of course I found out the hard way.

I was under the impression that they would not be able to
get the money unless they had the MTCN.

At least, that's what the signs at the WU office said,
as well as the lady I purchased it from. My mistake
for believing them I guess.