Meet "Kamil Momoh," Nigerian 419 Advance Fee scammer extraordinare. We were put in touch with dear Kamil once again through the Urban Legends Message Board when someone wrote in to thank the site's creators for posting information which allowed him or her to see the situation for the scam that it is (apparently it's not as obvious as previously believed).



Comment: Dear Sir/Madam

I wish, first of all, to express my highest gratitude to you, for saving me a lot of money, and a lot of nerves, too.

Namely, I have almost been drawn into a "once in a lifetime opportunity" to become a millionaire, by one of "the Nigerian Government's official of the highest rank"! He was playing with me for about two weeks, and actually succeeded in pursuading me that what he was talking about was absolute truth. I was, literally, five minutes away from sending him requested "gifts" for bribing "some other officials in the Contract Review Panel", when something in my mind told me to search the Net for a little while. I've visited altavista.com, entered the keywords "Nigeria, Contract Review Panel", and have been brought to a list of related sites, among which yours was the one I liked most.

Well, thanks to God On Heavens, and your eyes-opening web-site, one minute was enough for me to see what a sucker I must have been!!!

To show my gratitude to you, I have copied every single item of correspondence with this "honorable Dr. Kamil Momoh", and pasted it (after erasing some of my personal data) in a single Word document, which I would like to send as an attachment (but I don't know your e-mail addres). I would highly appreciate if you could post it on your site, in order to prevent any other person from becoming a victim of these scams.

I must also note that my last chat on ICQ has happened only yesterday, so that he still doesn't know that I KNOW!!! His current e-mail address is kamil_momoh@yahoo.fr, his ICQ number is , and nickname kamilmomoh. I really DO hope that you can catch him somehow.

Once again, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!



Well, bless your simple soul, he doesn't know we know either, hee hee. Upon reading this we immediately fired off the following to Dr. Kamil:



From: "Matt Truslow" m_truslow@hotmail.com
To: kamil_momoh@yahoo.fr
Subject: Re: Strictly Urgent and Confidential
Date: Mon, 19 Aug 2002 08:52:19 -0400

Dear Sir,

I am extremely interested in partnering with you in this business proposal. My friends are always commenting on how exceptionally trustworthy and honest, therefore I suggest to you that you need look no further for a partner.

Please send me further details at your earliest convenience.

Matt



And like manna from heaven, Kamil quickly obliged:



From: Kamil Momoh kamil_momoh@yahoo.fr
To: m_truslow@hotmail.com
Subject: RE: PARTNERSHIP (COMPREHENSIVE DETAILS)
Date: Tue, 20 Aug 2002 10:05:25 +0200 (CEST)

Dear Matt,

Thank you very much for your positive response to our letter of mutually benefiting business proposal. We have discussed your response, and having the firm belief that we can count on your total support, we will proceed without any reservations to bring you into the complete picture of the pending project, as equally requested by you.

Before doing this, we will like to stress the importance of confidentiality as we are career civil servants still in active service and would not want our names brought to the odium or our long tenure in office jeopardized, as only a non-religious compliance of this basic essential is the only thing capable of importing any risk to this project, which under our modalities is 100% risk free, once we get total co-operation from you. Please do not let us down. We recognize the magnitude of trust involved in availing us the use of your facilities for this project. We know what we are doing, and would not engage in it if we were not absolutely confident about success in all its ramifications. Be rest assured that you can count on us, we will not let you down.

My colleagues and I (5 nos.) are members of the Contract Review Panel (CRP) set up to review contracts awarded and paid for in the last 10 years, and those yet to be paid for, thus giving us the exclusive mandate to validate payment claims for contracts executed for which payment has not been made. Where we are satisfied about the authenticity of such claims we go ahead to issue approval for of the contract sum to the concerned contractor. In other-words, it is our sole responsibility to approve all payment of contracts executed for all federal government statutory corporations in our country.

However, in the course of our review, we discovered the said amount, US$9.7m floating, which based on our common knowledge, was apparently supposed to have been siphoned by the erstwhile military officers in the last administration to private Swiss accounts for their personal benefit. This we are sure about because in the course of our review of contracts awarded and paid for, the existence of this money did not manifest in any of our record sheets. If they had succeeded nobody would have discovered that such funds ever existed. With the said funds presently floating, we believe that this is our once in a lifetime opportunity to better our lives and provide for our children's future. We ask you to see reasons with us why we cannot afford to let this opportunity slip away, especially as we are influentially capable by reason of our official position at the CRP, to see to the lifting of the funds outside the country risk free, for our own use. It is on this basis that we seek your assistance in achieving this our set goal.

Our perfected modalities for the transfer of this funds is for it to be made in the capacity of a contract payment to your company on behalf of us all, for a contract perceived to have been executed by your company for the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). Consequently, we would have to register your company name with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), as a foreign company/firm registered to do business in Nigeria and also with the NNPC as a category 'A' contractor. (Please furnish me with your company details to facilitate the registration as stated above and also, please note that the fact that you do not own an existing company is immaterial because we can register one for you over here in Nigeria. This will be done legally and officially). These will all be back dated 3 years to accommodate when the contract was perceived to have been awarded and executed for which you are now laying claims. To this effect, I am sending along two different texts (A&B), which we would want you to reproduce on your company letterhead and pro-forma invoice respectively and fax back to me immediately or better still through e-mail as attachments. With the presentation of the application for claims, the official position would be that your company executed a contract for the NNPC, for which it is entitled to the payment sum of US$9.7m, which is the total contract sum.

Immediately we receive the claims application, we will officially validate the claims here at the CRP as your contract entitlement and thereafter forward the file to the Federal Ministry of Finance (FMF), for the Foreign Exchange Approval Order to be issued by the Exchange Control Division of the FMF. This is necessary since the payment is not in our local currency (Naira), but in a foreign currency (US Dollars). From the Exchange Control Division, the payment file is moved to the International Remittance Office (IRO), of the FMF for final payment processing. This is the endorsement (signing) of the fund release documents i.e.; (1) The foreign Payment Order (2)International Payment receipt (3) International Payment Voucher. At this stage, you will be contacted by the FMF regarding its modus operandi. Please note very importantly that at this stage, we will totally count on you to keep us abreast with all correspondence with the FMF since we (my colleagues and I) will not be able to have any direct dealings with the Finance Ministry so as not to arouse any form of suspicion within official circles.

It is also pertinent at this stage to assure you that this project will be carried out strictly and religiously within all laid down procedures and the transfer will also pass through all local and international transfer laws and regulations. The complete officialization of the process will cater for all inquiry (if any) by your bankers as to the source of the funds when it arrives your account (for us all), as your bankers can verify the source from the CBN if they wish. However, in the interest of bolstering confidentiality at this stage of commencement of the project, we advise that you should for now, stall whatever discussions you may wish to have with your bankers in respect of your expectation of the funds until we advice otherwise, at such time better for our firm peace of mind, as the direct participants of this project.



He does go on, doesn't he? That last sentence is a classic too, wouldn't have been at all surprised if he had included "...so that we can escape more better when your funds disappear."



However, be rest assured that my colleagues and I have collectively kept certain funds aside, which we believe will take us through successfully to the end of this transaction. We will incur the expenses of the registration of your company with both the CAC and NNPC, the anticipated 1-year tax, under-table tips, etc. But please note and very importantly that if for any reason at all, your financial assistance is needed in the spirit of partnership, it will not be such as to cause to you in anyway any financial embarrassment. This will be borne out of the fact that for one reason or the other, we exceed our budget. Note also, that your assistance will be sought by way of gift items to certain directors who will be directly responsible for the endorsement of your fund release documents. These gifts should be seen to have originated from your country thereby coming directly from you to these directors to show appreciation and the authenticity of your claim. This approach will definitely speed up things, as these directors will feel indebted to you on acceptance of your gratification. This is our position as originators of this project, as we will not want to be led on and abandoned in our time of need and assistance.

On your receipt of the funds, I on behalf of my associates and myself will fly down to your country for the sharing purposes and to commence our business plans. To achieve this, we shall totally count and rely on you. My colleagues and I have unanimously agreed that you will manage our share of the funds in the interest of us all. We are prepared to draw up a trust agreement to this effect. The benefits are enormous so also are the responsibilities, hence the setting aside an abstract projection of 1% of the total sum to take care of all mutual expenses towards the attainment of our common goal. This will be used to reimburse both parties after the funds have successfully arrived your account for us all before the actual sharing in the ratio already spelt out in our proposal to you. This is so because the total funds at stake is presently lodged in a Federal Government account of the CBN and no dime can be withdrawn from it until all necessary applications and approvals have been duly and officially carried out. Note and very importantly that if you follow our instructions religiously, promptly and accordingly as the originators, the project can be accomplished within 10 to 14 working days, totally risk free. Be rest assured that you can count on us, we will not let you down.

Once again, I thank you for your prompt response and please remember that confidentiality is our watchword, as the advantages accruable to us all from strict compliance can never be over-emphasized.

We await your urgent response to enable us commence the project, as time is of equal essence as confidentiality, as we would like to fall into the payment schedule of contractors slated for the second financial quarter of this year. My direct tel./fax number remains 234-80-234-10616. I will urge you to give me a telephone call immediately upon receipt of this mail for further verbal discussions and clarifications if any. We acknowledge the porous and obsolete state of our international dialing system, but please keep on trying as only persistent efforts will yield positive results. On the alternative, you can e-mail me immediately upon receipt of this mail.

Best regards,
Dr. Kamil Momoh.

TYPE (TEXT A) ON YOUR LETTER HEAD PAPER
(A)
THE DIRECTOR GENERAL,
ENGINEERING AND PROJECT DIVISION,
NIGERIAN NATIONAL PETROLEUM CORPORATION,
WUSE OFFICE COMPLEX, P.M.B. 12701.
ZONE 3, ABUJA.

ATTENTION: ALHAJI A. HARUNA.

DEAR SIR,

CONTRACT N0: PED/043/NNPC/WR-PH/99.
1. FLUSHING AND CALIBERATION OF THE IKOT-EKPENE/UYO AXIAL STATION.
2. LAYING OF FLOW PIPES FROM WARRI TO PORTHARCOURT:
3. REPAIR OF FAULTY TURBINE AT THE BONNY LIGHT HARBOUR.

WITH REFERENCE TO YOUR LETTER N.N.P.C / PED VOL / 03225 DATED 11TH DECEMBER 2000 AND ARTICLE 9.0. OF OUR SUPPLEMENTARY AGREEMENT WE TAKE THE LIBERTY TO SUBMIT TO YOU THE ATTACHED INVOICE NO…. FOR THE AMOUNT OF US$9,700,000.00 (NINE MILLION, SEVEN HUNDRED THOUSAND U.S DOLLARS) ONLY, BEING PAYMENT DUE TO US ON THE COMPLETION OF THE ABOVE-MENTIONED CONTRACT.

IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE AFOREMENTIONED ARTICLES OF AGREEMENT AND ALL OTHER RELEVANT AMENDMENTS THERETO, WE WOULD BE PLEASED IF THIS AMOUNT IS REMITTED IN FULL TO OUR UNDERMENTIONED BANK ACCOUNT.

BANK NAME ………………………………………..………………………………..…
BANKERS ADDRESS…………..……………………………………………………….
BANK TEL N0 ………………TELEX..……………..………. FAX N0.………………
BANK ACCOUNT N0 ………… ..SWIFT CODE…………………………...………..

YOUR PROMPT SETTLEMENT OF THIS BILL WILL BE HIGHLY APPRECIATED.

THANKS FOR YOUR CO-OPERATION.

YOURS FAITHFULLY.

STAMP AND SIGN.

TYPE (TEXT B) ON YOUR PROFORMA INVOICE
(B)
THE DIRECTOR GENERAL
ENGINEERING AND PROJECT DIVISION,
INVOICE N0 ……
NIGERIAN NATIONAL PETROLEUM CORPORATION.
DATE………………
WUSE OFFICE COMPLEX P.M.B. 12701
ZONE3,ABUJA.

ATTENTION: ALHAJI A. HARUNA.

CONTRACT NO. PED/043/NNPC/WR-PH/99.

FLUSHING AND CALIBERATION OF THE IKOT-EKPENE/UYO AXIAL STATION:
US$4,320,000.00

LAYING OF FLOW PIPES FROM WARRI TO PORTHARCOURT:
US$3,180,000.00

REPAIR OF FAULTY TURBINE AT THE BONNY LIGHT HABOUR:
US$2,200,000.00

TOTAL: US$9,700,000.00

CONTRACT CODE:………………………. 89 / F G N /N.N P.C. / 99.
CONTRACT AMOUNT………..………….. US$9,700,000:00. (NINE MILLION, SEVEN HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS)

SIGN AND STAMP



So there you have it. Dr. Kamil wants this to be quick and easy, but we all know that just isn't going to happen...Click here to continue, or here to go home.