http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/21/nyregion/21scam.html?hp

Swindles in which someone overseas seeks access to a person’s bank account are so well known that most potential victims can spot them in seconds.

But one man found success by tweaking the formula, prosecutors say: Rather than trying to dupe an account holder into giving up information, he duped the bank. And instead of swindling a person, he tried to rob a country — of $27 million.

To carry out the elaborate scheme, prosecutors in New York said on Friday, the man, identified as Paul Gabriel Amos, 37, a Nigerian citizen who lived in Singapore, worked with others to create official-looking documents that instructed Citibank to wire the money in two dozen transactions to accounts that Mr. Amos and the others controlled around the world.

The money came from a Citibank account in New York held by the National Bank of Ethiopia, that country’s central bank. Prosecutors said the conspirators, contacted by Citibank to verify the transactions, posed as Ethiopian bank officials and approved the transfers.

Mr. Amos was arrested last month as he tried to enter the United States through Los Angeles, a prosecutor, Marcus A. Asner, said in Federal District Court in Manhattan.

Mr. Amos, who was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud, told a federal magistrate judge, “I’m not guilty, sir.” The judge, Andrew J. Peck, ordered him detained pending a further hearing. If convicted, he could face up to 30 years in prison, prosecutors said.

The fraud was uncovered after several banks where the conspirators held accounts returned money to Citibank, saying they had been unable to process the transactions, and an official of the National Bank of Ethiopia said that it did not recognize the transactions, according to a complaint signed by an F.B.I. agent, Bryan Trebelhorn.

A Citigroup spokeswoman said: “We have worked closely with law enforcement throughout the investigation and are pleased it has resulted in this arrest. Citi constantly reviews and upgrades its physical, electronic and procedural safeguards to detect, prevent and mitigate theft.”

A spokesman for the Ethiopian Embassy in Washington said, “We are aware of this unfortunate story.” He said the embassy was not involved in the legal proceedings, and declined further comment. Officials at the National Bank of Ethiopia could not be reached by phone for comment.

Prosecutors said the scheme began in September, when Citibank received a package with documents purportedly signed by officials of the Ethiopian bank instructing Citibank to accept instructions by fax. There was also a list of officials who could be called to confirm such requests. The signatures of the officials appeared to match those in Citibank’s records and were accepted by Citibank, the complaint says.

In October, Citibank received two dozen faxed requests for money to be wired, and it transferred $27 million to accounts controlled by the conspirators in Japan, South Korea, Australia, China, Cyprus and the United States, the complaint says.

Citibank called the officials whose names and numbers it had been given to verify the transactions, prosecutors said. The numbers turned out to be for cellphones in Nigeria, South Africa and Britain used by the conspirators.

Citibank, in its investigation, later determined the package of documents had come via courier from Lagos, Nigeria, rather than from the offices of the National Bank of Ethiopia, in Addis Ababa.

Citibank has credited back the lost funds to the National Bank of Ethiopia, said one person who was briefed about the situation.

2/25/2009 3:00:22 PM

wow, how could you not get caught?

2/25/2009 3:02:56 PM

Haha, damn Nigerians are off the chain with this shit.

2/25/2009 3:03:52 PM

wow, how could you not spot the scam?

2/25/2009 3:05:31 PM

2/25/2009 4:16:53 PM

this reminds me of my big swindle back in 07'

2/25/2009 4:19:11 PM

jnpaul definitely won the tww oscar that year

[Edited on February 25, 2009 at 4:22 PM. Reason : that shit had me pissing in my pants]

2/25/2009 4:22:01 PM

i dont recall that... link?

2/25/2009 4:42:58 PM

Quote :

"Scams have become so successful in Nigeria that anti-sleaze campaigners say swindling is one of the country's main foreign exchange earners after oil, natural gas and cocoa."

http://nowscape.com/scams/NIGERIAN_SCAM_News.htm

2/25/2009 4:50:00 PM

ah... mobility, home heating, chocolate, and.... swindling.... the pleasures of life!

2/25/2009 5:00:03 PM

Is that picture real or is it a chop. If its real, thats gangsta as fuck.

2/25/2009 5:02:34 PM

it is real.

just goes to show american niggas ain't got nothin on them real negroes in africa!


[Edited on February 25, 2009 at 5:04 PM. Reason : ]

2/25/2009 5:04:18 PM

Hahahahahaha

2/25/2009 5:07:48 PM

http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=nigeria%20hyena&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi

2/25/2009 5:08:26 PM

So ngz and pitbulls are quite tamed when compared to Ngnz and hyenas HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

2/25/2009 5:11:41 PM

hyenas are the shit!

2/25/2009 5:20:24 PM

You must have to keep them feed well, like any undomesticated pet, or else they'll attack you if they get hungry enough. Its a shame that the hyenas probably eat more than the people that own them.

2/25/2009 5:26:32 PM

http://davidmurodesign.com/blog/?p=155

The Hyena Men of Abuja, Nigeria 2005

Read... very interesting!

^ True. I might be laughing at all this, but I unconditionally condemn such treatment of animals. Them some animals, those Nigerians, that is. I hope they get eaten by their 'pets'.


And check this pic out, from the link I posted... I didn't know Beckham was in Lagos!

2/25/2009 5:35:06 PM

So a non citizen is going to spend 30 years in an american prison? Awesome

2/25/2009 6:03:59 PM

Quote :

"Prosecutors said the scheme began in September, when Citibank received a package with documents purportedly signed by officials of the Ethiopian bank instructing Citibank to accept instructions by fax."

No one looked up the bank's number to verify?? *facepalm*

2/25/2009 8:40:31 PM

that's okay.

Citibank will be a better business, once we bail them out with taxpayer money.

2/25/2009 11:20:36 PM

also, those "Hyena Men" are traveling performers and animal trainers. they are not average street
thugs with Nigerian version of our pit bulls or rottweilers.

you may or may not approve, but there's no evidence of abuse or mistreatment. no different than
traveling circus or roadside zoo one might see here in the States.

hyenas are fierce hunters and pack animals, and the trainers have to become the alphas of the pack.
or else they will be seriously injured and likely killed. it's not a situation one enters into casually.



[Edited on February 25, 2009 at 11:29 PM. Reason : ]

2/25/2009 11:28:33 PM

Quote :

"These photographs came about after a friend emailed me an image taken on a cellphone through a car window in Lagos, Nigeria, which depicted a group of men walking down the street with a hyena in chains. A few days later I saw the image reproduced in a South African newspaper with the caption 'The Streets of Lagos'. Nigerian newspapers reported that these men were bank robbers, bodyguards, drug dealers, debt collectors. Myths surrounded them. The image captivated me. Through a journalist friend I eventually tracked down a Nigerian reporter, Adetokunbo Abiola, who said that he knew the 'Gadawan Kura' as they are known in Hausa (a rough translation: 'hyena handlers/guides'). A few weeks later I was on a plane to Lagos. Abiola met me at the airport and together we took a bus to Benin City where the 'hyena men' had agreed to meet us. However, when we got there they had already departed for Abuja. In Abuja we found them living on the periphery of the city in a shantytown - a group of men, a little girl, three hyenas, four monkeys and a few rock pythons. It turned out that they were a group of itinerant minstrels, performers who used the animals to entertain crowds and sell traditional medicines. The animal handlers were all related to each other and were practising a tradition passed down from generation to generation. I spent eight days travelling with them. The spectacle caused by this group walking down busy market streets was overwhelming. I tried photographing this but failed, perhaps because I wasn't interested in their performances. I realised that what I found fascinating was the hybridisation of the urban and the wild, and the paradoxical relationship that the handlers have with their animals - sometimes doting and affectionate, sometimes brutal and cruel. I started looking for situations where these contrasting elements became apparent. I decided to concentrate on portraits. I would go for a walk with one of the performers, often just in the city streets, and, if opportunity presented itself, take a photograph. We travelled around from city to city, often chartering public mini-buses. I agreed to travel with the animal wranglers to Kanu in the northern part of the country. One of them set out to negotiate a fare with a taxi driver; everyone else, including myself and the hyenas, monkeys and rock pythons, hid in the bushes. When their companion signalled that he had agreed on a fare, the motley troupe of humans and animals leapt out from behind the bushes and jumped into the vehicle. The taxi driver was completely horrified. I sat upfront with a monkey and the driver. He drove like an absolute maniac. At one stage the monkey was terrified by his driving. It grabbed hold of my leg and stared into my eyes. I could see its fear. Two years later I decided to go back to Nigeria. The project felt unresolved and I was ready to engage with the group again. I look back at the notebooks I had kept while with them. The words 'dominance', 'codependence' and 'submission' kept appearing. These pictures depict much more than an exotic group of travelling performers in West Africa. The motifs that linger are the fraught relationships we have with ourselves, with animals and with nature. The second trip was very different. By this stage there was a stronger personal relationship between myself and the group. We had remained in contact and they were keen to be photographed again. The images from this journey are less formal and more intimate. The first series of pictures had caused varying reactions from people - inquisitiveness, disbelief and repulsion. People were fascinated by them, just as I had been by that first cellphone photograph. A director of a large security company in the USA contacted me, asking how to get in touch with the 'hyena group'. He saw marketing potential: surely these men must use some type of herb to protect themselves against hyenas, baboons, dogs and snakes? He thought that security guards, soldiers and his own pocket could benefit from this medicine. Many animal-rights groups also contacted me, wanting to intervene (however, the keepers have permits from the Nigerian government). When I asked Nigerians, "How do you feel about the way they treat animals", the question confused people. Their responses always involved issues of economic survival. Seldom did anyone express strong concern for the well-being of the creatures. Europeans invariably only ask about the welfare of the animals but this question misses the point. Instead, perhaps, we could ask why these performers need to catch wild animals to make a living. Or why they are economically marginalised. Or why Nigeria, the world's sixth largest exporter of oil, is in such a state of disarray. "

2/26/2009 9:11:59 PM