February 15, 1997, La Nouva, Venezia: Man from Mestre Sends out an Alarm to Merchants and Startup Companies

Mestrino lancia l’allarme a commercianti e imprenditori - La truffa arriva per lettera, Proposta d’affari col trucco
Man from Mestre Sends out an Alarm to Merchants and Startup Companies - The Scam Arrives by Letter, Business Offer with a Trick

By Elisio Trevisan

A business letter that arrives from afar, from Lagos, Nigeria. A proposition to transfer millions of dollars, from Africa to Italy. A super-scam to damage businesses and entrepreneurs, all those on the list of the Italian chambers of commerce. Also in Venetian ones: and it was Roberto Capodieci, of Mestre, owner of a private business, who gave the alarm and reported it to the office of the Guardian of Finance.

The scam is a simple one. Capodieci received a letter sent from the capital of Nigeria. “Confidential Business Proposals”, in practice a semi-secret business proposal from a businessman of Lagos. Who, as you read in the letter, does not hide his intentions but assures you that your co-involvement as his “accomplice” - only if you accept - carries no risk at all.

“We have chosen you - says the letter in a few simple words - because of information obtained from the Nigerian Chamber of Commerce. We have the pleasure of proposing the transfer into your bank account the sum of 38 million 500 thousand dollars…” A crazy amount, over 50 milliards of lire that the Nigerian says came from a deal of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation with a foreign client. The funds - always according to the proposer - were being blocked in the national bank awaiting the opening of a foreign account on the part of the NNPC. “And here you would intervene: transferring the money to your account. We will reserve for you, within ten days, an earning of 25 per cent of the total amount.” The Nigerian asks, naturally, for access to the account of his victim. Roberto Capodieci was suspicious of the scam, and reported it. A similar operation in the months past had been reported, again Nigerian. Now, evidently, the organization is trying again.