Master and Mugu 213the correct fax number of my client, I faxed the format to the Russian
client that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation is seeking a sup-
plier of crude oil servicing parts to enable the refinery [to] service
their Kaduna refinery and Warri refinery. The Russian client replied
through my fax line that he has what it takes to service the refinery.
(email, February 21 2008)Bello then asked his “client” to present a detailed estimate for a three-year
project, which the client duly provided. The proposed sum was in excess
of 20 million U.S. dollars. The victim then had to register as a foreign con-
tractor with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation. He paid the
associated sum of 25,000 U.S. dollars into a foreign account, which he had
been led to believe was the Nigerian government’s account. Finally, the
victim traveled to Nigeria to sign the contract and pay the required fees:
A fter registration, he had to come down to Nigeria to sign the contract
agreement document and he paid the sum of usd 7,500.00 and on his ar-
rival to Nigeria he brought 4 rolex wrist watches (his & hers), neck ties,
and 4 pairs of suits for the top Government officials (all of which belonged
to me and my partners in the deal). We took him to Kaduna refinery to
examine the state of decay in the company (all these with the help of nnpc
staffs). The Mugu was so glad when he was going home, believing that the
contract had been signed. On his arrival to Russia, a letter was sent to him
from the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation that he has
to effect the payment of 3 years tax clearance to enable the Ministry [to]
approve his contract. He effected the above payment of usd 258,000.00
with a foreign account as [a] Government agency account. Thereafter he
complained of having no money again. That was the end of the best busi-
ness I have ever done since 1998. (Usman Bello, February 21, 2008)^5A staged encounter, such as a tour of a run-down refinery, provides visual
evidence. W hatever critical intuition the mark may have retained, if such
an encounter is performed well, the effect is devastating. Based on this
strategy, a German industrialist was swindled out of 1 million pounds by
a scammer who held meetings with him in the open lobby of a Lloyds tsb
branch on London’s Oxford Street (Peel 2006), and a Saudi victim lost
100,000 U.S. dollars to scammers who created a fake South African em-
bassy in Amsterdam (Glickman 2005). This conscious use of the deceptive
power of visual evidence connects international 419 scams to local forms