Topic: nany/private job offers in Nigeria

[sabai_sabai]

Hope to get some replies, as it seems that this part of the boards is rather quiet.

I've been looking for options outside of Thailand as the country seems to be less friendly to foreigners nowadays.  I have US teaching credentials and a BEd, so I figure that my options are good as far as variety and money goes, but I'm looking for a balance of a non-stressful position and a job that pays enough to save a reasonable amount of money.  My CV is out on a few international job boards and I'm pretty clear in saying that I'm not considering Korea and a few other places.

I'm getting letters from foreigners in Nigeria asking for nannies and private teachers now.  The money they offer is really good, seems too good to be true so I'm curious to know if you think this is a scam or if it can possibly be legit.  This is one edited email I've received:

Application for your service.
Dear ELS Teacher,
My name is *** and I am married to ****. We are from France
working and residing in Nigeria on contract for Nova Gas Incorporated a
Multinational Oil and Gas Company with headquarters in the USA.
We saw your profile and know that can be capable to teach my Family how to
speak English language.

Meanwhile my wife and Child are not really good when it comes to speaking
English hence we require an ESL Teacher to come and spend Six months or One
year with us here in Nigeria . You would teach my wife and my Child who is
3 years old how to speak English and some writing too. This is very
important to me hence I would be offering to pay you $5000 every month. You
would have a Private Live-Out or Live-In Accommodation depending on your
preference with Private Bathroom, Sitting Room and Bedroom. Your room would
also be furnished with a Television Set, an Internet Ready Computer System
and a Fixed Landline telephone. If you can drive, you can let us know so
that we can arrange a vehicle that you would use also let us know if you
will prefare to live outside because we dont knowyour live style. You would
take them in English Classes every evening time from 5 p.m to 8.30 p.m day
from Monday to Friday. You would also have the weekends off .Weekends with
us is very fun as we visit fun spots, go sightseeing and amusement parks. Do
not worry about your travel arrangements as we would assist you in that
regards when the time comes. I will attached our family picture and our
Residential for you when you get back to me for further details.

So, is this really too good to be true?

[Mods-Rockers]

Nigeria had a rep of being the scam capitol of the world.

[Ronaldo]

Sabai Sabai,

I read the advertisement several times and make these observations.

1. You would be working 17.5 hours contact time for English each week or 70 hours per month, that's just over 71 USD per hour with accom plus, plus. Or looking at it another way 60,000 USD per year.

2. This guy insists that he and his family is not very good at speaking English but his letter is articulate, yes, he could have got someone else to write it.

3. On top of your salary, you would receive a place to live, mod cons, vehicle etc. at no expense to you.

Government minister do not get paid this much or have these perks, so my suspicion is raised. Looks nice... very attractive. However, Nigeria is poverty stricken even though it has great mineral wealth, most if not all expatriates live in compounds, often onsite and to be honest not that many have their families with them.

IMHO I believe this to be a variation of the 419 scam (419 refers to the Nigerian legal code to do with misrepresentation and fraud), it generally works by offering something to good to be true and for some reason or another (problems with your visa, ticket, validation of educational certificates etc. etc.), you will be asked to pay money upfront which will be refunded when you get to Nigeria (you of course will not see this money again), and after numerous attempts to contact your new employer fails you are left to ponder what happened. However, DO NOT travel to Nigeria under your own steam thinking you will get your money back or that it might be just one big mistake or miscommunication.

Now, I might be wrong and therefore I would contact Nova Gas Incorporated independently to confirm that your prospective new employer works for them, you might even say why you are enquiring to support your request.

I would also ask for the ID page of the passport of each member of the family (are they really French or are they just saying they are from France), pictures of the residence, your accom, proof of funding resources for your salary, names and addresses of the families referees etc. etc.  or until you were thoroughly satisfied that everything was aboveboard and you were 110% certain that this was real.

Nigeria is a risky and notorious place known for scams and is a dangerous place (check with your consultate or nearest embassy), so please be careful.

[sabai_sabai]

Thanks for your replies.  I know the Nigerian bank transfer scam is nearly as old as the Internet, so Nigeria does set off warning bells as well as the fact that the offer seems a bit *too* generous.

I am more curious to know if this is new, or what exactly the scam is and thanks for a few ideas about that.  The only thing I could think of is a possible Columbia-style kidnapping.  I just don't see myself picking up and moving to Nigeria to live on a "compound", as it defeats the purpose of actually traveling and seeing places. I have a French friend here who went to international school in Africa, so if I can get a phone number from this guy, I'll see if she can call and sus this out.  She's a bit broke at the moment, so if its actually legit it may be a good option for her.

[Uncle Che]

It seems to me like it might be scam whereby since it is such a great job, they need you to send a deposit of some sort to prove you are genuine about the job.

I have also heard of people going to Nigeria to sus out more about the money scam that they befell and have ended up kidnapped for ransom or just killed.

[ajarnnormal]

My first thought was the English in the letter was not too bad. I wonder if they got someone to write it for them. Aprt from the fact that it does sound a bit fishy.

[Rumpole]

The ads are a complete scam.  They will ask for your documents and some kind of fee up front. Do an internet search, as these Nigerian school/nanny scams have been widely reported. There is no reason in the world why a Nigerian would employ a honky as a 'nanny' for $5000 a month, and 99% of the poulation couldn't afford even tiny a fraction of that anyway.

[bomha]

You can send him a reply such as this one:

Dear Esteemed Possible Employer, Sir,

I am most bedazzled at your seemingly generous or agregious offer to be in your employ, Praise the Name of the Lord.  If you would do me the simple courtesy of sending me your bank account numbers and PIN's, you will be able to help me to finance most agrandizingly the closing of my late uncle's will and testament whereby he nominated you as the sole heir.....

[anyonefortennis]

The latest ones I've been getting are from "employees" of mineral companies who are looking to do a shady deal behind their "company's" back and need a rep in such and such a country to buy a stack of rare minerals and so on and so forth.

They're actually a better read than the "my entire family were killed apart from me and my pet goldfish, and now I need you to help me release my late fathers' 300ml USD" they got quite tiresome.

A few weeks back I even had one guy calling me up from (so he said) Ghana or Mali, somewhere in the west of Africa. It was quite funny, his spoken language was excatly the same as the language in the emails, "god be with you" Praise you, Sir" etc. He stopped calling me after I requested money up front to pay for my flight and hotel expenses..............I wonder why?

[airpuka]

nigeria, you have got to be crazy to work there unless your 110% its a legitimate buisness, remember in those types of countries the police are as corrupt as the criminals .

[sabai_sabai]

I never followed this up to suss out what the scam was, sorry.  Can anyone that speaks French look at the errors in the letter to see if they are consistent with a French person's English?  I'm not too sure about it.

Whoever emailed me this must have been surfing some TEFL resume sites.  Every time I post on sites that don't require more than an email address to browse resumes, my email gets interesting for a few weeks.  Anyone else get marriage proposals emailed based on a resume?!