is this a scam? strange, maybe hes a cop? you tell me...

[Weapon-X]

a few days ago i received an e-mail from some guy saying he was a nigerian insect dealer?(is nigeria open to export?) anyhow this what the e-mail says(exactly as copy and pasted):

Sir,
i am a Nigerian insects dealer looking for buyers worlwide,
i supply beetles spiders scorpions both dreid and live.
i will be glad to mail you my stock/price list.
i awais your enquires.
Thanks.
Kazeem Oyebanjo.

the title of the e-mail was "Introduction". so i replied to him sure i would be intrested in seeing your stocklist, this is what i received today just now.

Sir,
here is my stock/price list for your study ,i will be glad to attend toyour further
enquiry


Scorpions/Spiders
Common Name Scientific Name Amount
$ cc

1. Empror scorpion 4 00
2. Brown Scorpion 3 00
3. Rock Scorpion 5 00
4. Hercules spider 8 00
5. Baboon spider 8 00
6 corbweb spider 4 00
7. Whip spider 2 00
Charges Per box: $15.00

Beetles (Dried & Live)
Common Name Scientific Name Amount
$ cc

1. Chelorhino N/A
2. Rhino Orgctes giga 1 00
3. Mecynorhno
torguata Torguata N/A
4. Giant palm
weeviles curculionidae 00 60
5. Leaf weeviles curculionidae 00 50
6. Shinng leaf
beetle 00 30
7. Flower Beetles 00 60
8. Aquatic
Beetles mecepteva teracetera 00 50
9. Dung Beetles 00 50
10. Ground
Beetles 00 70
11. Stag Beetles 00 70
12. Wood Beetles cerambycidee 00 60
13. Longhorn Beetles
(small size) cerambycidee 00 60
14. Longhorn Beetles
(medium size) cerambycidee 1 00
15. Longhorn Beetles
(Large size) cerambycidee 1 50
Charges Per box: $10.00

huvertebrates (Dried & Live)
Common Name Scientific Name Amount
1. Giant under
water bug SPP unknown 00 70
2. Praying Mantis Relugio Anulata 00 60
3. African
Millipede Ampheloria corrugata 00 70
4. African flat
millipede SPP unknown 00 60
5. Cock roaeta periplaneta Americana 00 40
6. Grasshoppers 00 50
7. African Giant
Snails 2 00
8. African Snail (White flesh) 2 00
9. African Snail (mixed) 0 60
Charges Per box: $10.00

Conditions
Our major airlines are British Airways, Swiss Air
and Lufthansa. Our port is Lagos (LOS).
Dried specimen are ship by courrier mainly EMS and
by registered parce postal service on customers
request.

thanks
Kazeem Oyebanjo

now this seems very fishy to me, i know the landsnails are illegal in the entire USA and carry a fine of 5000.00 and 3 years imprisonment for each snail, anyone else see anything illegal on the list? your thoughts?--Jeff

 

[Weapon-X]

re

and another thing i'd like to know is how did he get my e-mail and know i have intrest in arachnids and insects? his e-mail was from his adress to another called mantids@(edited).com(obviosuly not my adress huh? wtf?)

 

[sunnymarcie]

Sounds like the Email scam about opening a bank account to
help someone out, even has the same name.
I'm not sure about the rest of the list, but we know that
the GALS are a HUGE NO NO!
Just stick to the old rule of... if you do not know the name
DON'T read the mail.

 

[rknralf]

I've got to agree, I wouldn't trust an unsolicited email.
Additionally, I believe there are a number of permits and other things required for the import of any animals. Getting an order could lead to all types of legal ramifications.

 

[Code Monkey]

Even assuming the guy is from Nigeria (doubtful) it has scam written all over it. After your further inquiry, you will probably be informed that you'll need to set up a joint bank account or something similar to facilitate rapid transfer of funds, then you'll need to send the fees for the permits, then you'll never hear from him again and the money you sent will be gone.

Then again, it's a very odd scam. If you're curious, nothing wrong with making inquiries, but the minute something involves putting any chunk of cash in their hands with nothing in yours, run away.

 

[Kristen]

this site has info about e-mail scams coming out of Nigeria....maybe it will be able to help you figure this out.

http://www.crimes-of-persuasion.com/Crimes/Business/nigerian.htm

 

[Wade]

It may not be a scam, he may be a legitamate supplier who has compiled a mailing list from the internet but is unaware of the various laws around the world. He may also be looking for whosalers and importers, but got your address by mistake.

Don't order anything in any case. He can ship you anything he wants as he is not bound by US regs, it would be you who got into trouble.

All the beetles are pretty much off limits as the USDA rwquires an impossible to get permit for any non-native plant feeding insects.

Wade

 

[xBurntBytheSunx]

why are land snails illegal?

 

[Weapon-X]

landsnails

because they are one of the worst pest species in the world of snails (actualy i think their the wosrt) they eat all the food , drive other animals to extiction because they have nothing to eat or get eaten, they already drove a tree snail in hawai to extiction, well it was because of the GALS, they introduced a species of carnivorous snail that ate other snails to get rid of them and the GALS were 10x the size of them , so the carnivorous snails ate all the tree snails instead, in the early 70's someone released some in miami and they ate millions of dollars in crops and then the goverment spent more to eradicate them--Jeff

 

[wsimms]

Originally posted by Wade

All the beetles are pretty much off limits as the USDA rwquires an impossible to get permit for any non-native plant feeding insects.

Wade

Well, that explains why I haven't been able to find a Dynastes hercules on an American website. Tell me more, please (PM me if you like).

W

 

[Godzilla2000]

I would not send any emails or correspondence to Nigeria. This is clearly a scam.

 

[Wade]

Originally posted by wsimms
Well, that explains why I haven't been able to find a Dynastes hercules on an American website. Tell me more, please (PM me if you like).

W

The USDA classifies all exotic insects that feed on any part of a plant (even if it's a dead plant) as a "potential plant pest". They require a permit to own them, and generally only issues these permits to museums, zoos, universities, etc. Private individuals are pretty much screwed, at least until they get around to de-regulating those species that they deem aren't a threat. Don't hold your breath, logic and timelyness have never been the government's strong suits

I still doubt it's a scam, it's just a guy who doesn't realize we Americans can't do business with him.

Wade

 

[wsimms]

(Thanks for the info Wade. I sure feel safe that our government is saving us from the deadly famine that would be caused by someone importing D. granti and unleashing it on our national compost supply.)

With Nigeria (the current World Capitol for Internet scams) as the site of origin, I feel fairly certain that this is a scam.

 

[Telson]

hmmm....

I'd recommend forwarding a copy of that email to what ever federal and/or state regulatory agencies would be crawling up your backside for placing an order and actually recieving it. It's likely that if this is a running scam that's been going on for any length of time they would already know about it, and also if it's not a scam I'm sure they would LIKE to know about it if they don't already!

Barring the "pass the buck" concept, if it were me I'd likely just respond informing him that there are several illegal critters on that list and maybe ask if he'd be willing to send you a few "example" specimens of the acceptable ones "to see how well they are recieved by your many rich American customers":} so that you can determine how large of an order to place!

(Mwa-ha-ha-ha!!! Scam the scammers!!!);P