They stole over $13,500 dollars from myself and my Real Estate partner!
We are including all forged documents sent to us by them on this website.
A SIERRA LEONE SCAM, USING THE NAME OF BICICI BANK OF IVORY COAST,
Involving the following thieves listed below:
Dr. Philip Camara, Esq., Tel: (225) 07 85 30 04 - Posing as Bank Manager
Oliver Akubueze - (possibly Dr. Kamara's real name), posing as his messenger.
Daniel Omomo, Tel: (225) 07 69 62 19 - Posing as the refugee/millionaire.
Dr. Eric Kwami, Tel: (225) 22 43 71 54 - Claims to be another Bank Manager.
HERE IS OUR TRUE EXPERIENCE. IT IS REAL:
The scam is simple. One person acts as an innocent refugee "Daniel Omomo" in Sierra Leone, who claims that he ran for his life and has millions of dollars, $15,000,000.00 or more. He will tailor his story to whatever business you may be in.
In our case, he wanted to purchase a very large office building for about 15 Million Dollars here in the United States. He requested that we would help him find the place once his money is safely transferred into a personal bank account or a Trust account. Since he claims that he has no documentation (a refugee), he has no choice but to involve yet another party, the "manager" of BICICI bank, to be able to deposit this money to the BICICI Bank's Trust account. This was the only secure way for him to send the funds. We were skeptical again, but went for it.
The scam artist will show that he had to offer (10%) to the so claimed bank manager, in our case, "Dr. Camara, Esq.", who will transfer all this money to an account that YOU must open here in the United States or anywhere in the world, they don't care.
You will be offered about 10%, then a little later 12%, then most likely even 20% of that 15 Million dollars! Nice chunk. Our return would have been exactly 3 Million Dollars.
It is a lie, but they will try their hardest to prove it to you that it is real! In Real Estate, people often deal with large sums of money, that is the main reason why we fell for this deal.
"What if it is truly real?" - we thought. We gave them the benefit of a doubt.
We requested documentation, we wanted to talk to the bank manager in person, we checked for the bank's name on the internet and the yellow pages. We requested bank letters, money transfer papers, etc. We even received the certificate that claims that it is clean money, not from drugs, etc. This brings us to the second part of this scam.
During this transaction, there were many planned obstacles. They would claim and prove that they sent the money but $20,000 of it, and now the $14,980,000.00 is in limbo between international banks.
In our case, they said it was being held in Switzerland. I will include the documents on this web site. We even got the bank's transfer letter and the tracking information, which no one should have, since it is considered "internal bank information". We got it, since we were skeptical all along and although they made us feel guilty about it, they forged one for us. Again, they did their best to convince us.
Their only “mistake” was (now we know...), that they did change the bank's phone number to a 07 number, which is always a cell phone number in the Ivory Coast.
We called the Swiss bank at night just to see if there is a different answer, we relized that Dr. Camara answered the phone with a very tired voice, although this was denied by them later, claiming that it was the security guard. (NOTE: The security guards do not answer the phone!) This was enough for us.
They have no intentions to send you any money. Their only goal is to get as much money out of you as possible! They are doing this to hundreds of people at the same time. This operation is setup sort of like a small company. One guy’s job is to cry for help and get personal to earn your trust. The other guy is acting like a bank official, Manager, who cannot be bothered and has nothing to do with "you and this refugee, who is from now on considered as your partner". They make it seem like the bank manager is actually doing you a favor.
I hope one day they will pay for this, since it drained everything we had. You can imagine how upset we are. The sender will provide you with many false, forged bank documents that are very convincing! (They are included on this web page).
As mentioned earlier one of the easiest ways to find out about this scam is by noticing that their phone numbers (except the fax numbers) are always or almost always start with 07, which numbers are cell phone numbers at the Ivory Coast.
BANKS DON'T USE CELL PHONES!
It's easy to be smart now. It's easy to realize now that we were taken for a ride after we had already sent all our savings to this "poor millionaire refugee", so he can pay off all his local officials to be able to transfer all this money.
Actually after he allegedly sent his 15 Million and he only kept $20,000 of it, he requested $45,000 from us to pay for the Drug Clearance papers and many other documents. We would not send them all of that amount but agreed to come up with about half.
They will try to go on as long as they can, until you totally run out of money or get tired of it or both. They even asked us to borrow money against our home. We wouldn't, of course and we ended the deal.
In addition, we found out that many times the bad guys will try to use your checking account information to write checks for themselves. This, fortunately did not happen to us as yet.
The upsetting part is that BICICI bank does not have an e-mail address that we know of or can find. We would appreciate it, if they found out about this story and get in touch with us, so the above scam artists may be prossecuted.
The phone numbers and names above were accurate as of July, 2000. The scammers must frequently change their names and phone numbers. At the same time, they may keep their identity and use it for other scams.
*** WE ARE INCLUDING ONE OF OUR VIEWER'S LETTERS HERE. WE FEEL IT'S VERY HELPFUL ***
Ivory Coast Scam Letters
They firstly will convince you that there's no need to have a visa to enter their country. Then they will bribe the immigration and customs so that you can enter their country with invalid visa. Because it is a serious offense in Nigeria to enter without a valid visa, the victim's illegal entry may be used by the fraudsters as leverage to coerce the victims into releasing funds. Violence and threats of physical harm may be employed to further pressure victims. In June of 1995, an American was murdered in Lagos, Nigeria, while pursuing a 4-1-9 scam, and numerous other foreign nationals have been reported as missing.
Victims are often convinced of the authenticity of Advance Fee Fraud schemes by the forged or false documents bearing apparently official Nigerian government letterhead, seals, as well as false letters of credit, payment schedules and bank drafts. The fraudster may establish the credibility of his contacts, and thereby his influence, by arranging a meeting between the victim and "government officials" in real or fake government offices.
In the next stage some alleged problem concerning the "inside man" will suddenly arise. An official will demand an up-front bribe or an unforeseen tax or fee to the Nigerian government will have to be paid before the money can be transferred. These can include licensing fees, registration fees, and various forms of taxes and attorney fees. Normally each fee paid is described as the very last fee required. Invariably, oversights and errors in the deal are discovered by the Nigerians, necessitating additional payments and allowing the scheme to be stretched out over many months.
Several reasons have been submitted why Nigerian Advance Fee Fraud has undergone a dramatic increase in recent years. The explanations are as diverse as the types of schemes. The Nigerian Government blames the growing problem on mass unemployment, extended family systems, a get rich quick syndrome, and, especially, the greed of foreigners.
If you have been victimized by one of these schemes, please forward appropriate written documentation to the United States Secret Service, Financial Crimes Division, 950 H Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20223, or telephone (202) 406-5850, or contact by e-mail.
If you have received a letter, but have not lost any monies to this scheme, please fax a copy of that letter to (202) 406-5031.
Let's be together to help FBI and CIA to arrest and put 'em in jail. Do report your case with any worth information.