The International Maritime Bureau (IMB) has alleged scam over sales of Nigeria’s petroleum products and has warned its members over ongoing scams involving the fraudulent sale of the products.
In a statement issued yesterday, the global body said that it regularly refers cases where vessels belonging to members are caught in the middle of a dispute. Most cases involve small companies based in either Nigeria or Ghana and poor quality documents that IMB analyses quickly proved as fake.
The International Maritime Bureau (IMB) has alleged scam over sales of Nigeria’s petroleum products and has warned its members over ongoing scams involving the fraudulent sale of the products.
In a statement issued yesterday, the global body said that it regularly refers cases where vessels belonging to members are caught in the middle of a dispute. Most cases involve small companies based in either Nigeria or Ghana and poor quality documents that IMB analyses quickly proved as fake.
According to it, the documents purportedly show the ownership of cargoes carried on board certain vessels and the scam centres around these spurious documents being sold on to unwitting buyers, often at a heavy discount or for a hefty advance fee.
Specifically, it says that it recently investigated a case on behalf of a German buyer which involved much better quality documentation, including one apparently confirming that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) had indeed supplied the seller with the goods. Furthermore, the details of the cargo appeared to match that of a genuine shipment which had taken place. More detailed checks, however, confirmed that the deal was nothing more than an advance-fee fraud.
According to IMB Deputy Director, Michael Howlett, “these scams often rest on the fact that the victim is not well-versed in commodity trading. An experienced oil trader would recognise these scams for what they are. However, someone less experienced may well be tempted by the low price and apparent authenticity of the documents.”
The NNPC has a select clientele of major oil traders, as such, it is only those who normally sell the product to other established companies.
The director went further that to explain that “Often, the sellers suggest to victims that they contact the vessels themselves and verify that the cargo is on board. It is possible, with relatively, minimal effort to confirm the cargo that a vessel is carrying. Confirming the ownership of such cargo, however, is more problematic.”
Probably making a guarded reference to recent spate of arrests of such vessels by the Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) the IMB disclosed that it “has recently seen cases where vessels have been detained at West African ports on the basis of false documentation regarding the ownership of cargo. Whilst innocence is quickly proved, there is still an impact in time and resources that could have been avoided were it not for these spurious transactions.’
Discussion about this post