Hello elvisiam and thank you for your question.
Indeed there is a bank in Lome called "Banque Togolaise pour le
Commerce et l'Industrie", and I list their contact details below:
"BTCI (Banque Togolaise pour le Commerce et l'Industrie)
Address: 169, Bd du 13 janvier, BP 363, Lomé
Tel: 21 46 41
Fax: 21 32 65
Telex: 5221 - 5386
Swift: BTCTTGTG
Email: sda@btci.tg
Internet: www.btci.tg
Shareholders: Etat Togolais (51,47%) - SFOM (24,75%) - BNP (23,78%)"
http://www.wabao.org/waba/print/pr_bank_togo.html
Their website www.btci.tg does not appear to be working at the moment,
but I sent a test email to sda@btci.tg and it didn't return....
Actually, as soon as I saw your question I thought it seemed a little
suspicious, as there have been alot of scams involving Banks in
Africa. After some further investigation I have found some evidence
that BTCI Bank is being used in some of these scams (That is to say,
they are probably NOT involved in the scams but their name seems to be
being used) If you have received a letter or email that looks like
this:
"FROM:DR. AJINNI ADEBISI,
AUDITING AND ACCOUNTING UNIT.
FOREIGN REMITTANCE DEPT.
BANQUE TOGOLAISE POUR LE COMMERCE ET L'INDUSTRIE,
(BTCI)LOME- TOGO
TEL:+228 94-81-249.
Dear Sir/madam,
I am writing following the impressive information about your profile
through the website your capability and reliability to champion this
business opportunity.
In an introduction of myself, I am DR. AJINNI ADEBISI From the
northern
part of TOGO LOME working with the above bank,Married with three kids
but lost their mother some few years back. You may ask why this
unexpected letter which is normal I will want to seek your assistance
after my discovery during auditing in this bank, I as the head of
Auditing department discovered an abandoned sum in an account that
belongs to one of our foreign customers who died along with his entire
family in 31 October,1999 in a plane crash.." etc.....(click on the
link below for the full letter)
http://www.fraudaid.com/NigerianA/adebisi.htm
I VERY strongly suggest you delete the message and forget about it, as
it is a fraud to try and get you to part with your money.
You might also be interested in reading this article:
"According to the 2001 Internet Fraud Report, about 2,600 people in
the U.S reported to being duped by the Nigerian spam scam with 16
reporting actual losses totaling about $345,000 last year. In two
unidentified cases, individuals reported being bilked of $78,000 and
$74,000"
http://dc.internet.com/news/article.php/1008111
I personally receive four or five of these types of email a week, and
usually I can identfy the fraud from the title which usually says
something like "confidential business transaction" or "Your discretion
is required"
I hope this has answered your question, but if you need any further
assistance do not hesitate to ask for clarification.
Very best regards
THX1138
Search strategy included:
btci lome
://www.google.com/search?hl=pt&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&as_qdr=all&q=btci+lome&lr=
and more importantly!
btci lome scam
://www.google.com/search?hl=pt&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&as_qdr=all&q=btci+lome+scam&lr= |
Clarification of Answer by
thx1138-ga
on
26 Sep 2003 11:51 PDT
Hello again elvisiam.
The best source for an explanation on how the scam works is the United
States Secret Service. Here is their description of how it works:
"An individual or company receives a letter or fax from an alleged
"official" representing a foreign government or agency;
An offer is made to transfer millions of dollars in "over invoiced
contract" funds into your personal bank account;
You are encouraged to travel overseas to complete the transaction;
You are requested to provide blank company letterhead forms, banking
account information, telephone/fax numbers;
You receive numerous documents with official looking stamps, seals and
logo testifying to the authenticity of the proposal;
Eventually you must provide up-front or advance fees for various
taxes, attorney fees, transaction fees or bribes;
Other forms of 4-1-9 schemes include: c.o.d. of goods or services,
real estate ventures, purchases of crude oil at reduced prices,
beneficiary of a will, recipient of an award and paper currency
conversion.
If you have already lost funds in pursuit of the above described
scheme, please contact your local Secret Service field office."
http://www.secretservice.gov/alert419.shtml
Thank goodness it sounds like you haven't actually lost any money.
However you might want to contact the Secret Service as suggested in
the website above.
A list of field offices for the Secret Service can be found here:
http://www.secretservice.gov/field_offices.shtml
I'm glad (and I'm sure you are!) that you stopped by to ask your
question, and prevent a fraud being played on you.
If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to ask.
Very best regards
THX1138
|
Clarification of Answer by
thx1138-ga
on
26 Sep 2003 12:15 PDT
Hello again elvisiam,
I would also say, that if you have just given them your account
number, there is no chance that they would be able to access the
money, unless you have given such instructions to your bank. Although
you might want to contact your bank and tell them what happened, if
the scammers contact your bank you could ask the bank to try and get
their details and pass those details on to the Secret Service, and who
knows the scammers might get caught (let's hope so anyway)
Very best regards
THX1138
(Incidentally, these scams can seem very convincing. About two weeks
ago my wife telephoned me at the office to say that she had received
an email saying......you guessed it! It was another convincing African
scam email)
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