Help me out please

1POSTS

12 years ago

hi ,
i am senthil kumar from singapore,
now i have problem with custom officer in nigeria,
my house owner , she is in portugal , she send parcel from portugal to singapore,
but DHL parcel service mistakenly send it to nigeria, so now custom officer ask 900 euro for all the fee. we paid but again he asked 900 euro to send parcel from nigeria to singapore, please suggest me if you have any idea
i am senthil ,
now parcel is with one of the custom officer his name is John thomas, his mail id john.tho2000@outlook.com, +234-8131024169
detail of the parcel , there is no tracking number, thats a big problem
senthil

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James ViP

11272POSTS

12 years ago

It's all a scam. You're being conned. No government agent anywhere in the world uses an e-mail address that is outlook, hotmail, gmail, yahoo or any other free e-mail provider. They will ALWAYS have an e-mail address that uses the domain name of the government agency they represent.

It's this way all over the globe. Just do a web search for any government agency you wish to think of and find out their domain name, anybody working there has that at the end of their e-mail:

example - The Brazilian Federal Police website is www.dpf.gov.br so if anybody really from there sends out an e-mail it would be something like zeninguem@dpf.gov.br. If somebody from Citizenship and Immigration Canada, www.cic.gc.ca sends out an e-mail it would be something like johndoe@cic.gc.ca. Anybody using something else than the legitimate domain name as their e-mail is a scammer, don't fall for it.

Also, if any package ever existed (which I highly doubt) it would be up to the courier company to arrange to have it returned to the person to whom it had been addressed and up to them to absorb all costs too. It sounds like you house owner is in on the scam.

Nigeria Customs Authority website is www.customs.gov.ng so if your so-called customs agent were real, which he is certainly not his e-mail would be ending with @customs.gov.ng

Cheers,
William James Woodward, EB Experts Team

1 member reacted to this post

James ViP

11272POSTS

12 years ago

You've already lost 900 euros, are you willing to lose another 900 euros????

stumpy Laos Expert

18029POSTS

12 years ago

As others have said, it is a scam, you have lost your money so do not go throwing good money after bad as you will also lose that too.
Look on the experience as a learning curve, albeit an expensive one.

James ViP

11272POSTS

12 years ago

I suppose that this package was $1 million USD all tinted black to avoid detection by customs and that you'd get a large share of it if you would only pay for the special chemicals to remove the black dye??? Let me guess, the police came and confiscated the dye and your "customs agent" needed another 900 euros to buy more to send along in the package, right?

stumpy Laos Expert

18029POSTS

12 years ago

malendy Member

3POSTS

12 years ago

Take the parcel from him and send it to Singapore yourself. Or go to your embassy and report the matter. I hope there is no contraband item in the parcel. They can help you there. The man is a crook, and he will keep asking for more money.

AALS New member

7POSTS

12 years ago

Dear Senthi Kumar,

You story here is a good example of well crafted scam.
You have been duped. First, John Thomas is Nigeria's social media means Penis.
It is a slang for Penis. It is never a real name in Nigeria.
Two, if DHL Mistakenly sends your parcel to Nigeria, Common sense dictates that DHL has the responsibility
to send it back to the right address. Custom clearance is required for restricted items, not a normal Document
or everyday Issues. Sometimes too, to reduce stress, DHL charges for Custom Clearance from point of acceptance
because they have a list of taxable, prohibited and restricted Items to all countries.
No Custom official in Nigeria is allwed to take away ot take home items that require clearing or duty.
So, no Custom officer can pay any duty on behalf a foreigner here.
It appears you already in the web of a scammer.
All you can do now is to reach out to the anti crime organisation in Nigeria, called EFCC,( efcc.org)
Use their contact email and forward this email to them.
They will trace this scammer and contact you possibly.
Too bad, you have been conned.
-AALS

Banke Active member

26POSTS

12 years ago

#10

scam

Sarix02 New member

8POSTS

11 years ago

#11

All of this is time wasting.

If the parcel was genuinely sent via DHL and you have not received it and you have the tracking number then sue DHL! It is DHLs responsibility to deal with all these issues not you. Call DHL in your country and threaten to sue them if you don't get the parcel, give them a time limit. After the time limit, get a lawyer! Don't talk to anyone except DHL in your country!

stumpy Laos Expert

18029POSTS

11 years ago

#12

Sarix02 wrote:
All of this is time wasting.

If the parcel was genuinely sent via DHL and you have not received it and you have the tracking number then sue DHL! It is DHLs responsibility to deal with all these issues not you. Call DHL in your country and threaten to sue them if you don't get the parcel, give them a time limit. After the time limit, get a lawyer! Don't talk to anyone except DHL in your country!

Whilst your advice is good, threatening to sue them and getting lawyers involved will turn out to be costly and time consuming. Probably more than the parcel is worth.

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James ViP

11272POSTS

11 years ago

#13

Sarix02 wrote:
All of this is time wasting.

If the parcel was genuinely sent via DHL and you have not received it and you have the tracking number then sue DHL! It is DHLs responsibility to deal with all these issues not you. Call DHL in your country and threaten to sue them if you don't get the parcel, give them a time limit. After the time limit, get a lawyer! Don't talk to anyone except DHL in your country!

The original poster is simply taking the word of his landlady that the parcel ever existed (and I'm sure it did not) or that it was sent via DHL. You are correct, there would be a tracking number if it actually was sent. It appears that the OP doesn't even have that so it kind of confirms that the whole thing is a scam, which she is either in on, or doesn't even know about and somebody is using her name and other information that they've hacked from her online information and/or home computer.

The best overall advice is simply cut your losses, forget the package and that's the end of it. He's already lost too much money as it is.

Cheers,
William James Woodward, Expat-blog Experts Team