News

June 18, 2008

West African Con Artists Target British And Canadian Mining Companies, And Minesite Itself

By Alastair Ford

If you want a job in any part of the mining industry, then we here at minesite can do no more than direct you to our affiliate site, jobs4mining.com, which has details of a multitude of vacancies. If you so happen to want a job with juniors African Eagle or Etruscan Resources, however, it’s a slightly different story. Various “agencies” run out of Ghana and Nigeria are offering jobs in these two companies, even though a visit to the website of both makes it quite clear that there are no such vacancies available.

It’s a variation of the old Nigerian 419 scam, so-called after the section of the Nigerian penal code that attempts to stop the practice. Attempts to stop it, but to no avail. These scams are everywhere, and now and again when local television news channels want a human interest story they feature an old lady in a bungalow who’s just been parted with her life savings via email. Here at Minesite we’re not immune either. The latest offer we’ve had is for the purchase 1,900 kilos of gold dust...