A new Nigerian scam targets writers. Here is how to recognize it, even if they say they’re from Ghana. Or Vietnam. Or Finland.

If you get an email from Nigeria, it’s a scam, right?  Not necessarily.  Nigeria is a big country – 173 million people, most of them real and honest.  And the “Nigerian scam” is so famous by now, that anybody trying to pull a scam would make sure NOT to say they are from Nigeria, right?

Not so.  In fact, there is a scam targeting writers – yes, writers! – that is being run by Nigerians (or people claiming to be Nigerian, perhaps for the notoriety?).

The first clue is that it comes from Nigeria. I am in Canada, and I don’t expect to get a request to edit documents from Nigeria, nor from anywhere in the Third World. People usually outsource overseas to cut costs. Why would someone from low-cost Nigeria outsource to high-cost Canada? The explanation was actually plausible, although just marginally – too much work to do, not enough staff, therefore have to outsource overseas, etc.

Interestingly, I have done work for Nigerian clients seeking quality over price. But not many over the years.

When I first got the message, I was not thinking scam. I was thinking, “Yeah, right. They’ll want to pay starvation rates.” But I responded just to see what they had in mind.

What they had in mind was a contract for full-time employment for six months. That kind of shocked me, since I was expecting a short-term, project-based proposal.

The second shock was the US$73,920 remuneration. OK, “shock” is the wrong word. “Red flag” would be more accurate. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Nobody pays an editor $148,000 a year. Nobody. Certainly not a consulting firm in Nigeria (unless they are part of organized crime and need you to keep your mouth closed – I have read The Firm – but I confess that such a possibility did not cross my mind until I sat down to write this blog post).

The next red flag – are you keeping track of these? – is that the contract was sloppily written:

You shall conform to 8hours daily {Mondays –Fridays} work for the period of 132 days.

Your voluntary decision to desist is subject to 7 days notice in writing or payment in lieu of notice.

If they can afford to pay $148,000 for editors, why can they not afford $25 to have somebody proofread their legal documents?

The next red flag is that the numbers in the contract don’t add up. The full-time employment of “8hours daily” in one place, turns out to be “5 hours [Daily]” in another. That’s a pretty huge error in a contract.

But the biggest red flag is the show stopper. I can’t think of any way to say it better than to just quote the paragraph from the contract in full:

8. LOGISTIC FEE: All international/online editors and writers are required to pay our consulting/file fee of two hundred & fifty United States dollars [US$250] only.

Don’t ever, ever, ever, ever accept a writing job that requires you to pay the client or the employer. Never. Not ever. Not a writing job, nor any other job. Did I mention “not ever”? If the client or employer wants you to pay them, they are not a client or an employer. They are a thief.

A scammer.

A fraudster.

A magpie.

And in this case, they are targeting writers. You have been warned. As tempting as it is to make $73,920, there is no glory in paying $250 for the privilege of NOT making $73,920.

But there is one possible benefit from this new writer scam. It would make a great basis for a novel, the heroic (but unfortunately gullible) starving writer, traveling around the globe, trying to track down the Nigerian writing scam cartel. What do you think?