Passport?

[Svejk]

Is it legal for someone to (with)hold a British Passport as collateral. In this instance in Nigeria in case that matters. I've been telling this person for months that they're being scammed and at last he's given me permission/ asked me to gauge other peoples opinions. Well he said he wants facts not opinions but I'm quite happy with either. If anyone is interested I can go into more detail.

[Retrochic]

Surely if he/she has willingly given the passport as collateral (rather than it being stolen) then there is no Law broken? IF they are being scammed then surely it has nothing to do with the passport being held? I would advise them to contact the British Embassy and explain the situation - if the situation is a bit 'iffy' then just say its been stolen - then the original one could be cancelled and a new one issued.

[237SJ]

I think only governments and their agencies can hold on to someone`s passport (such as Border Control). I have flatly refused to let a hotel reception (for example) keep my passport as surety and there is nothing they can do about it. In fact, I haven`t had them ask for a long time because they know they can`t do that so they tend to just take a photocopy (Chinese hotels do this).

[Svejk]

The person being scammed(imo) has been sending money to someone in Nigeria so that they(the person in Nigeria) can resolve a legal matter. On suggesting they come home and resolve it from here they were told that the passport had been handed over as collateral and X amount of money was needed to secure its release. A couple of weeks ago I suggested reporting the passport lost to the BE in Lagos.
Instead of issuing a new passport it is alleged the BE contacted the people holding the passport.
And the e-mail below was forwarded as proof. Bear with me. I'll try and C&P without giving out senders and recipients names.

[Svejk]

///I received a call concerning you from the embassy today , Telling me you came to claim you lost your passport that you need a new passport but have you forgotten am a senior lawyer of Federal Republic Of Nigeria , I cant do things that are illegal because I have been doing this for years and I know the right from the left , Am an experience lawyer with quality grades. I have never hurt you or do things that are illegal to you , Have you forgotten you brought your case to my firm to handle it for you and we did it successfully and we won the case and you don't want to pay your balance to collect your documents from us , I have reported this case to the embassy before making any moves in collecting the documents from you and i told them we had a legal contract and i showed them every documents we signed to finish the deal and you want to play smart on my firm.///

[Baldric]

A UK Passport remains the Property of the Government and not the Holder, so how can it be collateral?

[jackthehat]

Scam......pure and simple.

[Svejk]

Not the best English is it? Does the Nigerian legal system conduct its business in English, does anyone know?

[jackthehat]

English is the official language of Nigeria.

Any Nigerian lawyer would be able to write better English than is given in the e-mail.

It's a scam - have a look at the variety on offer:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/419_scams

[Barmaid]

Agreed with JtH. Having had some experience of these people, this is one of the common scams they pull.

I can guarantee you that the person in Nigeria will NOT be of english origin and will NOT be entitled to hold a British passport.

[EDDIE51]

As said a Passport is the property of the government that issued it, the person to whom it was issued is only the 'holder' NOT owner of the Passport. So you can not give it to anyone else it is not yours to give!
Get the person to report the passport as stolen to the British Embassy in Lagos.
The email is 100% scam, get them to show it to the embassy. The embassy should class it as theft and cancel it.
No point going to the police in Nigeria they are so corrupt they will just ask for a bribe to do anything and then do nothing anyway, apart from ask for another bribe from the person who has it.

[Svejk]

The story is that this person I know met a girl (British girl) and had a whirlwind romance. She had to go off to work in Nigeria for a British based charity. Starting last January when she thought January's wages were a Christmas bonus she's been scamming/receiving regular sums off my friend using a variety of credible(and not so credible) stories. I've been telling him he's being scammed from the get-go but, you know, young love and all that.
Re, jth's link. He's been getting money 'wired' from various parts of the world and sending it on to Nigeria.(to the charity?)
I warned him he could be in legal trouble for doing that. So he told her to stop doing it but it's always 'just one more'. That money could be going (along with the rest of it) to Boko Haram, or similar, for all he knows.
And his beautiful girlfriend could be recruiting more mugs in this country while he's talking to a sweaty Nigerian scamster.

[jackthehat]

He is Money Laundering!
It doesn't matter whether his intentions are noble/above board.....he is money laundering and is leaving himself open to prosecution!!

That is the bottom-line, regardless of the relationship and the money he is giving to her from his own pocket.

[EDDIE51]

Confused here, is it that the person in Nigeria is claiming to have a British passport and is asking for the money to solve a problem? If so it is a 100% scam and a common one as Barmaid says.
If the person in Nigeria really does have a British Passport it is the British embassy in Lagos that has to help him not someone in the UK.
Your mate has been scammed and he will never see his money again. Nothing to do but write it off and learn not to be so stupid again.

[VHG]

He is being used for money laundering and he could go to prison for it.

He is also being scammed.

He sounds totally gullible and the very sort of person scammer love, totally gullible and willing to believe anything.

Tell him he is being an idiot.

[VHG]

One other thing....scammers often use "sob stories".

I cant leave the country till a tax bill is paid, I need money to pay for my air fare, I cant leave the country till they return my passport, I need to pay a medical bill before I can leave the country and so on.

Just to say again YOUR FRIEND IS BEING SCAMMED and they will keep saying there is "just one more thing to pay for" until he finally comes to his senses.

Tell him to send NO MORE MONEY and delete all their emails.

p.s. Nigeria is the scam country of the world, their 4th biggest money maker I believe. They prey on gullible people who are stupid enough to keep sending them money.

HE IS BEING SCAMMED.

[VHG]

One other thing.

He says he met this girl (in the UK?), but then she said she had to go off and work in Nigeria for a charity.

I think it unlikely she actually went to Nigeria, she probably just sent his details to her scammer friends in Nigeria and they have been talking to your fiend ever since.

While he may THINK he is exchanging emails with this girl it is more likely he is exchanging emails with a 50 year old Nigerian man, sitting in a room in Nigeria full of computers with loads of other Nigerian men and women sitting at them.

They will be carrying on multiple scams at the same time with numerous mobile phones in front of them, and numerous email logons that they send and receive emails from.

So your friend may be thinking he is conducting a long distance relationship with this girl, but she is probably still in the UK signing up other scammers, and you friend is actually talking to a differnet person.

I am afraid your friend is about as gullible as they can get.

Tel him to read this "Romance Scam" section on Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/419_scams#Romance_scam

[Svejk]

Eddie, the British girl has claimed the Nigerian lawyer has her passport and won't return it unless X amount of money is handed over. She allegedly went to the Embassy in Lagos but received the e-mail I submitted above.
As VHG intimated, this is just the latest in a long list of excuses/ reasons 'she' needs more money.
I've told him from the start he's being scammed but he doesn't want to believe it. He seems to be wanting cast-iron proof before he believes it. I was hoping someone could suggest a way, without involving the police, but I'm quite happy to hear other peoples' opinions.

[Old_Geezer]

Many years back when I actually used to go on holiday, it was common practice for hotels to demand them on arrival, and the package holiday guide used to tell you it had to be complied with as it was the law there. So were we lied to ? Has something changed ? No one would want to be refused the room they booked & paid for, for standing on their rights anyway.

Nigeria is infamous for e-mail scams and didn't hold a great rep in the phone call industry either. May mean nothing, but .... I don't see how one can be used a collateral though. Maybe for copying ?

[ummmm]

OG...I think nowadays they have your credit/debit card info so are not so worried about you leaving without you paying the mini bar bill...

[Svejk]

I don't see myself how any British Embassy would leave a young girl (or anyone for that matter) stranded in a foreign country. If something happened to her there would be hell to pay. I might see if I can e-mail the embassy in Lagos myself. I'm not sure they'd discuss anything with me as I'm not related to any of the protagonists.