MY FRIEND ISMIT ULAM RAJA.....

kring.... kring....

"Hello"

"Is that east43street?"

"Well good morning to you too. Yes this is he. Whose on the line please"

"Alloooo east43street, this is me, Ismit lah".

Ismit? My old buddy Ismit? What a pleasant surprise. Haven't heard from him for almost 7 years. It's must be something very important. And where he got my number from??

"I will be coming down to New York in a few days time. I will see you then"

"Is that all Ismit? Just you are coming down to visit me? What a priviledge. Tell me more, what you are up to this time?"

"Nothing lah. Will call you before I depart. Salam to your better half". He hanged up without leaving his number. Just typical Ismit. Always leave me in suspense. It is good anyway. Got to see him after all those years and to catch up the good old times.

Ismit is an entrepreneur. He owns a hard chrome factory in Puchong. Hard chrome is a specialise industry and he is among a few players around. His services are bespoked and have to comply with high Japanese standard micron of hard chroming. He told me once that he can chrome my car sports rim for free. He can even chrome my whole car if I wanted to. Phew.... awesome.

Ismit called again after 2 days. Time is the essence he said. He asked me to check if there was a new airport project completed in Abuja, Nigeria. I was confused. At that time Abuja was named as a new capital of Nigeria, but it was still a desert. He hanged up without leaving his number again. Well... well.... he must have thought that I am James Bond. Give me a little assignment and I will try to follow his trail. Ok, I will pay along. I did a little research and it was confirmed that Abuja was still a bare land. Nothing on it and the Nigerian government will start developing it after a few years. No airport, no nothing in Abuja just yet.

Two days later Ismit called again and this time he told me what it was about. He told me that he is finalising a business transaction and the other party has asked him to choose the venue between London and New York. He chose New York because I am in New York. He also told me that if everything goes well he will loaned me some money to start a new business, a new life probably. Wow! This must be big. Ismit is going big and I am so anxious to know what it is.

He told me that he was being contacted by the Nigerian government project manager handling Abuja International Airport project. The airport was completed and there was an excess of US$15 millions from the project. Ismit was offered 30% of that amount if he agreed to use his bank account to transfer the money out of Nigeria. What Ismit has to do is just provide his company bank account number and issue a fake invoice to the tune of US$15 millions. The format of the invoice would be supplied and Ismit just had to copy it to his letter head.

I told Ismit that there was no airport in Abuja and the fact that Abuja was just being declared as a new capital and it will take years to develop. I was surprised that Ismit did not believe me.

I kept on asking Ismit that there must be a catch to it. Nobody will transfer US$15 millions to a stranger. He finally conceded that he had to pay 0.15% bank transfer fee which will come up to US$22,500. So Ismit will have to pay US$22,500 of bank transfer fee to get his US$4.5 millions. How convenient.

I finally managed to get Ismit to his senses. I warned him that if he ever come to New York for that transaction, I will break his leg. Ismit did not make his trip to New York. Not because I was going to break his leg, but I think because he knew that he was being conned.

According to US government reports, US lost about US$3 billions every year to this kind of scam. The victims rarely report to the authorities because what they are doing is against the law anyway.

Ismit is still himself the last time I saw him. At least he got a dream to be rich for a short while.