THE INVENTOR TARGET OF THE CROOK(S)
A New Version of the "Nigeria Scam"
by Dr. Farag Moussa, IFIA Honorary President

Since early 2005 and for the first time, the internet "Advance Fee Frauders"
have found
(i) a new easy target, the inventors, as well as
(ii) a rich picking ground,
which consists of the websites that list their inventions and
which were created by non-profit organizations like IFIA with the
specific aim to help inventors find business partners.......

IFIA Investigates and Alerts

IFIA, the International Federation of Inventors' Associations, took the lead in alerting the
world of invention and inventors of this new version of the "Nigerian scam".

Press Release (June 2, 2005)

Photos used by the Crook(s) (July 11, 2005)

120 Inventors Thank IFIA for the Alert (August 11, 2005)

Will the Police Help ? (September 1, 2005)

Other Organizations Spread the Information

USA
The website of IPfrontline (previously PatentCafe), published under the signature of
Farag Moussa, IFIA Honorary President, the detailed IFIA information article:
Title:New Nigerian Scam Targets Inventors.
http://www.ipfrontline.com/depts/article.asp?id=4012&deptid=8

Several other websites made a link to the above mentioned IFIA article in ipFrontline:
Lyles Center for Innopvation and Entrepreneurship:
http://www.lylescenter.com/eaction/2005/june29/june29.htm
Invention Showcase also added a warning on its home page:
http://inventionshowcase.com/resources.htm
NoBordom website also added an Alert:
http://noboredom.com/
Great Patent Info Site:
http://www.patentsourceinfo.com/read/
?aHR0cDovL3d3dy5pcGZyb250bGluZS5jb20vZGVwdHMvYX
J0aWNsZS5hc3A/aWQ9NDAxMiZhbXA7ZGVwdGlkPTg=
It also reproduced the discussion on Houston Inventors Association, as further reproduced
by Free Republic website:
http://www.patentsourceinfo.com/patent/scam_japan_patent.html
Great Innovation Information Service website:
http://www.innovationmaniac.com/read/?aHR0cDovL3d3dy5pcGZyb250b
GluZS5jb20vZGVwdHMvYXJ0aWNsZS5hc3A/aWQ9NDAxMiZhbXA7ZGVwdGlkPTg

Phosita, an intellectual property web law blog, published a warning and added a link to
IFIA Honorary President's article in IPfrontline.
http://www.okpatents.com/phosita/archives/2005/06/nigerian_scam_t.html
http://www.mp3board.com/archive/N13.html

Several other websites made a link to the above Phosita:
IP NewsFlash
http://www.ipnewsflash.com/more.php?searchdate=2005-06-09&more=press
The Patentist - for Patent Attorneys and Inventors,
http://www.patentist.info/patent-invention/50298.html
Findory
http://findory.com/source?source=Phosita&ib=1&start_at=0
Topix.net (Scam News)
http://www.topix.net/who/scam
CopyrightPatentTrademarkonline.com
http://www.copyrightpatenttrademarkonline.com/2005/06/17/copyright-patent-trademark
-online- nigerian-scam-targets-inventorsim-sure-youve-all-received-2/
http://www.copyrightpatenttrademarkonline.com/index.php?s=nigerian+scam
Mp3 News
http://www.mp3board.com/archive/N13.html

The Bulletin of the United Inventors Association/USA, which is very widely distributed
in the USA and Canada, reproduced IFIA's detailed information note:
http://uiausa.org/News/Bulletins/IFIATarget.htm
http://www.uiausa.com/Services/NewProducts/NewProducts.htm
The United Inventors Association/USA published an Alert of its own on its June 2005
Newsletter:
http://www.uiausa.org/Publications/Newsletter/HTMLFormat/June2005Newsltr.html

The National Congress of Inventor Organizations (NCIO) (Stephen Paul Gnass )
alerted its Cyber-Exhibitors at <InventionConvention.com>, early May 2005.
In July, warnings were posted on the Home pages of the three web sites of NCIO:
http://www.inventionconvention.com/ncio
http://www.inventionconvention.com
http://www.inventionconnection.com
Here is the direct link to this excellent warning page of the three web sites of NCIO
http://www.inventionconvention.com/scamalert.html
The warning page (17 pages in print form) includes a link to the present 1000inventions
special page for updated information, as well as a direct link to the detailed press
release (article) of IFIA. In the last and fifth section entitled (What to do if you've made
contact with the scammers), NCIO reproduces the advice suggested by IFIA under
the title: Stop communicating.

Inventors' Digest (Monthly Magazine) published an Alert on its website on July 13, 2005,
with a link to this 1000inventions special page, at:
http://inventorsdigest.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?
sid=3EC93657E0984D31952D85CB05C5A766&nm=Beware%21&type=news&mod=
News&mid=A3D60400B4204079A76C4B1B129CB433&tier=3&nid=
8CF7216BF55441B586171C454741DED5
or at:
http://inventorsdigest.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?type=AdvancedSearch&nm=
Advanced&mod=Site+Search&level=2
Inventors' Digest Newsletter of August 2005 also published an info entitled "Scam Spam
from Japan", warning inventors and recommending that they stay away!

InventorEd.org (Ronald J. Riley) website published the text of IFIA Press Release and
the comments of an inventor:
http://inved.org/pipermail/inventors-l_inved.org/2005-June/007659.html
http://inved.org/pipermail/inventors-l_inved.org/2005-June/007687.html

The Houston Inventors Association published a warning on its Home page, followed
by a link to a related discussion with different views:
http://www.inventors.org/
Free Republic website reproduced the discussion published by the
Houston Inventors Association:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1328281/posts
The following website did the same:
http://alarm-system.yoursuperengine.com/q/alarm-system-new-home-in-houston-tx.ht

Several other websites published an Alert and made a link to 1000inventions special
webpage:
Great Patent Info Zone:
http://www.everythingpatents.com/read/?aHR0cDovL3d3dy4xMDAwaW52ZW50aW
9ucy5jb20 vZnJhdWRlcnMtdGFyZ2V0LWludmVudG9ycy5waHA=

The Inventor's Council of Cincinnati
included in its June Meeting the following item:
Beware: Inventors Targeted by Nigerian Scam!

and added in its June News issue a clear alert, advising its members NOT to contact
the authors of the e-mails, and concluding its warning as follows:
" THIS IS A SCAM!!! The only thing you will gain is a hole in your wallet! "

Bizwatch published an Alert and added a direct link to 1000inventions special
Alert page:
http://www.bizwatch.info/new_invention_showcase.html

HONG KONG
The Hong Kong Inventors Association (HKIA), added on June 30, 2005, a link to this
1000inventions "page", on its Home page (see lower part: Alert):
http://www.hkia.com.hk/
The HKIA later added on its September 2005 Monthly Topic, a direct link to our
special Alert page:
http://www.hkia.com.hk/eindexm.html

SWEDEN
The Swedish Inventors Association (SUF) published on September 1, 2005 a
Warning in Swedish to its members with a direct link to our special Alert page.
The text (in Swedish) reads as folows:
"Nigeria-brev" till uppfinnare
Uppfinnare med uppfinningar på webbplatsen 1000inventions.com varnas för
oseriösa kontakter. Genom Farag Moussas och IFIAs försorg har samtliga uppfinnare
som utnyttjar tjänsten fått information brevledes. Här hittar du mer information: http://www.1000inventions.com/frauders-target-inventors.php

Vi har också hört från medlemmar om liknande brev, där det klart framgår att man
fokuserar på projektfinansiering i mycket tidiga skeden. Alltså, en varning till försiktighet
är på sin plats!

UNITED KINGDOM
The website of WRTI (Wessex Round Table of Inventors) added, early September 2005,
warnings with links to IFIA Honorary President' detailed article on the New Version of the
Nigerian scam on:
its Members Inventions page:
http://www.wrti.org.uk/inventions.htm
and its Legal Notice pages:
http://www.wrti.org.uk/legal.htm

WRTI Newsletter Inventique published a special warning in its October 2005 issue under
the title of 'ADVANCE FEE' FRAUDSTERS TARGET INVENTORS'.
The main part of this Alert reads:
Fraudulent e-mail messages are sent to inventors from a purportedly Japanese
businessman, naming the invention and expressing an interest in a deal, but invariably
leading to demands for advance payments - and in some cases telephone harassment
- after months of seemingly plausible negotiations.

CHINA
The web site (in Chinese) of the China Association of Inventions (CAI) published end of
November 2005 the most recent IFIA Alert on its Home page:
http://www.cainet.org.cn/index.htm

The same alert was published by CAI in the December 2005 issue of its magazine
China Invention & Patent.