A Nigerian Plea for Help Rekindles Scam From the Past
Wireless Facilities Reports Quarterly Loss of $71 Million
HIGH TECH
by Brad Graves, Staff Writer
“Urgent Business Proposal” reads the subject line of my e-mail.
I am being asked to help an accountant with the Nigeria National Petroleum Corp. transfer $35 million out of his country, using my bank account. In broken English he tells me the transfer must be handled in absolute secrecy. In return, I get 30 percent of money.
Seems there are a lot of Nigerian executives and government officials asking for such help. My father received a similar appeal a couple of months ago. Three years ago, residents of the Sierra foothill town where I worked were getting these pleas. Maybe the guys in Sierra Leone felt a special kinship?
The better explanation: It’s a scam.
An old one, too, according to the Internet Fraud Complaint Center of the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center.
The letters vary, but all claim to involve millions of dollars that need to be moved out of the country. Most offer the victim a 30 percent cut of the money. What they ask for is an address, phone number and complete bank account information.
One man told the government he lost $30,000 to such a scam. Another said he lost $1,000.
The scheme has been around since the 1980s, and came to the Internet as that technology spread, according to the center. You can read more by going to (www.ifccfbi.gov), then clicking on “IFCC Warnings.”
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Infrastructure Builder Looks Ahead: Telecom network builder Wireless Facilities, Inc. reported a net loss of $71.7 million, or $1.52 per share, on revenues of $40.1 million in the quarter ended March 31. In the year-ago quarter, revenue was $52.7 million.
Customers have been scaling back and postponing infrastructure projects, the San Diego-based company reported.
The company ended the quarter at 1,509 employees, down 490 from a year ago, said a spokesman.
On a brighter note, the company announced it will help the Bechtel Corp. build out next-generation networks for telecom carrier Cingular Wireless, concentrating on site acquisition, zoning and network planning.
Wireless Facilities said it expects the three-year contract to bring in at least $135 million in revenue. Cingular is upgrading a Time Division Multiple Access network with Global Standard for Mobile Communication and General Packet Radio Service technology (known as GSM and GPRS).
Wireless Facilities trades on the Nasdaq as WFII.
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Columnar Components: Carlsbad-based ViaSat Inc. has delivered a first set of airborne equipment to Connexion by Boeing, a proposed in-flight broadband Internet service. Lufthansa plans to test the system later this year. A Titan Corp. subsidiary, Titan Systems, has received an Air Force information technology contract worth $21.5 million if all options are exercised through 2006. The contract supports computer systems dedicated to maintenance Chipmaker Peregrine Semiconductor Corp. has received ISO 9001-1994 certification for its three San Diego plants (and no, it’s no relation to that similarly named company in the news).
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bgraves@sdbj.com.
