The Scammer who Sold a $242 Million Imaginary Airport to a Bank
One of the biggest scams of the '90s
One of the most fascinating scams that occurred between 1995 and 1998 involved Emmanuel Nwude, a Nigerian scammer who managed to sell a fake airport to a Brazilian bank. Such a scam is unlikely to be successful in today’s world as people are more aware of scams as a result of the surge in internet scams worldwide. Nowadays, hardly anyone falls for those emails promising us fortunes that seemingly fall from the sky.
I bet we’ve all received that email about an “investment opportunity” or the long lost aunt who left us millions in their will. But, we all know better than to respond to those!
The scam
Emmanuel Nwude the mastermind behind the scam had previously worked as a director of the Union Bank of Nigeria. His banking background gave him access to the knowledge, documentation and links that made him more believable when it came to executing his scam. Emmanuel’s experience as a bank director meant that he had ample knowledge of how to conduct himself in a business setting and probably had a certain confidence about him that put his victims at ease.
