How to Spot a Mineral Trade Scam: Fake Sellers, Fake Buyers and the Paperwork Trap.

How to Spot a Mineral Trade Scam: Fake Sellers, Fake Buyers and the Paperwork Trap

By Kolawole King, CEO, Augustina Impex Limited

One fake document. One “small fee.” One rushed payment. That’s all it takes to lose everything in the mineral trade.

Every day, buyers lose money to sellers whose minerals don’t exist. Every day, honest miners and exporters lose samples, documents and cash to “buyers” who never meant to pay. Most victims aren’t careless. They just didn’t have a method for checking before money moved.

This 150-page field guide gives you that method. It’s written from years of real trading experience in Jos, Nigeria, the historic centre of the country’s tin, columbite and tantalite trade.

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN

✔ How every mineral scam works, from the first message to the moment the fraudster disappears

✔ The psychological tricks scammers use: greed, urgency, false trust and “just one more fee”

✔ Fake sellers:

• goods “ready at the port” that don’t exist
• the endless-fees trick (royalty, permit, customs “penalty”)
• switched and tampered samples
• fake gold and tungsten-filled bars
• inflated grades in tin, tantalite and lithium
• fake copies of real companies, and long chains of brokers who own nothing
• 
  
• ✔ Fake buyers:
• “you pay for our laboratory” demands
• fake letters of credit, SBLCs and SWIFT message copies
• edited payment screenshots and overpayment refunds
• people who only want your free samples and documents
• 
  
• ✔ The paperwork trap: how to check mining licences, assay certificates, export permits, bills of lading, contracts and bank letters with the bodies that issued them
• 
  
• ✔ Your defences: step-by-step checks for any seller or buyer, safe payment methods, safe sampling and inspection, protection against email hacking, and safe site visits
• ✔ Nigeria focus: how a genuine Nigerian mineral export works, compared with a scam
• ✔ If you’ve been scammed: the first 24 hours, where to report, and how to avoid “recovery agents” who strike twice

INSIDE THE BOOK

• 34 chapters in 7 parts
• Real scam phrases decoded line by line
• Fake documents stamped and annotated so you can spot the faults
• 12 training case studies
• The 10 golden rules of trade safety, plus a quick guide to the 20 most common scams

12 READY-TO-USE APPENDICES

📝 Master checklist of warning signs

📝 Seller and buyer checklists, step by step

📝 Table showing who issues each document and how to check it

📝 Glossary of scam jargon (ICPO, FCO, MT103, MT760, POF, NCNDA and more)

📝 20 common scam phrases decoded

📝 Safe payment guide

📝 What-to-do checklist and evidence log for when you’ve been scammed

📝 Letter templates to check documents with laboratories, warehouses, banks and the mining cadastre office

📝 Final checklist before you pay

WHO THIS BOOK IS FOR

• Foreign buyers sourcing minerals from Nigeria and Africa
• Miners, cooperatives and exporters selling to international buyers
• Brokers, agents and traders
• Investors looking at mines and mineral deals
• Compliance staff, bankers and anyone new to the mineral trade

BOOK DETAILS

Format: PDF (A5)

Length: 150 pages

Contents: 34 chapters + 12 appendices and templates

Publisher: Augustina Impex Mining Academy

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kolawole King is the Chief Executive Officer of Augustina Impex Limited, a mineral sourcing and export company in Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria. He works daily with miners, laboratories, inspectors and international buyers. He writes practical guides that help honest buyers and sellers trade safely.

MORE FROM THE AUGUSTINA IMPEX MINING EBOOKS LIBRARY

Conflict Minerals and Responsible Sourcing • Africa’s Critical Minerals • Coltan in Africa • Lithium Ore in Nigeria • Monazite Sand in Nigeria • Bastnäsite in Nigeria • From Pit to Port • Buying Minerals from Nigeria

Full library: https://augustinaimpex.com/Augustina_Impex_Mining_eBooks_Library.html

Read it before your next deal. The cheapest scam is the one you never fall for.