Second only to flight money, the Basic Travel Allowance (BTA) is the scammers highest paying income.
Also known as the Personal Travel Allowance, Travellers Allowance Fee, Travellers Assistance Fund, Travellers Assurance Fund and numerous other forms of “I have to have wodges of your cash or they won’t let me fly”.
Let’s get this over with now … THERE IS NO SUCH THING any more, anywhere, it’s an online dating scam.
First of all look at the wording Basic Travel ALLOWANCE, not basic travel requirement.
In the same way as we now have cigarette and alcohol allowances (ie the maximum amount you can take into/out of a country) the BTA used to be the maximum amount of local currency that could be exchanged and taken out of a country.
Why?
If poorer nations just allowed everyone to take as much cash as they liked out of their country the economy would be dead in the water in a week.
Therefore, poorer countries introduced the BTA to limit the amount of local currency that exited their country. This was scrapped 3-4 decades ago and replaced with other currency allowances but it gives the scammers an excellent legitimate sounding tool to get your money.
Something vital to understand is that third world countries don’t care who leaves or if they ever come back, the people that care are the country the person is travelling to.
This means that during the visa application process the applicant must prove to the visa section of the country they are visiting that they, or their sponsor, is financially able to pay for travel and expenses.
Very occasionally passport control at their destination country may randomly ask a traveller how much cash they have (this is usually when someone from a third world country arrives for a two week stay with 10 suitcases) and 50-100 pounds sterling/dollars or equivalent is more than adequate.
There is NO requirement, anywhere, for the person to show their government/travel agency/airline that they have 1000 pounds/dollars in cash … it’s a spinoff from the Nigerian 419 dating scam and a very effective one.
The usual amount asked for in terms of BTA is between 800 and 3000 pounds or dollars.
Let’s put this into context … on the Nigerian section of the Expat Blog we see:
the cost of living in Nigeria… a bit of an odd question as 90% of the population lives on less than a dollar a day.
So if you send them 1000 pounds (without calculating the flight money etc) you have just paid them 8 years basic living allowance.
Bet you wish someone would give you 8 years of salary free for just making a couple of phone calls and sending a few emails!!
Not hitting home yet?
Let’s try something more visual. At todays exchange rate 1000 British pounds is 241,127.33 NGN (nigerian currency).
Now go to Nigeria Car Finder and in the second hand car section leave everything as any and set the price to 250000
My search showed that your hard earned cash could buy a scammer:
1992 Honda, Accord … takes just 1 successful scam (flight and BTA money)
1993 190e mercedes, 1993 model … takes just 1 successful scam (flight +BTA)
2000 Mercedes-Benz, 200-Series … takes just 3 successful scams (flight and BTA)
Now then, do YOU drive a mercedes?
What about a home in a well-to-do area?
“Real estate for sale: 3 bedroom bungalow in cornerstone estate Price: 7 million”
So they just have to scam 10 people in the UK out of 3000 pounds for flight/BTA/hospital etc and bingo, they can live the high life without a mortgage … can you?
I’m sorry to be so brutal about this but you MUST understand that sending these people money is the equivalent of you having a half decent win on the lottery.
To make matters worse if you send them just 1 pound or dollar they will never leave you alone, you will have to change your online details, your home phone number, your mobile number and perhaps even move house to get away from them.
If you are reading this because you think you might be being scammed (requests for large sums of money to be sent through Western Union for BTA or flights) then I almost guarantee you are.
If you have already sent money then don’t feel ashamed, they prey on the humans most basic instinct, to love and be loved.
However, cease all contact immediately … don’t decide they might just be genuine so I’ll give them a couple of days, if you are reading this your head is sending you alarm signals, listen to them.
Conclusion: There is no such thing as Basic Travel Allowance or any other terms which suggest such a thing, the BTA is a dating scam.
(please note the photo of the boys used in this blog post are not known dating scammers, it is simply a photo of boys in Africa)
July 25th, 2010 at 11:52 am
Hi Aishe
Sorry you have been a victim of a scammer but I hope you now know what to look for and will not fall for their scams again.
Thanks for the email accounts used for scamming you.
July 25th, 2010 at 11:56 am
Hi Ken
Thanks so much for the information. The name Scott should have rung alarm bells, as it’s a man’s name but you are right, men are scammed just as much as women are .. we tend to talk about women being scammed here more simply because women tend to admit being scammed more readily than men do but we are happy to help men too.
Since you love your girlfriend so much I would suggest you stop chatting to strange “women” online, it usually leads to trouble of one sort or the other
July 25th, 2010 at 4:35 pm
That’s why I don’t usually chat to stranger people at all. I had my doubts from the get go. When she told me I signed up for an african dating site, I knew it was a scam. Which btw, I have never done. This person contacted me on yahoo, and how she got my info is beyond me, considering only 4-5 people have it. Including my girlfriend. So go figure. I’m glad to help other people by warning them. Thank you for this site,, As for dating sites, I haven’t been on one, since I met my girlfriend, nor do I have an interest in it.
Just as recent as yesterday, and to show you how stupid this person was, I asked this scammer, why she was using a man’s name, sending womens pictures, ( which I deleted, as I didn’t care what or who it was ) etc, the usual, screw off type of thing. When I told “her” I didn’t want further contact, she got pissed, told me to ” Furk of babe ” and sent a link to a website, travel adviser, showing that it was a scam. I haven’t heard back since, ( no surprise )
I have no clue how much money she wanted, nor would I cave in to her begging, etc. I was raised in such a way that a man does not ask for nor give money to anyone that you don’t know, or trust. I got burned once by what I thought was a friend, and swore then and there, it would never happen again, and it won’t.
My girlfriend, offered me some money the other day, and I politely refused, saying I appreciate the offer, ( which I did ) but I can’t and won’t do that. I would go without before I would ever borrow money from someone I love, or care about. I’d give before I’d take,
Thank you.
July 25th, 2010 at 8:20 pm
Hi Ken
That is very true, a real man would never borrow money from a stranger they met online, so women beware if anyone asks you for money online.
Scammers always get angry when you question their motives or details, this often works in deflecting your mind from questioning to defending and comforting. Really these people could make an honest fortune in the acting or psychology world as they have an excellent understanding of how human emotions work.
July 26th, 2010 at 12:14 am
I couldn’t have put it any better. The best piece of advice I can offer, if it sounds to good to be true, it is. DO NOT BE AFRAID to be blunt, and call them out. I had a seargent in the military who once told us, never second guess your gut instinct, your gut will never steer you wrong. I have always lived by that philosophy, and always will. Again, keep up the good work, and thank god for web sites like this one.
July 26th, 2010 at 6:59 am
Thanks Sally, ive learned my lessons, no matter how good and sincere youre motives in meeting new acquiantances,it is useless..Anyway this will not happened again..
Beware of this name:
ISELEN EHIDIAMEN this is the person whom this William Scott Looks use…
July 26th, 2010 at 10:30 pm
Hi Aishe
It is certainly not useless, I know many married couples who met through the internet. You just have to know what to look out for and look in the right places … Yahoo is NOT one of the right places, nor are the big international dating sites. Choose a site which caters for your interests, only allows members from your home country (this totally limits scammers) and chat in forums and on the site .. do not immediately move to offsite chat. Anyone who asks for or hints at needing money …. RUN AWAY.
July 27th, 2010 at 3:00 am
Thanks Sally, you’re right…:)
Thanks for this site..
More power and God Bless u..
July 28th, 2010 at 2:28 pm
According to my estimation those who do currently scams are really clever nowadays. For example, they might have pictures of white -maybe even authentic- Nordic ladies. Then they might use somewhat correct English when a man is talking to the “lady” via electronic mail. But in my opinion there are two things which should ring an alarm bell in most cases. First is the thing that no matter what you write in those email messages, you probably get answers that process the things you have described in your messages not very well. When you feel like there is a -I am sorry for this expression- “demented” person on the other email account, you should suspect that it is a scam.
Second thing that should be a serious warning about a possible scam is that the “lady” has a constant need to say something about a particular monetarily poor country or that a very important part of her life has to do with that country. Then after a time she might “suddenly” get herself in to a “trouble”, for example, with some officials. Then she might “need money” to get out of that “trouble”. I very much regret to say the next thing but they might mention, for example, Nigeria by name in their email messages. But let us hope that more and more countries become more and more trustworthy as time elapses.
In my opinion online dating could work in a large scale, but for that to work requires that an online dating site should be some 100 times as proper as some of them might be today. In my opinion 99 per cent fair online international dating is technically possible to be implemented, but creating such an environment would probably require tons of hard planning and tons of hard work.
July 30th, 2010 at 4:30 am
I am asking from the people of Nigeria to forgive me if they feel that I offended against them with my previous opinion. I just was so angry when I found out that I very likely had been fooled within the context of international online dating and then I more or less projected my anger to people of Nigeria. But in my opinion in my last writing I left the door to mercy at least a little open for every Nigerian person. However, I am sorry that in my opinion in my previous writing I was not able to express my anger without committing an offence.
July 30th, 2010 at 1:11 pm
Hi LM
That is a nice thing to say, well done. Dating scams are run from every country, they are simply more prevelent in countries with very poor economies. Nigeria, like any country, contains a majority of good and decent people with some bad people too. Lets hope that as their economy grows less people will turn to scamming and their authorities will have the resources to tackle what must be an embarrassment to decent hard working Nigerians.
July 30th, 2010 at 1:54 pm
hi sally
your website is really helpful. however, i think for my friend is not for she was a victim of scam such as posted in hte site.
She has already paid some amount thru Western Union thinking that she would be flying immediately.
now she could not recover from this embarrassing situation. she had place her life savings down the drain. although she is actively working. she quickly gets angry whenever someone asks her about her application overseas.
i feel pitty for her. i wonder why situation allow this scammers to continunously hurt honest people working their way to establish their future.
July 30th, 2010 at 10:00 pm
Hi Anonymous
I’m so sorry to hear about your friend and of course it will take time for her to accept that bad things happen togod people. It also drives me crazy that people usually find this site once they have already paid out money, I wish I could reach them before they pay money to these scammers.
Please just keep reminding your friend that even governments have been fooled by conmen, so why should ordinary people also not be fooled. It will hurt her when people ask about her application but in a short time they will stop asking and she can begin putting it in her past.
July 31st, 2010 at 11:15 pm
Ive read all the entries here, but there is a variant of this scam that you dont seem to be aware of.
Im British and live here with my Nigerian wife.
It is VERY common for Nigerian women travelling alone out of the country to be stopped by officials at Lagos airport who demand to see a “BTA”. If you dont have it they wont let you on the flight. They tried this scam on my wife, her sister and her cousin (all at different times). All three only managed to leave the country by giving the officials money for this fictious “BTA”.
Today, about 5 hours ago, wife’s youngest sister tried to board a KLM flight for the holiday of a lifetime in Holland, where her fiance lives. She didnt have any money on her, so they refused to let her on the flight. Her ticket is non-refundable and she dosnt have any money to buy another one. Nobody in the airport would help her and KLM refused to get involved. She saved up for a whole year for that trip.
She is now sitting in the entrance hall in floods of tears, while her luggage is on the flight to Amsterdam. Nobody there gives a damn, as she isnt from a rich family.
NIGERIANS ARE VICTIMS TO0 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
August 1st, 2010 at 3:03 am
Hi Mark
Thanks for your input and I feel so sorry for your sister in law and anyone used by corrupt officials but you seem to be missing the point.
Of course residents of poor countries are victims of official corruption but the amounts are nowhere near the amounts being asked for by scammers for BTA, usually between $2000 and $5000 or £1000 to £4000 pounds sterling.
I have lived in the African continent and the maximum bribe I had to pay to officials was £500 sterling but that was to a top government official to get my company formation papers finished quickly .. of course that amount was because I am European. Local people, particularly the poor, are never charged such silly amounts for bribes.
The idea that a police or government official would stand in an airport and demand a bribe of $5000 is simply laughable .. that’s over 750,000 Nigerian Nairas and you can buy a second hand Mercedes Benz for less than 1,500,000 Nairas from a dealer – “2002 MBENZ C240 N1.5M with leather seats (1,500,000 Negotiable)”
You haven’t said how much your sister in law was asked for or whether she had any cash on her at all to travel, as many poor countries will stop travellers from boarding planes if they don’t have any cash on them at all.
One thing I did learn very quickly over there was to pay something, this shuts them up and you go on your way, if you pay nothing they will find something wrong with your papers and keep you there until your flight or whatever has gone. It’s not right but it happens and you just have to get on with it until the people of the country decide to change it.
To be fair if a Nigerian friend asked me to send them £25 in case they had to pay a bribe at the airport I would have no hesitation in sending it but if they asked for £250 I wouldn’t send it and would have a long look at who I consider to be my friends. That is the difference here, the people asking for large amounts for BTA have no intention of leaving Nigeria and are simply stealing from people .. it’s so much easier than working for a living!!
August 1st, 2010 at 10:32 am
Hi Sally, I too have lived in Nigeria and seen corruption at first hand, its a way of life there for some. On my very first visit I was detained by the officials at Warri airport and had to give them 10,000 niara before they would let me out. Being stopped by the police for money as you drive down the street was a virtually daily occurance. I even had to bribe the regsitry office officials before they would allow my wedding to go ahead.
What they do at Lagos airport is pick the vulnerable looking ones, always young Nigerian women on their own, and then come out with the hoary old BTA line to force them to empty their pockets and then they take a cut. If if you only have a small amount they take the lot – thats what happened both to my wife and to her cousin shortly afterwards. People who dont comply get detained on a trumped up charge and are only released when the flight has left. I personally know of two members of my Nigerian family that this has happened to.
I never said that anyone asked her for $5000. Im just saying that Nigerians are victims of fraud too – the difference being they get it every day and from every official they meet. Anyone here in the west who gets such a request for money from a person they never met and believes it frankly deserves all they get – thats not corruption it just stupidity.
To suggest that the plight of some idiot in the west who sends money to a person he never met in Nigeria because of a pretty looking picture on the net is anything like that of the average struggling Nigerian is simply insulting.
August 1st, 2010 at 12:21 pm
Hi Mark, thanks for your reply.
Wow how many times have I heard people in poor countries say victims deserve it for being stupid .. as though that makes stealing their life savings or getting them into debt so you can drag yourself out of poverty acceptable.
Of course, people in third world countries believe we can simply go out to the garden and pick more off the money tree and their hard life doesn’t allow them the same high moral ground we sit on but that still does not excuse the actions of these thieves.
It’s sad that you feel so deeply for the young vulnerable women who are victims of fraud in Nigeria but the vulnerable people in the West are simply considered stupid. Vulnerable victims are simply that, no matter where they are.
I accept your point and yes theft and corruption goes on all over the world but I can’t spend my life tackling every part of it, although I wish I could. This blog is trying to bring the BTA scam to the attention of potential victims around the world. You and I both know BTA doesn’t exist so that’s the message of this post, if you are asked for large sums of BTA money don’t pay it and cease communication with the person, they ARE a scammer.
August 5th, 2010 at 4:20 pm
Regardless of what you guys are writing still you do not do the same to innocent people. Its cycle.
August 5th, 2010 at 4:24 pm
Hi Kate
Are you for real?
Relationship should not be based on paying some amount.
Honestly it was a trap set by someone pretending to be looking for an employee, promising a good job in UK, offering a better life, etc.
I’m so not pleased with your statement. Hope you guys get K A R M A.
August 19th, 2010 at 4:58 pm
The first write-up must have been written by an idiot with a bloated ego.
So, he believes that these scams originate from Nigeria ? Bravo for your intelligence. People like you with a narrow mind will get scammed over and over for an extended period before the scale falls out of their eyes. My simple reason for the above assertion is that you believe that these scams actually originate only from “poor” countries.
Secondly, if you see your self as coming from a “rich” country, then what the hell is a pocket change like one thousand dollars or pounds to you. It is wicked people like you that will prefare to let ” crumbs” from your table go to the dogs than really “change” the life of “poor’ citizen by giving him/her “8 yrs basic living allowance”.
You are actually looking at the world from one side of the coin. If ever you get the opportunity to view things from more than one perspective, then belive me a little wisdom will come to your disfigured bloated head.
August 23rd, 2010 at 1:33 pm
Well hello Ian
That’s so funny … your ip address is in Lagos, Nigeria LOL
GET A JOB or at the very least have the common decency to request aid money from the good hearted people you communicate with, instead of stealing from them.