Irony Scammed

Recently I received an order for 200 copies of my book Bad Behavior, People Problems & Sticky Situations: a toolbook for managers from a "gentleman" in Lagos, Nigeria.  He claimed to be a book seller and that the Nigerian government was embarking on a "clean up corruption" campaign requiring my book to train its managers on proper and ethical management techniques.

I was initially very suspicious - I'd never received an international order before; but after nearly 20 messages and one long distance phone call, I finally decided to trust this new customer.  Besides, I thought, there couldn't possibly be a black market in pilfered business books, could there?  I ordered the books printed and shipped and proceeded to process his credit card. Oooops, by the time it became clear that the card would not work, my books were already in Lagos and my customer was no longer responding to my emails.  I'm humiliated, embarassed and pissed.

But most of all, I'm thinking "How ironic: a con artist runs an international scam to lay hands on a book about bad behavior in business so that he can sell it to government employees learning how to clean up corruption."  Something is deliciously wrong with this picture, right?