Khalid al Sumaiti, Gareth Francis, and Norwich Assurance
Complaint 292311 Details

I received an unsolicted job offer from a man who told me his name was Khalid al-Sumaiti at the Kuwait Gulf Oil Compnay to be a surveyor in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, U.K. I believed it was a legitimate offer because I had posted my resume for land surveying jobs with Monster.com three days before. I was sent a contract offer and signed it and returned it to him. I was handed over to a "immigration lawyer" named Gareth Francis who sent me some papers to sign and told me I needed to apply for a passport to leave the U.S. and to purchase a one year international travelers policy from a company called Norwich Assurance. After I applied for a passport and spent $225 to process and expedite the application, I returned home and began to try to use the insurance company website. When I got to the website, it did not work very well. I entered contact information and was immediately quoted a fee of 1440 pounds sterling ($2378 American)per year for this insurance. I got a little suspicious because the price seemed a little high. I spoke to a friend and we looked up information on this individual and on this insurance company. The phone number for this lawyer was given as starting with +044 which was listed as a non U.K. landline number and I realized this was a scam. I am glad I only spent $225 on a passport and did not pay for the insurance.