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Dateline: Abuja; Nigeria Fights Email Scam

Posted by Hemos on from the just-need-your-bank-account-number dept.

dosten writes "Computerworld.com is reporting that the Nigerian government is tired of being known as the Spam/Scam capital of the world and setup a web site to combat the common email scam. The web site is almost as funny as the Spam Letters. There is even a place to report your victim "experiences" so they can be published. One of the "coming soon" features will be a lineup of bad guys so you can avoid them in case you end up in Nigeria to collect your loot."

5 of 197 comments (clear)

  1. nigeria scams... by bje2 · · Score: 4, Informative

    we've actually gotten contacted for this scam through not only e-mail but through faxes at my office...yeah, like we're gonna think that a random fax that comes through is legit...right... that's almost as bad as the old "I send you this file in order to have your advice" virus...

    in any case, the Spam letters guy also has this link which has good information about fighting the nigeria scam...

    --

    "Facts are meaningless. You could use facts to prove anything that's even remotely true." - Homer Simpson
  2. Poor DSL link in .uk by MavEtJu · · Score: 4, Informative

    nigerianfraudwatch.org. 23h55m50s IN A 217.204.238.51

    51.238.204.217.IN-ADDR.ARPA domain name pointer pccorner-3.dsl1.easynet.co.uk

    Poor DSL link...

    --
    bash$ :(){ :|:&};:
  3. 419 Coalition by Detritus · · Score: 5, Informative

    For more information, see the 419 Coalition website. This is a huge problem in Nigeria. There is massive corruption in the Nigerian government and judicial system. It has also hurt legitimate Nigerian businesses.

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    Mea navis aericumbens anguillis abundat
  4. Nigerian Advance Fee Fraud by EchoMirage · · Score: 3, Informative

    A good deal of these spam e-mails are related to the Nigerian Advance Fee Fraud, which the U.S. State Department considers a big enough deal to publish their own materials on it. See here [link is to a PDF] or here. The fraud is quite advanced, often going so far as to appear to originate from the Central Bank of Nigeria, use official letterheads and stationary, etc.

    The moral of the story is that sometimes spam is not just annoying, but potentially fraudulent and therefore dangerous. I'm glad to see something is being done about this, not only to curb spam, but also to prevent the scam from growing.

  5. My kind of town (Nigeria is)... by mypalmike · · Score: 1, Informative
    What a great place. Between this and execution by stoning for the heinous crime of actually having sex, there's no reason not to make Nigeria your next vacation destination!

    -_-_-

    --
    There are 0x40000000 types of people: those who understand 32-bit IEEE 754 floating point, and those who don't.