Slashdot Mirror
Dateline: Abuja; Nigeria Fights Email Scam
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."
Spam is bad enough, wouldn't want to run into the guys that actually send it out :)
" is even a place to report your victim "experiences" so they can be published. " - as long as they don't also publish the e-mail address of the people writing about them. As to spam from Nigeria - I've never had any (that I know of) - how about everyone else?
Video Game cheats, hints a
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
the 31 million us dollars in frozen funds email, how does this scam work anyway, any info?
It's simple. You give them your bank account # and permission to withdraw funds. Then they do. Duh.
Read the thread over at spamletters.com if you want to get a better idea.
And in a burst of inspired irony, their first order of business was probably the purchase a 5,000,000 name e-mailing list to tell people about this new anti-spam site. =)
Could we, for a change, try slashdotting the spammers instead of those trying to fight them?
in the corner of some ISP, a shiny new server is crying "You published a link to me WHERE?!?"
"History doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme." Mark Twain
We actually got them on the phone. (My friend likes to get spammers on the phone via long distance and listens to them gab while he programs. He then says, "hey - you're a spammer. You wasted my time, now I've wasted yours. Enjoy the long distance charges")
Anyway my friend got bored and actually told him that he knew he was a spammer etc. It was kind of funny all the denials and so forth. (I ought to get my friend to write the full story for you all as it was kind of funny and I'm sure I've screwed up part of the story)
You can't open a bank account with no money in it. Then bored people could open accounts all over the place. The email says that funds of questionable legallity are being held in Africa. They need you to open a bank account in your name, give them access to it, and they'll put the XX millions into your new account. From there, you get to keep some cut of the newly liberated riches. So you get all excited, are in the middle of opening a bank account in a foreign country for dubious purposes, and they say "And we will need a minimum deposit of X thousand dollars to open that account". You think about the tons of money you stand to make in your dealings, and just drop that much money into your account. Then you give account access to your new email buddies. Then they withdrawl your seed money. (making *poof* gesture with mouth and hand) Then they're gone.
I think this scam is called The Spanish Prisoner. A good movie of the same name explains the age old scam (Ed Oneil's part). The dumb thing is that the scam presented in the movie doesn't seem to be a variation of the scam they describe.
-B
Nigeria _is_ a rich and corrupt country. Many people there _are_ relatives of government ministers with access to huge, hidden bank accounts. Earthlink, Enron ... as far as we've come into the modern world we've got _nothing_ on Nigerians. Those of us lucky enough to be invited into their schemes should rejoice, open our bank accounts wide. The educational experience is priceless.
___
"with their freedom lost all virtue lose" - Milton
I recieved a scam message post marked from Nigeria in the U. S. mail. The scam was different (they just wanted my checking account number so they could transfer millions into it (yeah right!)). Email and faxes aren't the only problems with scams from that country.
I guess all countries' people have scams too.
I think we just /.ed Nigeria.
The Anti-Blog
If they were really serious, there would be an e-mail address you could forward the Nigerian scam mail to and then would personally track it and give the person the beat-down of their life.
;)
As an incentive, if you reported it, they'd send you the video of the person getting the Cowboy Neal done to them.
Gentoo Sucks
fellas,
Who came up with the idea of linking to a third world website? good grief, you know the telcos there can barely handle a slashdotting, much less a single website.
BTW, I am constantly amazed at the sheer stupidity of the people of this earth. Reminds me of the old vegas scam: I have a bunch of counterfit chips, you give me $1000-2000 for them, but since I can't go inside because I have been banned, you cash them for me while I take your money and run. Nifty...uninformed people often receive nasty wake-up calls...then they tend to be like the rest of us, wary and skeptical.
Sent from your iPad.
Seem we have Slashdoted the Nigeria
Huzzaaah
"Tui Nati vulnerati."
I very, very rarely get spam, but I got the Nigerian message literally two or three minutes before reloading /. to see this story posted. And it's already Slashdotted. :)
My Webcomic: Asylum on 5th Street
There is even a place to report your victim "experiences" so they can be published.
Dozens of individuals JUST LIKE YOU are making thousands of dollars daily on the Internet everyday!!!!
I know, I was skeptical, too, until I read about this fantastic offer that a friend told me about. He was cashing checks every couple of days for thousands of dollars!!!!
Our free guide offers testimonies from thousands of clients that are ready and willing to buy the services that YOU, TOO, can offer over the Internet - for FREE!!!!
"Provided by the management for your protection."
Here is how I was told that this scam works:
1. You respond with an account number. They make a deposite to the account just like they said they would.
2. They come back to you and say "Please give us back $X of the money we sent you". Since you have the money in your account you write them a big fat check.
3. After a few big fat checks clear your bank, you you find out from your bank that the first big deposit did not auctually clear, you now have an account that is overdrawn because of all those big fat checks.
And since your name is the only name on the account you are entirly responsable!
[End of diatribe. We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming...] - Larry Wall in Configure from the perl
nigerianfraudwatch.org. 23h55m50s IN A 217.204.238.51
51.238.204.217.IN-ADDR.ARPA domain name pointer pccorner-3.dsl1.easynet.co.uk
Poor DSL link...
bash$
I received a variant of this one the other day. The difference is that instead of being Nigerian, this one is Congolese, supposedly from the widow of the late president Mobutu Sese-Seko.
The Slashdot relevance of this is that it is addressed to the email address that I use ONLY for Slashdot, which I allow to be shown but only through spam-armoring. Chinks in the armor, it appears.
Why not just use the microsoft spam solution??
Good quote, too many chars. Seriously, the slashdot 120 char limit sucks!
Unfortunately, if you examine the problem from an information-theoretical viewpoint you'll find that that is impossible. Shannon's basic theorem was that noise is a property of communication. When you communicate, you have noise as a byproduct no matter what you do. Email is communication, spam is the noise. Web traffic is communication, popups are the noise. Slashdot is communication, trolls and crapflooders are the noise.
One possibility for a solution is to reduce the communication itself via filters. For instance, some central agency could set up a computer to monitor all communication and delete targetted email messages or web traffic. As an act of communication-reduction this would guarantee at least a small amount of relief from noise. That's why I support Ashcroft in his plan to set the FBI up with Carnivore.
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.
Mea navis aericumbens anguillis abundat
A group of hackers who call themselves
Slashdotters today successfully shut down the
whole internet in Nigeria. The Nigerian head
of information declined to comment, it is reported
that he is still on hold with AOL tech support.
They are something to the effect of
These most of the time are check fraud cases, but sometimes they are legitimate checks used in various money laundering schemes. Don't fall victim yourself.
Click here or here.
I feel so proud. Two weeks ago I opened my mail, and I had not one, but TWO Nigerian scam emails. I have been laughing about this scam for the longest time, but I never got hit... until now. It cracked me up so bad I almost email the guys back, but decided not to. I still have the emails in my archives, just in case I feel lonely someday... I can know that someone, somewhere, thought enough of me to try to scam me. :)
All they gotta do is scrape addresses from /. :)
What is your Slash Rating?
I modify the namea/dates/amounts/etc, and fire this off:
Dear DR.ONORIODE BOBOLO,
It is so good to hear from a fellow-countryman, having been raised and lived for many years in our most beautiful homeland, Nigeria. I want to send you my sincere thanks and gratitude for your kind offer of USD$25,000.000.00 (TWENTY FIVE MILLION UNITED STATE DOLLARS) for taking part in this funds transfer transaction.
However, I am a businessman too, and I make my living transferring large sums of money from and to my friends, relatives, and business associates in Nigeria. Therefore, I know that you would agree, that in order to participate in this wonderful opportunity, I must have an advance monetary commitment from you -- a good faith gesture on your part -- in order to proceed.
Therefore, I ask that you deposit just 10% ($2,500,000) of the $25M into my PayPal account as an indication that you truly possess the funds and are actually authorized to release them. Using the online PayPal service is a very convenient and secure way to transfer funds. All you need do is access the PayPal web site -- http://www.paypal.com -- open a PayPal account, deposit the funds into your new account, and then transfer the money into my existing account, which has already been set up to receive the $25M.
You only need my email address, which you already have, to transfer the funds into my account. Therefore, the complete safety of your account, as well as mine, is guaranteed and insured unconditionally. You have asked that this matter be handled with the strictest confidentiality, and I will agree to that condition, provided that the transfer takes place in a reasonable period of time, say by Friday, 5 October.
If the money has not been received by that time, I must assume that you are not making a legitimate offer, and that you might be someone other than who you say you are -- although I can tell by the exceptional language of your email, that is probably not the case. However, if that is the case, then I will be forced to embark upon a most unpleasant course of action that I would prefer not to undertake.
Because I have so many loyal friends in the Government of Nigeria and the Military, and many close ties within the Security Service where you work, it would be quite easy to locate your office and your home, as well as learn the identities of your friends and relatives.
I truly don't believe that you would want to jeopardize their health and well-being, and your own future. I will access my PayPal account on next Saturday to verify that your good-faith payment has been made. Once that takes place, we can move forward with the final transfer.
I trust that you will not disappoint me in this matter, since the consequences for non-compliance could be quite severe. I look forward with great anticipation to working with you.
Yours faithfully,
Issa Gidada, JD, MMB,
President & CEO
U.S./Nigeria Funds Transfer Organization
Beverly Hills, CA
The Nigerian government has set up a website to combat /.'rs who continually bring down websites. An official has been quoted saying "We are sick and tired of websites being taken down because of Slashdot. It is a menace that must be stopped!"
As an avid internet user and Nigerian patriot, I wish to make a severe protest about this act of wickedness that has been committed by the Slashdot editors. As bad as scam letters can be, I think pulverizing our measly bandwidth and equipment with Slashdot readers is a little extreme as a spam-control measure.
oga? wetin happen for dis server now?
Am I a hipster-doofus?
Don't you know that the Internet backbone of Nigeria consists of a drumbeat relay to a guy on the phone doing voice-mimicked modulation long-distance to a dial-up account in Rugby, North Dakota? (Note to self: Self, someone needs to write an RFC for this.)
You're going to kill the percussion section of the Nigerian Symphony Orchestra by posting to Slashdot!
"ATTENTION NIGERIA: All your bandwidth are belong to us!"
Give me my freedom, and I'll take care of my own security, thank you.
man, this is a pretty arrogant statement.
some nigerians please stand up and spank this dude.
of course they have computers. computers are like whores, they are everywhere.
``If a program can't rewrite its own code, what good is it?'' - Mel
The country has a lot more people than you might guess, considering its size:
Population of Nigeria: 108.20 million.
Source: Nigeria Business Info
Bush's education improvements were
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.
Actually, the scammers are branching out... last month I was invited by "a prominent Nigerian law firm" to come pick up my 75 million dollars in Amsterdam. Maybe because they have better internet connectivity there. ;)
Color flashing, thunder crashing, dynamite machines.
A few years back, I got this odd letter from Nigeria.
Beautiful paper in the envelope and letter - sort of a marbled blue/white. Handwritten in incredible penmanship (not laser or inkjet).
I felt really bad turning it in to the Postal Inspection Service (and even that guy thought it was "one of the prettiest scam letters" he'd ever seen. You just don't get that sort of workmanship with email.
If you ever read any of the scams, it usually indicates that the person has stolen money from Nigeria in some form or another and needs your help to transfer it out of the country. Now, you are invited to help steal and you go with it. Doesn't that make you a thief if you agree to the offer? If your money is now stolen in the process, wouldn't you call it an irnoic form of justice? You were stupid enough to want to be a thief and when you get robbed, you suddenly call yourself a victim. Wouldn't it be better for the police to arrest you not only for being stupid, but also for being a self proclaimed thief?
I am Lord Snowbeam. Heed my call!
There was a report on this on Channel 12 News in Portland, OR. The EFF guy in the article seems to think no one will fall prey to such a cheesy scam, but according to the TV report, people were (big surprise here) quite stupid enough to become victims. I guess one guy in the Portland area lost his savings or something to it.
Apparently, the first part required something like $5,000 to be deposited. They said the money was in Canada first. Then it went to the UK. Then...well, it got withdrawn one way or another and the people lost track of it. The scammer then sent them another message telling them that they had to put in more money to get past some customs post or another, and they sobered up and didn't give him any more of their dough.
You might say, "jeeze these guys are bloody idiots!" Well yes they are...heh...but to the layman it is pretty convincing. According to the report, the fellow who the TV victims responded to sent them all manner of official-looking waste paper to convince them. If one is not up on this sort of thing, I can see how he could be taken in.
There's no sig like this sig anywhere near this sig, so this must be the sig.
I think this is awesome. From http://www.ift.org/extra/scam.shtml:
This has become a huge industry. According to some published reports, this has become the third largest industry in Nigeria. During the last thirteen years, there are estimates that the scam has taken in $5,000,000,000 in total, and hundreds of millions of dollars every year. These estimates may be underreported, as many victims may not wish to admit that they have been defrauded.
If taking money from gullible people can net you that much, well... More power to them!
In case anyone is curious what one of these emails looks like, I got this in my inbox, from jokoli001@yahoo.com, when I arrived at work today. Suffice to say I can't wait to get my hands on the money! ;)
.com and .
Dear Sir,
I am Mr. Joseph Okoli. Bank Manager of Diamond
Bank of Nigeria, Lagos Branch. I have urgent and
very confidential business proposition for you. On
June 6, 1997, a FOREIGN Oil consultant/contractor
with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation,
Mr. Barry Kelly made a numbered time (Fixed)
Deposit for twelve calendar months, valued at US
$25,000,000.00 (Twenty- five Million Dollars) in my
branch. Upon maturity, I sent a routine notification to
his forwarding address but got no reply. After a
month, we sent a reminder and finally we discovered
from his contract employers, the Nigerian National
Petroleum Corporation that Mr. Barry Kelly died
from an automobile accident. On further investigation,
I found out that he died without making a WILL, and
all attempts to trace his next of kin was fruitless. I
therefore made further investigation and discovered
that Mr. Barry Kelly did not declare any kin or
relations in all his official documents, including his
Bank Deposit paperwork in my Bank. This sum of US
$25,000,000.00 is still sitting in my Bank and the
interest is being rolled over with the principal sum at
the end of each year. No one will ever come forward
to claim it. According to Nigerian Law, at the
expiration of 5 (five) years, the money will revert to
the ownership of the Nigerian Government if nobody
applies to claim the fund. Consequently, my proposal
is that I will like you as an Foreigner to stand in as
the next of kin to Mr. Barry Kelly so that the fruits of
this old man's labor will not get into the hands of
some corrupt government officials. This is simple, I
will like you to provide immediately your full names
and address so that the Attorney will prepare the
necessary documents and affidavits, which will put
you in place as the next of kin. We shall employ the
service of two Attorneys for drafting and notarization
of the WILL and to obtain the necessary documents
and letter of probate/administration in your favor for
the transfer. A bank account in any part of the world,
which you will provide, will then facilitate the
transfer of this money to you as the beneficiary/next of
kin. The money will be paid into your account for us
to share in the ratio of 60% for me and 40% for you.
There is no risk at all as all the paperwork for this
transaction will be done by the Attorney and my
position as the Branch Manager guarantees the
successful execution of this transaction. If you are
interested, please reply immediately via the private
email address below. Upon your response, I shall
then provide you with more details and relevant
documents that will help you understand the
transaction. Please observe utmost confidentiality,
and rest assured that this transaction would be most
profitable for both of us because I shall require your
assistance to invest my share in your country.
Awaiting your urgent reply via my email:
Thanks and regards.
MR. JOSEPH OKOLI.
Last night I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas I'll never know.
of course you could forgo the check part and try withdrawl instead..
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Robin Miller has a rather-amusing reply that he sends to the Nigerian scam letters that he gets. I hope he won't mind my pasting it in below.
-Waldo Jaquith
---------------
FROM THE DESK OF: MR. WORGEE G. SHUB
Corporate (Special) Trust Fund,
United Political Parties of America,
Contract Award Committee,
Washington DC USA
Dear Esteemed Nigerian Sir:
I am the Chairman of the Contract Award committee and my committee is solely responsible for awarding and payment of contracts on behalf of the United Political Parties of America. My Committee has received payments from Enron, Microsoft, Walt Disney, and many other large American companies that we then disbursed in accordance with United States law to the intended politicians in return for government services rendered to The Corporations. We overshot the contracted sum by USD35 Million. We have paid the politicians and withholding the balance of Thirty-Five Million United States Dollars. Since the existing domestic laws forbid civil servants from opening, operating and maintaining foreign accounts, we do not have the expertise to transfer this balance of funds to a foreign account.
Due to the salubrious investment and taxation climate in Nigeria, as outlined in FMF A26 Unit 3B paragraph "D" of the Auditor General of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Report of NOV. 1999 about annual estimated petroleum revenues of 28billion US Dollars, and especially opportunities relateed to the late Head of State General Sani Abacha who died on 8th June 1998, which we have become aware of through various emails we have received from your countrymen about the supply of Agricultural Machines and spare parts to the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources, we have prepared to pay a commission to a worthy individual like yourself equal to 25% of the total sum transfered while 5% will be reserved for incidental expenses that both parties will incur in the course of actualizing this transaction and the balance of 70% will be kept for the Committee members.
If you know you are capable of helping us actualize our life's dream, you should send to me immediately the details of your bank particulars or open a new account where we can transfer the money(US$35M)which you will hold in trust for us until we come over there for our own share.
As soon as you open the account, send by e-mail to me immediately the details of the account viz: Name of bank, address, routing number, telex number, Account number, Tel and Fax number.You should also include the name of your company, your personal address, Tel and Fax numbers for further communication.
Note that this transaction will be concluded within 10 working days from the day you give your consent.
Sincerely yours,
Worgee G. Shub
Chairman of Disbursements,
Corporate (Special) Trust Fund,
United Political Parties of America,
Contract Award Committee,
Washington DC USA
tel: 1-900-CON-4YOU
NOTE THAT FOR THE CONFIDENTIALITY OF THIS TRANSACTION, WHEN YOU CALL ME THE FIRST THING YOU DO IS FOR YOU TO ASK ME WHAT IS THE CODE, AND MY RESPONSE WILL BE (055).IF I DO NOT TELL YOU (055) THEN KNOW YOU ARE NOT TALKING TO ME. DROP THE PHONE IMMEDIATELY AND CALL ME BACK TILL I GIVE YOU THE CODE WORD. THIS IS DUE TO JAMMING TELECOMMUNICATION DEVICES IN YOUR COUNTRY AS A RESULT OF THE BOMB EXPLOSION IN A LAGOS MILITARY BASE.
Short of police investigation and arrests, nobody is going to put a dent into the amount of scams going on by putting the scammers on a Web site. The unfortunately gullable person isn't going to check some Nigerian web site every time they get an offer via Email.
-_-_-
There are 0x40000000 types of people: those who understand 32-bit IEEE 754 floating point, and those who don't.
I just look at the headers and forward any unwanted mail to the abuse@/support@insertdomain.here as a violation of the TOS. My mail that used to be 30-40% spam has gone down to 10-20%. Since most mail I get have phoney "Unsubscribe" links, I'm not even wasting my time. A simple script forwards the spam to the ISP in question and they take care of it. Last I heard even Yahoo is talking about charging for large amounts of mail traffic from one of their addresses.
Goran
Carpe Scrotum - The only way to deal with your competition.
Last night I crafted this beauty of a troll. I woke up this morning with 0 karma much to my surprise! (up from -6)
Color flashing, thunder crashing, dynamite machines.
I remember receiving the Nigerian scam letters in snail mail 10 years ago. I laughed then at anyone who was STUPID enough to fall for the idea that that they're going to get a few million dollars for doing next to nothing.
My feeling on this scan is this: It's a litmus test for idiots, to separate money from greedy morons that don't deserve to have it. I actually like this scam circulating because it's quite efficient at keeping lusers occupied with the idea that they can get something for nothing so they don't bother the rest of us with their boneheaded get-rich-quick schemes.
I could do without the spam for sure, but this scam serves two useful purposes:
1. It reinforces my impression that Nigeria is probably the last place on earth I would want to visit or do business with.
2. It helps extricate money from people who don't deserve to have it. If you fall for this scam, you deserve to lose your money. It's like financial survival of the fittest.
Just to be pedantic, the correct (or at least, original) attribution for your quote should be:
t .htm
Denis Diderot, "Dithyrambe sur la fete de rois"
You can see this at http://www.positiveatheism.org/hist/quotes/didero
Complexity is Easy. Simplicity is Hard.
Hi,
Here's another thing to consider - I was hosting a horse show once and got a request from someone in Nigeria for a "letter of invitation" to attend.
A woman who works at a college told me that often a letter of invitation is needed to travel to North America from certain countries. Also, it might also make you responsible for the person.
I ignored the email.
Best,
C.
It is quite simple! Just post the URL or email of the offending party on Slashdot for the sum total of five minutes and the overload of requesets caused by the loyal(nosy)readers will quickly take care of the offenders servers.
And it is a free service. Non profit with an employee base of over 300k.
Captain Neal should set up a service and charge companies for this. IT could work both ways.
1. Pay for your companies URL never to appear on slashdot.
2. Pay for your competitors,enemies, inlaws etc.
Yep, I am a capitalist.
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
Seriously, there's no lack of computers. Its the telephone system that sucks, and getting 1200 baud connections id very hard!
On the up side: If Nigeria decides that Spam is unIslamic, then, bearing in mind they are into stoning people to death for adultery, and chopping their arms off for theft, there is a reasonable chance that spammers might get the penalties they so richly deserve.
Sent from my ASR33 using ASCII
Is it not possible... to allow someone to your bank account Depositor access only?
That doesn't work - the scammers say that they need withdrawal access, so they can withdraw their portion of the money..
If you only gave them access to deposit, they'd claim that they didn't trust you, and that they won't put their (bogus) $$$ in until you give them full access..
There is an excelent site which reports the millions of variations of the first contact letters, fun stories on how to play these guys, and stories on how to make them dance like a chicken. Worth the reading if you have time for it (but then again, you are reading this, aren't you?).
My other OS is the MCP!
Which one are you refering to? Nigeria and Niger are two seperate countries.
I am Lord Snowbeam. Heed my call!
This is a drastic solution, but is slightly more scalable than a 'white list'. The first two rules alone should eliminate spam, the 'trust relationship' eliminates the remaining 'noise'.
The big advantage is that it allows me to receive email not only from my friends, but also from friends-of-friends. If I expand the 'meta-trust' relationship further (friends of friends of friends, etc) then the pool eventually includes everybody, assuming you believe the 'six degrees of separation' theory :-)
(BTW, nice troll there, PhysicsGenius.)
I do not deploy Linux. Ever.
Do cases such as this fall under the jurisdiction of Islamic law in Nigeria? I hope so. Wouldn't it be great if they were to be stoned to death for it, or have their hands cut off? >:)
Give a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day, but set him on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.
A lot of spam these days is run by the Russian Mafia (in particular much of the porn is). You probably wouldn't want to mess with them unless you had very good protection.
Subject: Re: confidentaility
If you disturb me again i will use african vodoo agaainst you. You will loose your manhood and may die infact i am looking at you now from a calabash of water and wondering if i should strike you dead but i see a girl an innocent girl, her spirit is strong i will let you pass this time. Hamza.To: hamza kalu <hamzakalu@yahoo.com>
From: Jonathan Land <jland@incomplete.net>
Date: 08/08/2001
Jonathan Land,
Use 'slashdot stuff' in the subject line in any email you send me if you want to get past the spam filter.
Wouldn't you know it. On the very day I post this Nigerian scam article, I get my first spamscam on it from a Mr. George Kojo. Maybe I'll screw with him just for fun...
In Finnish news yesterday, an ex-minister was charged of debt fraud. He had taken loans from various sources to pay for his losses in Nigerian letter scams. He estimates that he lost about $350,000 in the scams.
Olavi J. Mattila was previously Finnish Foreign Minister, Minister of Trade and Industry, and Minister of Foreign Trade. That is, a major political figure. He was also the CEO of some large Finnish multi-billion-dollar companies (such as Valmet, a world-known machinery company) and a presidential councellor. His education was a Master of Engineering and Master of Economic Science. He retired in 1982.
So he wasn't just a dabbler in business. Perhaps he was getting senile at his current age of 84.
So no wonder people fall for the scams...
Is this real or just a scam? :-)
Please note that Nigeria is not generally considered to be a free, democratic country that respects human rights. People get sentenced to stoning to death. The states in the north have introduced the sharia (sometimes called "islamic laws", although they have not been written by Mohammed, but have been derived from his writings afterwards by the people in power). Nigeria's High Council has declared this illegal, but the government has said it cannot do anything against it.
Also, Amnesty International and Human Rights' Watch regularly mention Nigeria. The judicial system is prejudiced and corrupt, sentences are hard and cruel, prisons are full, and people get tortured.
I think Nigeria has problems that are far, far bigger than spamming, but, if you are thinking of accusing people of spamming by pressing a button in a browser window, you might actually be responsible for sending someone into prison. Please don't do that. It's not worth it.
Welcome to NigerianFraudWatch.org
This service, operated by the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria through the Nigeria High Commission in the United Kingdom, is dedicated to the tracking of advanced fee fraud perpetrated by Nigerian organised crime syndicates.
The most common type of fraud is 'advance fee'. This is known as 419 fraud after the penal code in Nigeria that makes it illegal. 'Black money' fraud also has a high profile. These groups also carry out highly organised housing, social security and other grant frauds. Unfortunately, the profits of these crimes are often used to finance drug trafficking, resulting in crime and death in destination countries.
'419' Letters are distributed by post, fax and email. In a typical '419' (advanced fee fraud) letter, the author purports to be a senior government or central bank official who has managed to over inflate a contract, generating a personal profit. In return for help smuggling money out of the country, the recipient is offered a percentage, usually between 10% and 30% of contract value. At first no money is requested but once a victim has been drawn in, requests are made of the victim to fund legal and administrative costs. Victims have lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in some cases.
Islamic law is only in force in the Islamic states in the north of Nigeria, and they are only applied to muslims.
I just did at test over at abuse.net, and it seems like nigeriafraudwatch.org erm, relays mail (well, one of fifteen tests did, anyway...).
Note that this isn't necessarily so, as this was just the public statement by the server, and may be different to the internal rules..
I asked my Nigerian friend what this meant. She said 419 is the criminal code for fraud. Foreigners in Lagos looking to buy or rent houses are taken by fraudulent estate agents to see nice villas. They get a nice tour of the hours (thanks to a corrupt servant), sign a lease or agreement, pay a deposit (usually up to a year's rent), and then receive the keys. When the real owners turn up, all hell breaks loose.
This is a whole industry. Ironically, one of my friend's uncles did this as a living.
Nigeria is an interesting country. The scam letters, faxes, and emails are nothing compared to the incredible behaviour of some people on the ground.
However... don't get the wrong idea about Nigeria and Africa in general. The vast majority of people are, like everywhere else, decent and hard working. Getting up at 5am, getting home at 9pm, this is the standard rule for most employees. Given the lack of any long-term prospects for most people (a bank once told me a 'long-term' loan, for an established business, was 3 months) it's actually not surprising people turn to fraud and corruption.
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You, sir, are a moron.
Don't hate too hard on the SPAMMER.... They only do it because there are so many idiots out there. Can you blame them.. It works so do it. Long live SPAM as long as there as BONE HEADS still AROUND!!
It's an attempt at humor. A lame one, but worth 5 karma points nonetheless. :-) Not a bit of it is true.
That said, most of the Nigerian Foreign Bank Account Scam spam is probably from some thug in a smoke-filled back room behind Joe's Leather Shop in Muncie (sp?), Indiana with a PFY spoofing IP's. Or something like that. Regardless, it's fun to speculate what "high-tech" must be in third world countries.
Give me my freedom, and I'll take care of my own security, thank you.
Ironic that God's view of things kind of parallels this.
Judah wanted a king to lead them instead of God, and they also refused to deal with God directly for their spiritual needs, therefore raising a need for intermediary priests (Aaron and then the Levites) for this purpose.
When it comes down to fundamentals, both priests and kings were raised by Atheism diluting Theism. I guess that makes `positive atheism' a perpetual self-employment program - albeit not normally a Latin-based one - exactly like the assumption-based preisthoods that they in principle oppose.
Have you had enough irony in your diet today? (-:
Got time? Spend some of it coding or testing
Sad but true. That's exactly what would happen.
Got time? Spend some of it coding or testing
Hey, one Fake Dead Corrupt Politician is as good as the next, and no point in letting the Fake Dead Nigerians have all the fun....
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
Real Corruption in Nigeria - and Shell Oil
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks