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Fighting the Nigerian Money Scam
An anonymous reader writes "One of the most notorious spams, the Nigerian Money Scam, or 419, has reared its head again with the recent arrest of a California woman who embezzled $2.1 million from her law firm. However, anti-spammer Brad Christensen has apparently been having some success scamming the scammers. This exhibit contains some of his more successful exchanges. It seems he even managed to get some of the Nigerians to fly around the world to meet him. All in all, Bravo!"
"You would think ... that a perosn in a law firm would be smart enough to figure this out...."
She was only a secretary at the law firm, so I don't imagine that she would have had any legal training herself. Not that it's an excuse -- she's still more stupid than stupid itself for falling for such an old scam.
Steve
the whole idea of prison is to keep individuals from physically harming others
You must have missed that whole "War on Drugs" thing that's been happening the last several decades.
I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
Anyhoo, I guess it isn't just daftness that bring people into this kind of scam. Some get so focused on the prize, they never connect with their reason... In the linked story, a German buisnessman also attended meetings with the nigerian scammers, but realzied what was going on and left the meeting. The Norwegians weren't actually fooled for a lot of money, but rather used in a check fraud. This guy acutally had some 10 million dollars, because he cashed the false chack from the nigerians. Unfortunlately, he transfered most of the money to an account abroad and the he and the nigerians were caught.
So, don't let the greed rule ya!
As great as it might sound to make a bunch of spammers fly around the world, a reminder is in order.
These are crooks. They break laws. They're not nice people. They might be desperate. If they get mad, they might kill you.
OK, maybe you think you can conceal your identity. Maybe you think your black belt or that Beretta you carry under your suit jacket will pull you through in a pinch. Are you willing to bet your life on it?
If this gives you even the least ammount of doubt, just leave it up to the pros--FBI, etc.
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?