Man Arrested in Australia Over Nigerian E-mail Scam

slasher_14 writes "A 39 year old Sydney man has been arrested over the Nigerian Scam. Simultanious raids were conducted in two homes by police, who siezed computers and documents. Over the last 6 months, Australian police have tracked about 1.5 million dollars. The man faces Dubbo Local court today, charged with 17 offenses." Hopefully this means my inbox will be seeing less of these e-mails.

Comments

guess that proves

[Anonymous Coward]

that it really wasnt some jerk in Nigeria behind the scam.

Re:guess that proves

[Anonymous Coward]

that it really wasnt some jerk in Nigeria behind the scam.

Yep, it sure does. I can't wait until the catch the one guy sending the penis enlargement and the other guy sending the viagra spams. With the three of them behind bars, spam will pretty much cease to exist forever.

Re:guess that proves

[Shanep]

I wonder if the Australian police accidentally stormed the next door neighbours and shot the innocent occupants in the face with a 12 gauge shotgun?

As has happened in the past, by the now disbanded Tactical Response Group.

Re:guess that proves

[Basehart]

What about the guy who sends me around 150 Christian Singles emails every day? How the fuck did I get on his list anyway?

Thank God we're seeing more of this

[CrackHappy]

It's so nice to see that governments and police forces are finally able to catch up to these kinds of spammers and criminals to get them out of my damned inbox. I almost wonder if it wouldn't be cool for a Internet task force to be developed, completely divorced from any government that would try to track these kinds of people down and turn them in to local authorities. Any volunteers?

Re:Thank God we're seeing more of this

[Carnildo]

Only if "local authorities" means the nearest lynch mob.

Re:Thank God we're seeing more of this

[rf0]

These 419 scams (named after the nigerian police code) can be dangerous. There have been reports of where people have actually gone to foreign countries and then been kidnapped forcing the familes to pay a ransom note.

Rus

Re:Thank God we're seeing more of this

[Anonymous Coward]

I mean this in all sincerity: don't you think it's kind of selfish that you are happy you're getting one less spam in your inbox, while some people are the victims of actual fraud, and from the looks of it, relatively high budget fraud at that?

Re:Thank God we're seeing more of this

[GMontag]

It is that easy to get a hot chick with money? Forget about those rich russina woman, I am going American!

Re:Thank God we're seeing more of this

[bigsteve@dstc]

I mean this in all sincerity: don't you think it's kind of selfish that you are happy you're getting one less spam in your inbox, while some people are the victims of actual fraud, and from the looks of it, relatively high budget fraud at that?

He (we) gets less SPAM, and fewer people get defrauded. Why should he (we) feel guilty about being happy to get less SPAM?

Re:Thank God we're seeing more of this

[hendridm]

> These 419 scams (named after the nigerian police code) can be dangerous. There have been reports of where people have actually gone to foreign countries and then been kidnapped forcing the familes to pay a ransom note.

Sounds like natural selection to me. I'm surprised they figured out how to book the plane ticket.

Re:Thank God we're seeing more of this

[bigsteve@dstc]

Fuck your inbox; try sparing a thought for the (admittedly silly) people who got suckered by these scams.

Please explain how "sparing a thought" for someone who can been conned does them the slightest bit of good?

Even someone who has been conned by one of these scams will appreciate the good in keeping them out of everyone's mail boxes ... even if it is only to protect others from being scammed!

Re:Thank God we're seeing more of this

[jhunsake]

PS. I don't believe in your 'God', and even if I did, I certainly wouldn't be thanking that figment of my imagination for this news. I can only assume you meant it, as you spelt 'God' with a captial g. You're an idiot.

I don't believe in you, anonymous coward, and even if I did, I certainly wouldn't be thanking you, a figment of my imagination, for this comment. I can only assume you meant it, as you spelt 'Anonymous Coward' with a capital a. You're an idiot.

Re:Thank God we're seeing more of this

[jmors]

Where is Tom Clancy when you need him? Net Force anyone? :)

Re:Thank God we're seeing more of this

[TekPolitik]

Please explain how "sparing a thought" for someone who can been conned does them the slightest bit of good?

There is reputedly a saying among con artists - "you can't con an honest man." The Nigerian scams are a prime example of this. A core part of the scam is that the victim thinks the money is coming from a breach of the law. The victims are not only stupid, but dishonest, and thoroughly deserve to lose their money.

On the other hand the perpetrators are also crooks, and deserve their punishment.

Of course there is a different situation when the victim uses somebody else's funds to participate in the scam, as has been known to happen - then an innocent party loses out to two crooks.

Re:Thank God we're seeing more of this

[Stonent1]

It's so nice to see that governments and police forces are finally able to catch up to these kinds of spammers and criminals

KILL THE SPAMMERS!!! But leave dictators alone, they're none of our business!!! What a pathetic world we live in...(Sarcasm)

Re:Thank God we're seeing more of this

[rifter]

" > These 419 scams (named after the nigerian police code) can be dangerous. There have been reports of where people have actually gone to foreign countries and then been kidnapped forcing the familes to pay a ransom note."

Sounds like natural selection to me. I'm surprised they figured out how to book the plane ticket.

Discovery channel had a special on these, and said they actually predated fax machines. Originally the scams were sent by first class mail (so, no, putting a stamp on spam will not stop it, at least in this case), then by international fax (again expensive) when fax machines were invented, then by email when that became available.

Then they explained that people were actually paying these spammers and going to foreign countries to meet them at the bank, etc. As if that was not bad enough, they interviewed a successful businessman and multimillionaire who gave them every last dime of his cash over a period of years! I guess that proves you don't have to be smart or even hard working to become a rich businessman in the US (though I haven't made it yet, and would not give the Nigerian spammers a dime). :P

Re:Thank God we're seeing more of this

[bigsteve@dstc]

There is reputedly a saying among con artists - "you can't con an honest man." The Nigerian scams are a prime example of this.

I agree, about the Nigerian scam. The people who fall for this scam have questionable morality.

But there are counter-examples too. For instance I've received a number of emails that pretend to come from computer security desks at Australian banks. These try to con me into entering my bank details in order to "reenable my account" or some such nonsense.

Re:Thank God we're seeing more of this

[t0ny]

Hopefully this means my inbox will be seeing less of these e-mails.

Dont worry, you can still naturally enlarge your breasts.

BTW, does selling natural breast enlargement to male computer users seem redundant to anybody else?

Re:Thank God we're seeing more of this

[Basehart]

I almost wonder if it wouldn't be cool for a Internet task force to be developed, completely divorced from any government that would try to track these kinds of people down and turn them in to local authorities.

How about they call themselves The iTeam!

Re:Thank God we're seeing more of this

[awol]

Actually these are all variants of the "Spanish Prisoner" scam that has been around for decades. These in turn are really just a form of "advanced fee fraud" which is an area of varying legality in many different jurisdictions (all those sunday paper inserts with a scratch card when you are _guaranteed_ to win a prize are borderline advance fee fraud) but onme with a very rich history of fraudulent activity going back probably hundreds of years.

Re:Thank God we're seeing more of this

[escallywag]

Fuck your inbox; try sparing a thought for the (admittedly silly) people who got suckered by these scams. Whenever I hear that there are people out there that actually fall for this kind of crap I spare many, many thoughts for them... Thoughts like "people should have to pass a basic intelligence test before being allowed to procreate" and "could they genetically engineer a virus so it just kills stupid people" but also "Damn what am I doing wasting my time here I really should set up my my own Nigerian email scam"....

Re:Thank God we're seeing more of this

[troc]

Nope, seems like a good idea....

I mean most male computer (L)users probably don't have readily accessible female parts to play with (i.e. no SO) so why not grow some of their own? Then they'd have breasts to play with all the time.

In fact you could probably swing it by a PHB as a necessary purchase to reduce RSI (type a little, fondle a little, repeat :)

Hohum

troc

Re:Thank God we're seeing more of this

[q-the-impaler]

Actually, this type of thing predates even postal scams. Back in the copper age, it is recorded that a boy once ran back to his family and falsely accused a wolf of attacking the herd. This happened many times and proved to be quite lucrative until authorities just ignored the boy. Unfortunately, the final plea was real, and they lost the whole herd. Tragic....

Re:Thank God we're seeing more of this

[PiratePTG]

>BTW, does selling natural breast enlargement to male computer users seem redundant to anybody else?

No more than selling penis enlargement products to my lesbian sister!

Re:Thank God we're seeing more of this

[isfuglen]

Imagine this. Big porn-star titties *and* a big swinging willy. Think of all the fun you could have!

Re:Thank God we're seeing more of this

[pmz]

they interviewed a successful businessman and multimillionaire who gave them every last dime of his cash over a period of years!

Er, I think the "successful businessman" aspect is rather subjective, here.

Re:Thank God we're seeing more of this

[pmz]

BTW, does selling natural breast enlargement to male computer users seem redundant to anybody else?

Visit the gay neighborhood in any major city, and see for yourself.

Re:Thank God we're seeing more of this

[GreyPoopon]

...completely divorced from any government...

That would make the vigilantes and would then make what they did illegal. Not only would they have to work on hunting down perpretrators, but they'd always have to watch their backside because the government of several countries would be after them. Still, it sounds like fun....

Re:Thank God we're seeing more of this

[GreyPoopon]

...gave them every last dime of his cash over a period of years...

This doesn't sound right to me. I could understand a one-time outlay of every last dime, but to slowly lose it to these scams over several years? I don't buy that one. That goes well beyond being clueless and gullible. "I know the last 6 times I've tried this I've been shafted, but this one's number 7 and it's got to be lucky..."

Re:Thank God we're seeing more of this

[Eraser_]

The thing he probably got dinged on were the continueances, and promises of money just around the corner. A hundred dollars here a thousand dollars there all in promise of a million dollars in the end. A smart scammer could incorporate many scams and cons to keep the ball rolling. Why not exchange some currency along the way?

Re:Thank God we're seeing more of this

[rifter]

You have a good point but I don't think were using fax machines when they were invented (patent was granted in 1843).
http://inventors.about.com/library/invento rs/blfax .htm

Freaky that it took businesses over 100 years to actually start using it. I suppose that I mean "when fax machines came into wider use" versus "when they were invented" but the Discovery channel made the Nigerian spammers sound like early adopters.

Re:Thank God we're seeing more of this

[Merk]

Hint: collateral damage. Kill the spammer vs. kill a bunch of soldiers in order to get rid of the dictator.

Re:Thank God we're seeing more of this

[Halfdan]

Reminds of my mother complaining that she got a lot of penis enlargement mails.

Re:Thank God we're seeing more of this

[bigsteve@dstc]

Boy, thats an original one. However did you manage not to fall for it?

Easy. No real financial institution would ever send such a request. Besides, I don't use internet bamking, so the request was obviously bogus.

Re:Thank God we're seeing more of this

[CrackHappy]

Hehehe - I actually used "Thank God" as an expression, as I am actually an atheist myself.

What other expressions would be appropriate? Thanks for the fish?

Aha!

[Bame Flait]

Over the last 6 months, Australian police have tracked about 1.5 million dollars.

Foolish American police! If only they knew the money they could make by only sending an account number in a confidential transaction!

Bit player

[Carnildo]

17 offenses? $1.5 million? Sounds like he's a small-time wannabe. Don't expect any noticable reduction in the number of scams in your mailbox.

Re:Bit player

[Night Goat]

Why does that seem small? $1.5 million's a lot of money. Plus there was a few pieces of property and some automobiles. Where are you getting your numbers from that lead you to believe that this guy's small?

Re:Bit player

[EverDense]

"In the last six months, we've probably tracked about $1.5 million," Inspector Thommeny told reporters in Sydney.

So basically, that is all they've actually got him for.
He is supposed to have homes in London, a couple in Sydney, and one in country NSW.
They will never be able to unravel it all, unless he outright fesses up.

Re:Bit player

[cdrudge]

Isn't $1.5 million AUD is like, what, close to $10 US these days?

Re:Bit player

[sholden]

Since the US dollar tumbled recently, those jokes just aren't as funny.

A year ago AU$1.5 million AUD was US$10 or so. "these days" though, it's worth a little over US$1 million.

What I find humorous about the story is that it happened in Nyngan, of all places.

Re:Bit player

[frankthechicken]

It's not just the money, it's the fact there were that many people willing to give up information so easily that makes it so scary. It just shows why security is so bloody hard to maintain. You cannot ever have a truly secure system whilst relying on people who don't know the power/value of their OWN personal information, let alone someone else's.

Re:Bit player

[eric.t.f.bat]

They're not going to wait until they've got a godzillion dollars worth of evidence before they nab him. I think it's reasonable to state that $1.5 million kangaroubles is more than enough excuse to bring him in. It doesn't say anything about how much MORE he'll be found guilty of.

I figure all they need to do is threaten to make him spend an hour locked in a room with the stars of Australian Big Brother if he doesn't confess. He'll be singing like Britney in no time!

Re:Bit player

[spir0]

those scams which mention 10s of millions of US dollars are talking about the jackpot. the ask for 10s or 100s of thousands in their bank accounts as proof you are good for it. reply to one of them one day and ask what they want you to do...

Re:Bit player

[Guppy06]

"17 offenses? $1.5 million? Sounds like he's a small-time wannabe."

Depends. Are we talking about total, or are we just talking about what the cops can prove?

Re:Bit player

[YOU LIKEWISE FAIL IT]

Lets be frank - you and I both know there's nothing else to do in Nyngan. The guy is facing court in Dubbo too. I remember last time I was in Dubbo. *shudder*

YLFI

P.S. Surprised that the digital camera has penetrated to that part of the country.

Re:Bit player

[bendude]

Informative !?!?!

He's making figures up.

au$1,500,000.00 was worth at least us$12.70 this time last year.

What is it they say? Lies, Damn Lies and Finance Reports?

Re:Bit player

[sholden]

I was amazed they had electricity, let alone "the internet".

Re:Bit player

[PhillC]

By sister lives in Nyngan you insensitive clod!

Re:Bit player

[nordicfrost]

The con artists of the Nigerian scams don't actually make a lot of money. The millions and millions of dollars they claim to have don't exist of course, and they make money by saying they need "5000 USD for plane tickets, 1000 for charges when moving the money" etc.

It is rare for these scams to bring in more than some thousands per sucker. If they strike gold, the sucker would actually go to Nigeria of whereever, be kidnapped and held for ransom. That's where the big bucks is in this buisness.

Re:Bit player

[PD]

Just saw a report on the TV news. The scam is Nigeria's 3rd largest industry. Every month, hundreds of people with more dollars than sense report that they've been defrauded.

Re:Bit player

[Lumpy]

17 offenses? $1.5 million? Sounds like he's a small-time wannabe.

this is true, the last RIAA numbers put it at $230.5 Quadrillion and 90,000 offenses.. but only because he had a cablemodem instead of a dial-up connection.

Re:Bit player

[sholden]

Actually, it's just occured to me that you're American?

See domain name of the URL associated with the slashdot account.

Not only an Anonymous Coward, but a Retarded Anonymous Coward.

Wait a minute ...

[SuperDuG]

They can't seize that money, part of that 1.5 million is supposed to be mine. Dammit I got the emails to prove it too!

Good news, but...

[r_glen]

I doubt he was the only person running this type of scam.

Re:Good news, but...

[Gleng]

Check out The Ebola Monkey Man. Not only is it extremely funny, but it shows just how widespread the problem is, and just how far these fucks will go to try and steal your money.

Typical

[ergonal]

Let's feed him to the lions at the Western Plains Zoo (in Dubbo). ;)

Re:Typical

[AdamTheBastard]

Damnit you beat me to it :( I guess I should try harder to be original.

Re:Typical

[A Binary Rebel]

Or the tigers at the Mirage in Las Vegas.

Re:Typical

[TMKroeger]

Now if I can only find my list of Dubbo jokes... doesn't really surprise me that a STUPID criminal would end up in Dubbo though...

I'm not from Dubbo (or even Australia), but my ex-wife was...

It is a pretty nice zoo considering it's out in the middle of nowhere.

Re:Typical

[larry bagina]

An american tourist was driving through the Autralian outback, when he sees a naked man chasing after a kangaroo.

A while later, he stops to gas up his land rover, and sees a one-legged man jacking off with furious abandon.

The American says to gas station attendant, "What sort of fucked up country is this? I see naked men running after kangaroos, and this pervert is masturbating in public!"

The gas attendant looks at him and replies, "Well, mate, you can't expect ol' Tommy to catch a kangaroo if he's only got one leg"

Re:Typical

[Aussie]

Gas ? Nah Mate, our cars run on petrol.

Just out of curosity, what do you call real gas in the USA ?
Liquid ?
Solid ?

Re:Typical

[lucas teh geek]

gasoline comes out of your stove? i dont think so

Re:Typical

[nathanh]

I think they call it "Butane".

Re:Typical

[rifter]

Gas ? Nah Mate, our cars run on petrol.

Just out of curosity, what do you call real gas in the USA ?
Liquid ?
Solid ?

The gas that comes out of our stove is called gas. We might even get specific and call it butane or propane (as the case may be). The gas in our cars is really called gasoline, but we call it gas out of sheer laziness :).

To be fair, the gas in your stove is normally under such pressure as to become liquid if I properly understand it, but of course is released and burnt as gas. Gasoline is a liquid, but vapours are burnt in the combustion chamber.

Petrol is probably a similar abbreviation to "gas" standing for Petroleum Products or somesuch, but I don't have a proper english (as opposed to American English) dictionary ready at hand to look up the etymology. Petroleum, of course, is oil, which is refined to make petrol/gasoline.

Victims

[rf0]

Of course this man is in the wrong and like all spammers should be chucked out with the trash however you have to wonder how stupid some of the victims are. If something looks to good to be true it probably is.

Re:Victims

[bored_SuSE_user]

Rememeber that these are the same people who run .src.exe or .pif.exe files on their computers from emails on outlook........

What do you mean, arrested?

[Sir Haxa1ot]

He didn't have $15,000,000 on him? Damn, I just wired some guy $500 to pay a bribe to a Nigerian official.

Less spam? I doubt it...

[rune.w]

Considering the number of people that work on sending those emails, one less shouldn't make much of a difference. It's an improvement of the situation though. R.

The Zoo.

[AdamTheBastard]

I say forget the courts. Just stick him in a cage with some tigers at the old Dubbo Zoo.

Re:The Zoo.

[AdamTheBastard]

I knew it wasn't called the Old Dubbo Zoo hence me not capitalizing the 'o' on my "old". I was using it to describe the zoo.

Purhaps we should comprimise. Once he's done at the "Western Plains Zoo" we should send him to the "Old Dubbo Gaol". If I remember correctly the gallows is still standing.

my old roommate tipped them off!

[searleb]

At the end of my last year in college, my roommate was kicking around my office reading e-mail. He recieved the Nigerian money laundering e-mail and, since he was trying to kill time, he looked up the FBI hotline number and phoned in a report of suspicious foreign money launderers. The Feds asked him for his phone number and address, and said that they would investigate it further. We were expecting the FBI to drop by the house to see some of the evidence, but they never did...

However, they clearly thought it was interesting enough to investigate!

Re:my old roommate tipped them off!

[dacarr]

The proper thing to do is to send these emails to 419.fcd@usss.treas.gov if you're in the United States. This is my source, courtesy of Randy Cassingham, author of This Is True".

A kindly request for help

[omar.sahal]

TO: Slashdot.org community

Dear Sirs Madams
"I am Mrs. Mariam Abacha, the widow of Gen. Sani Abacha, The Late Nigerian Military Head of State. I am presently in distress and under House arrest while my son Mohammed is undergoing trial in Sydney by bribed officials in Australia. He is presently detained in prison custody. The government has frozen all the family account and auctioned all our properties.
To save the family from total bankruptcy and to save my son I have managed to ship to Europe and Asia through a Shipping company, the sum of US20, 000,000.00 respectively kept by my late husband."
You assistance is requested as a non-Nigerian citizen to assist in countering this crime. I will pay large sums in order to pay these bribed officials of Australia, in order to free my son. You will be paid most handsomely to aid in the transfer of these monies. If the funds can be transferred to your name, in your United States account, then you can forward the funds as directed by my associates. In exchange for your accommodating services I would agree to allow you to retain 10%, or US$4 million of this amount.
However, to be a legitimate transferee of these moneys according to Nigerian law, you must presently be a depositor of at least US$100,000 in a Nigerian bank which is regulated by the Central Bank of Nigeria.
If it will be possible for you to assist us, we would be most grateful. We suggest that you meet with us in person in Lagos, and that during your visit I introduce you to the representatives of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company, as well as with certain officials of the Central Bank of Nigeria.
Please call me at your earliest convenience at [Phone Number]. Time is of the essence in this matter; very quickly the Nigerian Government will realize that the Central Bank is maintaining this amount on deposit, and attempt to levy certain depository taxes on it.

Re:A kindly request for help

[HermanAB]

Hmm, 10% of M$20 = M$4 - sounds like authentic Nigerian math to me.

Re:A kindly request for help

[annielaurie]

To: Mr. Bello Gambari, Esq.
From: Josephine March
Subject: RE: Urgent and Confidential Business Proposal
Date: Sat, 22 Dec 2001 12:14:53 GMT

Dear Sir:

I am in receipt of an urgent communication from your client, Mrs. Miriam Abacha, widow of the late General Abacha. I regret to inform you that I find it impossible to comply with Mrs. Abacha's request that I transmit to you my bank account and credit card numbers.

I was incredibly moved by the plight of Mrs. Abacha, who has been molested, policed, and frozen!! To hear that her son is even now in detention and that the government is still under surveillance to probe her--well, Mr. Gambari, it broke my heart. So much so, that I have begun suffering from symptoms of sleeplessness, lack of interest in food, and low self-esteem.

In short, I have fallen into a decline and am now suffering from acute symptoms of anxiety and depression brought about by my sensibility to the dreadful circumstances of your client. Family members have decided that I am not competent to look after my own affairs, so it will not be possible for me to assist you in smuggling the money out in those romantic-sounding metal boxes.

I am, however, enclosing a bill for $3,426 (US). This covers my expenses for psychiatric treatment, group therapy, and anti- depressant medications. Your prompt remittance will be appreciated.

Please convey to Mrs. Abacha my very best wishes for a prompt and speedy alleviation of all her difficulties.

Re:A kindly request for help

[RoLi]

In exchange for your accommodating services I would agree to allow you to retain 10%, or US$4 million of this amount.

Pah, forget it. I've got much better offers than that already.

Other news:

[QEDog]

Man arrested for penis enlargement scam. 17 millions of penis inches were found during the raid...

Re:Other news:

[LrdHlmt]

... I almost peeed my pants

Dear Sirs Madams

I kindly request your help to transfer 9 1/2 inches of penis, left my my late husband, left in Nigeria's National Morgue.

As a sign of good will I'll request you to send me a couple of inches of your own equipment ASAP.

I would be very grateful to transfer 25% of my penis supply to a surgeon of your preference.

Re:Other news:

[Animedude]

I suggest that, as a punishment, the spammer is forced to apply all those inches to himself. ALL of them.

Thought I had the other day...

[tekiegreg]

You know one day I was marvelling at all the Nigerians who were emailing me, desperate to get all their money out of that country by whatever means possible thinking "is there some way I can help them do this?" I think I'll start a business acting as go-between for all these Nigerians, they can give their money to me, and I'll find plenty of American bank accounts to deliver all those funds too! It will be a one stop money moving for all those Nigerians! I'll only take a modest commission of course! Just send all your money to Happy Guy in Springfield and I'll do the rest!

(yes that last Happy Guy part was a shameless Simpsons quote)

Huh

[smoondog]

I'm surprised this guy is from Australia. I'm sure there are *a lot* of other scammers out there. There are lots of flavors of nigerian scam emails out there and they all (in my observation) have had horrible typographic errors and poor grammer. (I know, mine is bad, too, but at least I'm not the brother of the king of whatchamaplace) I assume this guy was an early scammer who successfully hit a few people.

-Sean

Re:Huh

[Tablizer]

There are lots of flavors of nigerian scam emails out there and they all.....have had horrible typographic errors and poor grammer.

I believe they do that on purpose to get past key-word-based and pattern-matching anti-spam filters. Hey, maybe I can fullfill that service to spammers. For once, my bad spelling is a skill in need. Austrailia, hear I cum!

Re:Huh

[Tablizer]

I always thought they [had bad spelling and grammar] on purpose so that it is more believable that English is not their first language.

Perhaps that is why the scam was so successful: The "randomizing" of the wording served to both get it past the spam blockers, and it helped convince people that it was legitamately from overseas. Killed two birds with one stone.

This is going to make all the difference

[heironymouscoward]

Like... the centre of 419 spamming is Amsterdam and London AFAIK, and it's such a large business that arresting one guy is pretty much meaningless.

PCs should simply come with warning stickers: "ATTENTION: if anyone offers you money, advice on making money, or easy ways to make money, HE IS A CROOK. (if you don't believe us, please send $1000 to us in small bills IMMEDIATELY to learn it the hard way.)"

Re:This is going to make all the difference

[Awptimus Prime]

Wasn't it Packard Bell that came with a sticker on the space bar that read "The ANY Key"?

Request for urgent business relationship

[esanbock]

First, I must solicit your strictest confidence in this transaction. We are a top government review panel which are interested in the importation of goods with funds which are trapped in Nigeria. In order to commence this business we are asking your permission to transfer funds into your account. If you could please send us your bank routing and account number, we will deposit a sum of $21,400 US dollars as payment for your services...

The US Secret Services pages on this scam:

[ron_ivi]

http://www.secretservice.gov/alert419.shtml "The Financial Crimes Division of the Secret Service receives approximately 100 telephone calls from victims/potential victims and 300-500 pieces of related correspondence per day."

Re:The US Secret Services pages on this scam:

[DaneelGiskard]

Let's all take this as an example which shall remind us of how much stupidity really exists in this world.

Never expect others to be as smart as you. There are more ways to rip them of than you think - even if you think these ways are stupid and obvious.

Alright!

[EverDense]

Send me AUD$50 and I'll hit him for you...

honest!

Re:Alright!

[A Binary Rebel]

Depends on what you mean by hit.

Re:Alright!

[Gwala]

I think some of the idiots^H^H^H^H^Hvictims might take you up on that offer ... :P

-Gwala

Effect on the local economy?

[vk2tds]

Has anyone concidered how bad this might be for the local economy. After all, the $1.5M in the bank account was probably the only reason that the bank was even open...

I am just concerned how the local economy is going to handle so much less money coming in. This was probably 80% of the business at the bank :-)

Darryl

Re:Effect on the local economy?

[bangalla]

Of course it was, and Australians all ride Kangaroos to work as well.

Re:Effect on the local economy?

[vk2tds]

You mean that you dont have a Kangaroo in your back yard to ride to work?

The Kangaroo looks great in the yard... Perfect with the view of Bondi Beach, the Opera House and Syndey Harbour Bridge.

BTW, I am organizing a road trip to drive from Sydney to New Zealand next week... Anyone interested?

Re:Effect on the local economy?

[hayden]

This was probably 80% of the business at the bank

Bank, regional Australia?

I think the phrase you are looking for is "What bank?"

Re:Effect on the local economy?

[Catharz]

Check out http://www.nyngan.com/ for some real funny stuff. I especially love the fact that it's in the "Bogan" shire (Aussie joke). I visited a friend there a few weeks ago and gave him heaps about it. Especially the "Bogan Catchment Area". He never did tell me how many bogans they caught there.

Anyway, $1.5M is probably many times the combined income of all residents of Nyngan. I have no idea why it's called the "Central West" in the article. Nyngan IS the "Dead Centre" of NSW. I'm surprised they even have the bandwidth to send out e-mails from there.

One down...

[liamcaden]

Now they have caught him, maybe it will make others think twice about doing the same thing, then again maybe not... :

I am with the Police Unit who conducted this raid.

[orichter]

We currently have this 1.5 Million dollars and are trying to return it to its rightful owners. If you have been subjected to this evil Nigerian money scam, please send your Name, Social Security Number, Date of Birth, and the amount stolen from you along with a bank account number where we can return your funds. Our e-mail address is u.r.sucker@hotmail.com. Please help us to right this terrible wrong:)

Not the *only* person....

[MrClever]

Here in the land of Oz, last night's broadcast news (and repeated this morning and again a few minutes ago on the mid-day news), this Australian arrest was part of multi-national raid involving basically every continent except Antarctica!!

IIRC some of the noteable arrests occured in Cairo, Amsterdam, Australia, Malaysia and Singapore. This was (is??) a global scam, but evidence is stacking up to suggest this Australian connection was one of the key players (not merely a pawn).

Re:Not the *only* person....

[TheMidget]

involving basically every continent except Antarctica!!

Yes, penguins are too honest to pull off these kinds of scams!

Re:Not the *only* person....

[Call Me Black Cloud]

Plus there are no penguins in Antarctica...

Re:Not the *only* person....

[DF5JT]

"Plus there are no penguins in Antarctica..."

Oh really?

Must have been a walrus steak then.

Re:Not the *only* person....

[Call Me Black Cloud]

Oh man, how did I get that one wrong...doh! I'm going to have to blame this one on the cold medicine I'm taking...

Name?

[Lord_Dweomer]

I didn't RTFA, but was his name by any chance Prince Wandube Muntumbo? I'm still waiting for a check from him.

What?

[fizban]

1.5 million??? You mean there are actually people in this world who own computers and are stupid enough to fall for this shit? I weep for the human race.

Oh, the typos...

[Fnkmaster]

Do these people who mimic the 419 scams also mimic the atrocious spelling, typos and poor command of the english language in most of the Nigerian scam emails I get? I just wonder how an Australian dude could pull off a _true_ Nigerian scam unless he gets all those little details just right.

Re:Oh, the typos...

[Gorobei]

One would hope so - that's what makes it a good scam. Note there are only two kinds of scam:

1) I'm smart. You're smart, the rest of the world is dumb. Let's take their money.
2) I'm dumb. You're smart. Take my money.

Case 2 is a much easier sell, especially if I provide objective proof like bad spelling and poor command of the English language.

Once I convince the mark I am stupid, I change his calculus from "I risk $100K to get $4M. I might lose $100K." to "this sap will deposit $20M in my bank account. I can probably sucker him out of it. Worst case is I only gain my 20%, which is $4m.?"

If you can ask this question then you have

[TCaM]

obviously never had the pleasure of working a hekp desk job. Ownership of a computer has nothing to do with intelligence or common sense.

Re:If you can ask this question then you have

[salesgeek]

If you think you see human stupidity on a helpdesk you ought to see what they do when they buy stuff.

Just in case you have a spare 2 hours...

[Anonymous Coward]

Dean Cameron's Nigerian Scam Scam
http://www.deancameron.com/nigeria.htm

Re:Just in case you have a spare 2 hours...

[anagama]

Better ones:

• 171 GBP

• 5g of gold

What I realverminnd ly don't understand.

[mAineAc]

How do these people make any money at all Never mind 1.5 million dollars. It is an obvious scam that has been going on forever. Who actually sends these people money? I think I ammoderately inteligent. I don't make a lot of money but I make a living. I could never afford enough to send these people the amount of money they are looking for. How can someone foolish enough to fall for something like this come close to being able to afford that kind of money? I guess SSI must be paying more than I thought.

Re:What I realverminnd ly don't understand.

[Stephen Samuel]

How do these people make any money at all Never mind 1.5 million dollars.

Send me $50.00 and I'll explain it to you.

Now, if you spent even 0.5 seconds thinking about that, then you're starting to get into range.

Remember that these people work off of statistics. Regular scams, that take in $20-100 each only need 1/20,000 emails to catch a sucker to win. Nigerian scams make more money, so they really only need to catch someone with something like 1 in a couple million emails.

Now, if you don't think that there's anyboy with money who isn't willing to throw it someplace stupid go check out how SCO's stock is doing. Then think back to the dotcom boom when people were puting out business plans that essentially said "We're going to buy goods and sell them on the internet below cost", and still managed to get $5Million is seed capital.

If that doesn't work, there was the (brain-dead) secretary who thought that her boss would be so proud of her if she managed to make $6M with a 'simple' investment of $5,000. By the time the company auditors caught up with her she was in over her head to the tune of a couple hundred thousand dollars.

Of course, once you get someone like this, then you can really turn up the screws....

Dear Sir:
I'm a private investigator who has been looking into some shady dealings by a Mr. Mubaque in Nigeria. In investigating his crimes, I have determined that he has suckered you to the tune of $20,0000. Be aware that you are probably one of hundreds that he has scammed like this but I have only been able to determine the identity of you and 5 others.

I am very close to collecting enough evidence to put this bastard behind bars and recover the money he has scammed. My current investigations indicate that he has at least $8million in 12 bank accounts spread around the world. A successful prosecution against him would allow us to recover about 2/3 of this ammount ($5.3million). half of this ammount would be split between his victims and half ($2.65Million) would go to us as the principle investigators

Unfortunately, we are running short of funds to complete our investigation. Thus we come to you with this proposition:
If you would agree to support us in our investigation, we would be willing to share the reward with you on an equitable basis. After subtracting costs, we would be willing to share 1/3 (apx $700,000) with you as a benefactor.

This income would be completely legitimate, and we believe that we could put it under your control in a completely tax-free manner. If you are interested in this proposal please write me back. A very rapid response is needed, or we will lose our trail.

Sincerely.
Ura Looser, Private investigator.

Austrailia?

[Treacle Treatment]

What? I've been sending my money to Nigeria!

:( -- TT

When's the last time you read a Nigerian spam ?

[morelife]

Hopefully this means my inbox will be seeing less of these e-mails ...

You mean, you're not filtering this shit out? If you're seeing Nigerian scam mail, you also must be seeing several other terabytes of spam. Dude you still have an "inbox"? My heart goes out to you 'Ndugu. Wait - you're not filtering this shit out?

There *is* Justice!

[Kurt Wall]

Finally, someone gets nailed! What perpetually blows my mind with the Nigerian scams is that people fall for them. $1.5 million? That buys a metric buttload of computer...

Nope

[heli0]

Australian police have tracked about 1.5 million dollars.
"Hopefully this means my inbox will be seeing less of these e-mails."

After reading that figure the number of people entering this racket has probably increased.

Re:Nope

[grozzie2]

Australian police have tracked about 1.5 million dollars.

"Hopefully this means my inbox will be seeing less of these e-mails."

After reading that figure the number of people entering this racket has probably increased.

There are many many folks that have been 'quasi' tempted by constant barrage of spam that says 'use our bulk mailer and make a million on the internet'. This story gives that claim legitimacy, and, you can bet your last dollar, it's gonna be good for sales by those who are constantly trying to sell bulk mailers, address lists, and proxy lists.

The story is somewhat misleading, in that it doesn't specify that the $1.5 million is in those tiny little Australian kind of dollars. Joe that has been tempted by the offer of 'buy my bulk mailer for $250 and make a million on the internet' isn't bright enough to realize that. He sees the big number, and in a few minutes another spam arrives in the inbox, trying to sell a bulk mailer. Guess what, now he's more than a little interested.

Stories like this are only going to increase the volume of spam the net has to deal with. It basically confirms, there's a lot of money there for the taking, and email spamming is a very low cost way of promoting scams. If Joe scam artist had any doubts about the effectiveness of the concept yesterday, he's scouring /. for unemployed and unscrupulous software folks today.

On the bright side, this story does confirm some general trends in the IT industry. Even the spammers are outsourcing to offshore.

Re:Nope

[chrome]

1,500,000.00 AUD = 1,057,049.72 USD.

A million dollars in Australia is still a lot of money in anyone's language.

The average wage in Australia in 1999-2000 was $33350 p.a.. So someone with a million bucks can do quite well for themselves if they invest sensibly.

This guy has managed to make himself a nice little living out of his scams.

Re:Nope

[PhilReiss]

the $1.5 million is in those tiny little Australian kind of dollars

Umm, $1 AU is buying about 70c US at the moment..... 1 million odd, US dollars is hardly a piddling sum

This made my day

[DaveCBio]

I hope to see more spammers and scammers get nailed in the future.

Good news, bad news

[wowbagger]

Good news: Aussies caught this scumbag.
Bad news: Aussies don't have death penalty. Preferably one involving 'roo pheremones, a steel cage, ten male 'roos on sildenafil citrate, and pay-per-view.

Re:Good news, bad news

[dbIII]

Bad news: Aussies don't have death penalty.

Oddly enough, Dubbo Jail is where the last execution in Australia was carried out.

Lesson learned...

[NotClever]

Never try. Can't change anything. See that guy breaking into the car down the block? Don't report him, cops won't catch him...

Justice

[BCW2]

Bailif whack his pee pee.

(with apologies to Cheech & Chong)

Re:My answer

[drinkypoo]

It's comments like this that devalue the AC posting option.

Welcome!

[GQuon]

The Lord's peace be with you!
I brother Fede Raltra working at a mission in the Decom district, Lagos, Nigeria. I am also the organizer of the annual Nigerian email conference. You are hereby cordially invited to the conference.

To register, send your address, daytime telephone numbe, name of your contact in Amsterdam, and the registration fee to me (the address on the page is out-dated):
Nigerian EMail Conference
c/o Fede Raltra
Decom Mission
600 Penn. Av. N. W.
Wa Shing
Ton D. C. 20580
Lagos
Nigeria

using WHOIS

[dnahelix]

I got this email this morning...

Hello,Previously you had requested some information online in regards to potentially earning additional income from home.Our company Travelogia(one of the fastest growing companies in North America) has ...[bulk edited out - you get the idea] ... earning additional income, I will not waste your time. Remember, it won't cost you a dime to check us out...sure might cost you an absolute fortune not to! http://www.ProTravelBiz.com Sincerely Robert Holman

it was from "abeulicnta@ebay.com" <ihmribcyph@sina.com> which is messed up because it's like a fake email within a fake email. Of course, it was formatted the same way you see here, no correct breaks or anything. Anyway, I go look up the website name on register.com's WHOIS feature. (Note: I had to hit refresh several times before I got more than a 'timeout') Well, this is what I got! (in the form of a gif image, go figure)

Organization:
Robert L. Holman II
Robert Holman II
4617 E Holiday Estate Court
Granbury, TX 76049
US
Phone: (817) 326-6107
Fax..: (817) 326-5066
Email: Robert@Robert-Holman.com

Registrar Name....: enom.com
Registrar Whois...: whois.enom.com
Registrar Homepage: http://www.enom.com

Domain Name: PROTRAVELBIZ.COM

Created on............: Mon, Oct 27, 2003 [Note the very recent creation date]
Expires on............: Wed, Oct 27, 2004
Record last updated on: Mon, Oct 27, 2003

etc, etc...


So I called him, apparently at his house, judging by the unceremonious, 'yeah this is Robert' answer. I confirmed it was Robert Holman and then proceeded to tell him I did not appreaciate his SPAM and he needed to at least put an opt out and use his real email address on the return. He stammered as he tried to tell me he could prove I 'opted-in' which is total bullshit. I told him if I got any more mail from him I was going to sue him.

So, my fellow SPAM-hating brethren and sistren, use WHOIS on register.com to fight back at these jerks.

I also used WHOIS to find out who was sending me bogus eBay login screens.

Re: using WHOIS

[ndavidg]

Being that Travelogia is "one of the fastest growing companies in North America", did you get routed to the correct call center in the correct state? Was there even a receptionist? And was this "Yeah this is Robert" guy the technical contact? If so, why didn't you get transferred to the legal department after you threatened to sue? What is their business model? Who is the CEO? And what's the ticker symbol, by the way?

It kinda makes me angry to think that they acutally expect me to believe them! And aside from that, I still would not care if what they said were true!

Re:using WHOIS

[pipingguy]

www.dnsstuff.com

Re:using WHOIS

[bhima]

This sort of thing is a good start, but what really needs to happen is that the names of people who send spammers money needs to be published on a page of shame, so that they may be harrassed

Re:using WHOIS

[tvalley000]

Wow, you'd think someone would have thought of that say, seven years ago, or something.

Re:using WHOIS

[sosume]

I had a great idea today to stop spam!

I notified vereyone in my mail archive that my address had changed to myname@nospam.mydomain.com; then I changed the MX record for my root domain to 127.0.0.1 :))))))

Re:using WHOIS

[Lumpy]

actually it's more effective for ebay scams.

I recently bough a very expensive video camera off ebay. I won 10 auctions before I found one that was legitimate.

out of those 10,All had feedback ratings > 100
of those over 60% wanted me to use their escrow company that they suggest as they were "safe" Every single one had a WHOIS entry that was only from 1 day old to 1 week old.

On Ebay, scams are rampant on high ticket items.

Fake!

[quacking duck]

I call fake. It wasn't written in ALL CAPS.

Re:Fake!

[stef49]

I am jalous! you managed to write a sequence of 7 capitals. Slashdot dont even let me do that!

Re:Fake!

[simong_oz]

I call fake. It wasn't written in ALL CAPS.

He obviously would have benefitted from attending the 3rd Annual Nigerian Email Conference

Penis size

[Unsolicited Commando]

Just out of curiosity, does anyone know if the police report said if his dick was an extra 3"?

Nigerian 419 Coalition Website

[mAineAc]

This is a site that was setup to fight the scam and to educate people.

BUY GOLD YOU MORONS...

[cheekyboy]

Did you know there is NO LAW, or customs duty on exported gold, you can buy $100m in gold, and have it placed in a big arse box, and take it with you (just pay the freight costs). Customs will not care, because its not REAL LEGAL TENDER, its not considered money. Even though you can exchange it for more $ later any where.

Other illegal spam

[failedlogic]

Hopefully they won't make all SPAM illegal. Where else could you:

Getting your boss fired and then make money at home. You can then use this money to get millions after sending a small sum to a Nigerian diplomat trying to get out of the country. Then buy Viagra and learn techniques to enlarge the size of your penis. You can even meet singles in your area and refinance your morgage.

Oh, the convienience! Hopefully, those sending such useful information won't be arrested.

I wonder if he'll need help getting his AU$1.5m...

[Osrin]

... moved out of Australia. Maybe I should email him my bank details.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Dubbo???

[Pig Hogger]

The man faces Dubbo Local court today

Dubbo Local court ??? Is that aussie for "Kangaroo Court" ????

Re:Dubbo???

[sbszine]

It's a rural area about 5 hours west of Sydney. Chiefly known for its Western Plains Zoo, which has heaps of African animals. The US equivalent would be some minor whistlestop in Texas.

Re:Dubbo???

[jason_hutchens]

Unfortunately the bloke you replied to was trying to make a joke, revealing his ignorance of anywhere not in the good ol' US-of-A in the process.

Re:Dubbo???

[sbszine]

Thought as much. Still, someone somewhere may learn something.

If you're still reading guys, we don't actually drink Fosters here. And we call a shrimp a prawn, and a faucet a tap.

Also we ride kanagroos to work.

Re:Dubbo???

[dbIII]

Also we ride kanagroos to work

And we don't have grizzlies, we have drop-bears.

Dubbo's off all the main roads, and you don't have to go much furthur to start heading into some very dry country. A whistle stop in Nevada is probably a better description. I've only been there once and been past it within 100 miles a dozen times, it's not really on the way to anywhere.

Re:Dubbo???

[PhillC]

It's on the way to lots of places! Narramine, Nyngan and eventually you could make it all the way to Broken Hill. From there the world's your oyster....

Dear sucker....I mean Friend!

[djupedal]

Dear My name is Mr.Mark Adams a retired Colonel in the Liberian Army, a close aide and confidant of Mr. Charles Taylor, the former Liberian president.

During the civil war in Sierra Leone (a neighbouring African country) that lasted several years, the rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF), which fought against the legitimate Sierra Leone government, was actively supported by former President Charles Taylor on account of his differences with the Sierra Leone president. He provided training bases, military and political assistance for the rebels in exchange for an unrestrained access to arguably, the second largest deposit of Diamond in the world -the mines were under the control of the RUF. I was the man the former president appointed in charge of all diamond transactions between the Liberian leader and the RUF.

During this period, Liberia became the conduit pipe through which all mined diamonds from Sierra Leone were sold in the international market under my watchful eyes. This continued, until the RUF was finally routed by a government backed international coalition led by the U.K., under the auspices of the UN, two years ago. In a sudden twist of fate, a coalition of an anti-Taylor movement in Liberia launched a guerrilla campaign in 2000, to oust former President Taylor from power.

However, following a large-scale humanitarian crises resulting from the conflict, the international community led by the US, has put pressure on Mr. Taylor to resign/step aside, as the panacea for ending the conflict, which he finally accepted and resigned his presidency on August 11, 2003. The UN War Crimes Tribunal in Sierra Leone also indicted Taylor for war crimes, over his role in the Sierra Leone Civil war. But a solace came from the Nigerian government few weeks ago, which offered asylum to Mr. Taylor and his close aides, of which I am one of them. As a result of this development, the former president sent me as the head of an advance team in Nigeria until his arrival on the same day of his resignation as president of Liberia on August 11, 2003.

I have the sum of $50MUSD (Fifty million US dollars only), being part of the proceeds from the over 5 years diamond transaction that I supervised for the former president, and I need your co-operation in moving these funds to safety overseas.

I have made a perfect arrangement to move these funds into your care within a few days without risk at both ends, if you provide me with your unqualified co-operation. Please indicate your willingness to co-operate with me and provide me with your contact details (your telephone and fax etc, for confidential communications) as time is of essence.

I have been reliably informed that some people send fraudulent letters to unsuspecting individuals overseas making bogus claims. Please be informed that this is not such letters as my claims are true, authentic and verifiable.

Should you have any question, feel free to contact me, but treat this transaction with absolute confidentiality.

Awaiting your prompt response, Kind regards, Mr.Adams

Obligatory Simpsons Quote

[saturndude]

/Nelson Muntz' voice:

"Haa --- Haa !!!" /end Nelson Muntz' voice

Maybe now I can finally get my money.

[Che Guevarra]

Where exactly are they holding him? I've tried many times to sucessfully transfer money and every time I try my 14.4 modem breaks the link. Tell him I'm ready willing and able to support his business prospects and want very much to make my investment. Does the article give his name or email address?

It's great that they caught this scammer

[rifftide]

But I'm wondering what ever came of the oil ministry money that was locked up. Did anyone ever manage to unblock the funds?

Re:Crime pays...

[saturndude]

On a related note, one of my old teachers used to say "The wages of sin is death, but the hours can't be beat."

For those that missed another form of the pitch...

[djupedal]

Dear Friend.

I am Mrs. Mariam Sese-Seko widow of late President
Mobutu Sese-Seko of Zaire. Now known as Democratic
Republic of Congo (drc). I received your company
profile from the Chambers of Commerce in Morocco.

I am moved to write you this letter, this was in
confidence considering my present circumstance
and situation. I escaped along with my husband
and two of our sons David and Mukoko out of
Democratic Republic of Congo (drc) to Abidjan,
Cote d'ivoire where my family and I settled, while
we later moved to settled in Morocco where my
husband later died of cancer disease.

However due to this situation we decided to change
most of my husband's billions of dollars deposited in
swiss bank and other countries into other forms of
money coded for safe purpose because the new head
of state of (drc) Mr Laurent Kabila has made
arrangement with the swiss government and
other european countries to freeze all my late
husband's treasures deposited in some european countries.

Hence my children and I decided laying low in Africa to
study the situation till when things gets better, like now
that President Kabila is dead and the son taking over (Joseph Kabila).

One of my late husband's chateaux in southern france was
confiscated by the french government, and as such
i had to change my identity so that my investment
will not be traced and confiscated. I have deposited
the sum of one hundred million united
state dollars (us $100,000,000,00.) With a security company, for safekeeping.

The funds are security coded to prevent them from knowing the content.

What I want you to do is to indicate your interest that you
will assist us by receiving the money on our behalf.
Acknowledge this message, so that i can introduce
you to my son (David) who has the out modalities
for the claim of the said funds. I want you to
assist in investing this money, but i will not want my
identity revealed.

I will also want to buy properties and stock
in multi-national companies and to engage in
other safe and non-speculative investments.
May I at this point emphasise the high level
of confidentiality, which this business demands,
and hope you will not betray the trust and confidence,
which I repose in you.

In conclusion, if you want to assist us, my son shall put you
in the picture of the business, tell you where the funds are
currently being maintained and also discuss other
modalities including renumerations for your services.
For this reason kindly furnish us your contact
information, that is your personal telephone
and fax number for confidential purpose and
acknowledge receipt of this mail using the above email
address.

Best regards,
Mrs M. Sese Seko

Spammers and Big Red Hats

[BigBlockMopar]

With the three of them behind bars, spam will pretty much cease to exist forever.

As long as there are lusers stupid enough to fall for it, someone will take their place.

With every caught spammer - fraudulent or "not fraudulent", authorities should be compiling lists of their customers for at least public humiliation, if not prosecution for aiding the spammers.

I'd love to see FTC ads: "The following is a public service announcement. Joe Brinkerhoff of Lubbock, Texas [show unflattering picture] purchased baste-on Magical Penis Enlargement Potion on January 16, 2003. You can thank him for giving spammers a reason to fill your mailbox with crap. Just thought you'd like to know." Add the threat of public humiliation and the stupid will think twice. I'm sure the PSAs could even become a TV show in their own right.

If it were up to me, they'd also be neutered and forced to wear bright red helmets with strobe lights for the rest of their natural lives.

Re:Spammers and Big Red Hats

[Rimbo]

Figures it'd be some guy from Lubbock. :)

(I grew up in Amarillo, the only town in America whose Chamber of Commerce actually envies Lubbock -- and I am only saying that because I went to an Amarillo CoC banquet whose theme was "Beat Lubbock!"... so anyway, that's why I have to give Lubbock heck.)

Re:Spammers and Big Red Hats

[Pampaluz]

You fucking arrogant little shithead. Not everybody is as saavy with computers as you are. Some people are a bit overwhelmed being in front of a computer, and take for granted that the information presented to them is factual and authoritative. I'm sure there are lots of scams YOU would fall for if you were placed into another field without training. Say, an aircraft pilot. Or an auto mechanic.

You're joking, right?

I have never flown a plane...so, you're telling me, that if I were suddenly thrust into the field of aviation, say, then I would suddenly begin falling for penis enlargement scams and etc? Or are you speaking for yourself? ;)

Re:Spammers and Big Red Hats

[BigBlockMopar]

You fucking arrogant little shithead. Not everybody is as saavy with computers as you are. Some people are a bit overwhelmed being in front of a computer, and take for granted that the information presented to them is factual and authoritative. I'm sure there are lots of scams YOU would fall for if you were placed into another field without training. Say, an aircraft pilot. Or an auto mechanic.

Caveat emptor, my ignorant and - by the defensive tone - gullible friend. No matter what the media, caveat emptor.

If you were more astute, I'd point out the folly of your reference, given my nickname here. But I think it would be lost on you. So would the fact that I did own a Douglas A-26 Invader, even if it was only for a few weeks and it contained nearly 4,000lbs of pigeon crap.

I stand by my statements, and I've got a very nice nail gun to affix your helmet to your head. You know, so you don't misplace it while you're excitedly running down to the bank to help out a poor Nigerian man who is down on his luck.

Re:Spammers and Big Red Hats

[BigBlockMopar]

I have never flown a plane...so, you're telling me, that if I were suddenly thrust into the field of aviation, say, then I would suddenly begin falling for penis enlargement scams and etc? Or are you speaking for yourself? ;)

Steady on the yoke. It's not like a car, you can't rest your thumbs in the corners or you'll tend to dive. (Actually, don't do that in a car, either. If you have an accident, you're almost guaranteed a broken thumb.)

Re:Spammers and Big Red Hats

[VanillaCoke420]

You don't have to be savvy with computers to realize something's wrong when you, simoultaneously, get offers to buy breast enlargement AND penis enlargement herbal shit. Or, for that matter, educational toys that fully comply with Newtons laws(!) Good heavens, I want a toy that defy them. Anyway, the people who see information and think ALL of it is factual and authoritative are clearly not adults, or they are fools, or they are uneducated. Or any combination. I mean first mistake they make is that they lack skepticism (they believe everything they read and hear). The other mistake is that they think it's authoritative (that's just silly. Even if it WAS, would you still buy? Authoritative would make you buy, why? Because they said you should?) Now, you don't have to be savvy with computers to be a) skeptic, and b) capable of independent thought (example: "they tell me to buy this, yet I decide NOT TO.)

Re:Spammers and Big Red Hats

[TheyMightBeGiants]

You fucking arrogant little shithead. Not everybody is as saavy with computers as you are. Some people are a bit overwhelmed being in front of a computer, and take for granted that the information presented to them is factual and authoritative. I'm sure there are lots of scams YOU would fall for if you were placed into another field without training. Say, an aircraft pilot. Or an auto mechanic.

Obviously you fell for the scam huh :( It's ok however. Very often, I understand that the penis enlargement helps when you goto the bank to pick up your check from the nigerian ambassador.

P.S. When you broadcast your stupidity onto other people, I think that's called "projecting" in nutbag... err psychological terms.

Re:Spammers and Big Red Hats

[theLOUDroom]

If you were more astute, I'd point out the folly of your reference, given my nickname here.

LOL!

Some people.....
This guy defininately needs the helmet.

One less customer...

[Gunfighter]

For my money laundering service.

Note: It's a joke... laugh.

All jokes aside

[t0qer]

My friend's grandmother has this neighbor who was sort of the neighborhood whacko (schizophenia, medicated) He lived with his dad up until the time his father died and the estate was split up amungst the surviving siblings.

Well, he had a trusting nature about him, almost anyone could be his friend. Since he had been a roadie for many bands (Grateful Dead, Fleetwood Mac to name a few) for the price of getting him stoned you could listen to him go on for hours about his days as a roadie, while you fished out of his carp stocked green algae swimming pool. Although he was crazy, he was a fun guy to be around if you had a few hours to kill.

So here he was with all this money from his families estate. The house was sold, so he bought himself a luxery van to live out of. The rest of the money he put into money market accounts and had planned to live out the rest of his days cruising to concerts and playing his guitar out of the back of his van.

Tradgedy struck when the nigerian e-mail scam hit his inbox. He fell for it hook line and sinker. After arranging with the english accennted guy on the other end of the phone line, they agreed to meet in amsterdam to facilitate the transfer of funds (which was through cashiers check)

Even after he got off the phone, even when he was going to the bank, even when he stepped off the plane his sanity nagged, no pleaded with him "This is a scam Kim, please just go home". Sanity had never gotten him anywhere so he just ignored it.

He met the guy at some cannibus club, and after a few nice bowls of fine green, his sanity returned to his subconciousness, where it layed dormant most of the time. He handed the man the cashier check for $200,000 with full confidence he was doing the smart thing with his money.

Once returning to the states he tried dialing the number the man had given him, disconnected. He tried the e-mail address, no reply. 3 months after he had pissed away $200,000 on a cashier check and a handshake, he finally told his friends what had happened.

I posted this somewhere before on the nigerian scam, a lot of people responded "Serves him right for being stupid with his money" I don't agree with them though. We're talking about a guy with the emotional maturity of a 9 year old.

The same mentality that would perform this scam on weak minded and lonely adults is the same mentality that would take advantage of a little kid. Spare me the "Theives code of honor" I hope this guy gets life.

Re:All jokes aside

[Archon-X]

These scams target greed. Generally, intelligent, logical people *are* safe from them, because you can go through some logical steps.

1] Any unaddressed email is spam
2] Why would I have been singled out, as a nobody, to receive $1,000,000 US?
3] Why would i, this nobody suddenly be contacted and addressed anonymously, be offered money and an investment of simply stupid amounts?
4] Why is this suddenly very complicated and convaluted.

Unfortunate what happened to your friend, but you did mention that sanity had been blown away in a cloud of green. I know of 2 lawyers in my city who have gone for these scams. They simply target greed.

Re:All jokes aside

[RoLi]

I find it still hard to believe that people still fall for this. I mean that spam surely wasn't the only one he was getting, I get about 3 spams from army generals, nigerian queens or whatever. If you are really naive, OK you may fall for it, but if you get tens of these, you should really see through it.

Re:All jokes aside

[Eivind]

This prooves onlz that people with the maturitz of 9 zear olds should not be given complete, uncontrolled access to 6-digit figures.

A simple co-signature from trusted friend/relative required for withdrawals over $10K would have prevented this.

Re:All jokes aside

[afree87]

Still getting used to that QWERTZ keyboard? :)

Re:All jokes aside

[Eivind]

Yeah. German keyboards are uhm, interesting. Normally I remember to do "setxkbmap no" which makes the thing sane... Why is y and z swapped on german keyboards anyway ?

Re:Not the same thing.

[NotClever]

Thousand to one? I'd take million to one! I didn't catch the implication that he thought he had something to do with the arrest. No way he had anything to do with it.

Just yesterday..

[UconnGuy]

I got an email supposedly from Citibank (in my Spam folder nonetheless) supposedly saying they were confirming email addresses and needed you to go to Citibank.com (although they had a different address on it) and put BOTH your account number (ATM) and your PIN. The sad part is, as I was reading it, I actually was not sure if my parents or grandparents would know better (they don't think people are actually out there that would do this). I decided to call my parents to be on the safe side and warn them about these things. Luckily, they had common sense. The funniest part of the whole situation is that I received the same message twice, in my Spam folder, but yet the email address it was sent to isn't even the one I use for Citibank. I am just wondering how many people actually do this - I mean, are there actually people out there that would put in there account number and PIN number?!? Common sense tells you...oh wait, we are talking about the general public here, the public doesn't have it!

Re:Just yesterday..

[HermanAB]

Common sense is not common.

If it was common, the churches would have been empty.

Those are mine!

[sheetsda]

So thats where mine went! I want those back! All of them!

Mod Parent Up!

[$ASANY]

Now that is a combination that makes my heart go pitter-patter!

whois aint

[jefu]

Increasingly I'm finding that whois (through any number of domain registrars) by command line or on the web, is returning no information at all. Or information that is of no use. (Like email at fake addresses, fake phone numbers and the like.)

And the fact that the organization holding the ".org" domain (ISOC) is completely unwilling to chase down .org spammers, scammers and sleazeballs is all the more annoying. Their response to me when I tried to complain about a spammer using a .org domain (with no whois info) as a hideyhole was (in essence) "Yes, we want the .org domain to be for non profits and the like, but we won't do anything about it, no matter how nasty the people are who are using the name."

Re:whois aint

[SpaceLifeForm]

The almighty buck has spoken.

Re:whois aint

[nchip]

(Like email at fake addresses, fake phone numbers and the like.)

Remember that ICANN requires registrar to terminate any domain in 14 days if whois information is bogus. So the spammers have few choices:

1: use correct info and get tracked.
2: use fake info and luse the domain
3: use somene elses info and get sued for identity theft

Their response to me when I tried to complain about a spammer using a .org domain (with no whois info)

What was the domain anyway?

Are you sure you use the right whois server? some untransitioned domains don't show up in whois.pir.org yet. If there really is no contact info, you should contact the registrar and tell them that the mentioned domain has fraudulent whois data. It's the registrars responsibility to maintain correctness in whois database, not the registrys AFAIk.

And I don't know where you get the crudge against .org, it's the .biz that spammer appear to favour anyway.

that's globalization for you

[unboring]

A man in Australia, claiming to be a Nigerian, dupes people in the US!

Indeed

[sbszine]

Great post. People often say "you'd have to be insane to fall for that" or "you'd have to be an idiot to fall for that", and it may well be true. It would certainly explain the popularity of spamming and scamming.

There are plenty of people out there with Downs Syndrome or a low IQ or a mental illness thats make them gullible, and some percentage of them must have access to the internet.

great

[gid13]

One down, god knows how many to go.

Come off it!!!

[eastshores]

I guess its ok to consider that a crime is a crime.. but when it comes to a scam.. it almost seems like we shouldn't give a f*ck about the people that got scammed.. because more often than not their motives are far from clean. I say let these idiot scammers continue their spamming so long as they pay each and every one of us that are smart enough to know better the cost of our resources and time spent weeding out their crap. If the morons that fall for it bare the cost, so be it.. you really would have to question how they came into a position to maintain anything more than 20.00 us dollars anyway. Or maybe I'm just in a bad mood :)

Re:Come off it!!!

[fishbowl]

I don't think you understand the depth of the problem. The people who "fall for" the 419 scam are almost certainly well aware that it's a scam, and they participate in hopes of scamming someone *else*. Remember the person who embezzeled from her company to fund a 419 trick? I'm betting she knew it was a scam the entire time, but somehow saw the whole thing as a means to an end of scamming someone else (maybe trying to proxy and embezzlement so that it looked like the "Nigerian" was responsible?)

I wonder how many people who follow through on these things are actually using it as a means to ripoff someone else, perhaps trying to make the victim appear so stupid that he won't report the theft...

Or maybe there *are* people who are actually stupid enough to really fall for 419. I'd say anyone THAT foolish would have been parted from his money long before now, and scams don't enter into it. No, I suspect there's more to the story, and I really do imagine that people see the 419 scam as an opportunity to play middleman and quietly funnel some money into their own pocket while connecting an unsuspecting victim to a blatant scammer. Maybe they think all the noise will be at the ends of the link, and the small change they grabbed in the middle will go unnoticed? I hope it's something like that. If there are that many people with money who are that stupid, I need to be thinking of legal, ethical ways of relieving them of some of it.

Re:Come off it!!!

[escallywag]

If there are that many people with money who are that stupid, I need to be thinking of legal, ethical ways of relieving them of some of it.

It exists, it's called televangelism....

Oh legal AND ethical... well one out of two isn't so bad, is it ?

Only the Aussie "bit"

[Anonymous Coward]

The main 419 scammers are mostly in the Netherlands at the moment, but there are small pockets of individuals all over the world.

This "scum" they caught in Australia is believed to have defrauded people of OVER AU$6 million (about US$4.2 million), but the police only have tracked $1.5 million.

He has been caught by journalists in the past during the process of trying to deprive people of thousands of dollars and his face has been show on television which is why he moved to the "outback" away from cameras and started scamming using letters (snail mail) and the internet.

This is Hilarious...

[Mister Transistor]

An old high school buddy called me about 2 weeks ago. His voice was all hushed, and he asked me if I knew anything about getting a bank account set up in a fake name.

Well, I thought about it for about 3 seconds, and started snickering. I said to him, is this, by any chance, for someone wanting to bring funds into the U.S.? He said yes...

I started to laugh out loud. I said to him, guess what, guy... You've got scam! I explained the 419 scam to him, and started to quote one (approximately) from memory. "Sound Familiar?" I asked him. Sheepishly, he said yes.

I have received about 50 of these so far, and I forward them to the FTC, with "No Financial Loss" heading up a copy of the email. They won't reply, but they will add it to their gallery of rogues. I hope this guy was one of the ones I turned in...

*The* Nigerian Scam?

[meowsqueak]

I thought the nigerian scam was along the lines of "I need to deposit money in your account" - the article talks about claims "you've won the lottery!"... can't say I've ever got that one.

I hope they didn't catch the wrong guy.

[satyap]

I hope they didn't catch the wrong guy.

Internet bounty hunters?

[Licensed2Hack]

Any body bringing in a "Bad Guy" gets a reward.

There would need to be some sort of international "Most Wanted" poster.

Could use this for getting virus/worm authors, also.

Ban all messages with URLs containing .biz

[BigBlockMopar]

With the three of them behind bars, spam will pretty much cease to exist forever.

You know, I'm considering grepping my incoming e-mail for any messages which contain URLs with the term "biz" anywhere. Especially when .biz is the TLD. Discarding the message and teergrubing the originating server the moment they send an URL like that.

By my quick estimate, that would get rid of everything except the Nigerian spams... which are hopefully a thing of the past; I hope the sender - like all other spammers - gets colorectal cancer.

Anyone have any thoughts or experience with this?

Re:Ban all messages with URLs containing .biz

[GreyPoopon]

Especially when .biz is the TLD.

Are there really that many .biz domains used for spamming? One of my more used email address is a .biz address and I wouldn't want people blocking my email. Yikes!

Re:Ban all messages with URLs containing .biz

[BigBlockMopar]

Are there really that many .biz domains used for spamming? One of my more used email address is a .biz address and I wouldn't want people blocking my email. Yikes!

Sorry, man. Most of the spam I get is advertising *.biz URLs, or sites like www.biz-dot.net.

I've come to the conclusion that, with the apparently singular exception of your domain, if there's a "biz" anywhere in any URL the entire e-mail is crap and the sender should be beaten in the face with a nine iron.

The .biz TLD doesn't seem to be used by any legitimate sites. And I don't think I need to worry about mass-deleting e-mails from www.yahoo.biz or www.amazon.biz. Just from ebhelper2003.biz and other fly-by-night sites peddling crap to the stupid.

for aussies

[supernova87a]

And as punishment for his crimes, the man will be forced to live in Dubbo for the rest of his life... :)

I'd love to get straight fraud spam...

[NotQuiteReal]

... at least I wouldn't have to second guess whether I'd really be better off with larger genitalia.

I mean, when someone wants lots of money it is obviously a scam... but what if, for a little money, "she would want to lick it like a lolly pop" all the time!.

Trick or Treat?

[Licensed2Hack]

Robert Holman II
4617 E Holiday Estate Court
Granbury, TX 76049
US
Phone: (817) 326-6107
Fax..: (817) 326-5066

Gee, Granbury is just a few miles southwest of Ft. Worth, TX. Think there might be a few trick or treaters showing up at this slimeball's door tomorrow night?

And no one would even think of going to a local bookstore and grab a subscription postcard from all the magazines on the rack, fill in this slimeball's name and mail them in. Would they?

WOULD THEY??

Vigilance is rewarded

[jgardn]

Just goes to show that we already have the resources to stand up to spam.

These people are committing fraud, plain and simple. Fraud is a serious crime, and the bigger the distances, the more serious it becomes.

While we may be getting a lot of spam nowadays, expect that to fall off sharply as law enforcement, public awareness, and vigilance makes entering this business too costly for the average Joe to survive for long.

The only surviving spammers will be those who are semi-legitimate, or on such a small scale that they go unnoticed.

As long as we make sure that crime doesn't pay, the criminals will have to get up pretty early in the morning to figure out how to make it pay temporarily.

It's more serious than that for some.

[clifgriffin]

Some people have been killed. (I read this somwhere, but it's like 1 am and I'll be darned if I look it up and actually prove this is or is not a rumor ;) )

The secret service financial crimes division estimated that 100 million dollars was lost in these scams in 1997.

So many stupid people.

Re:It's more serious than that for some.

[shri]

They have an excellent How-to document here if you want to start up your own. They're not stupid people.. greedy people.

Ahh, grasshopper

[hayden]

You underestimate the stupidity of the general public and the important of their 15 minutes.

I present as evidence, everyone who has ever been on Jerry Springer.

profit

[Muttonhead]

• Create Nigerian scam
• Mugu guymen keep off
• Profit

Fry that guy in hot oil

[fejikso]

He doesn't deserve less...

Spamming the Scamsters

[dreamsinter]

Dearest Darling Nigerian Scamster

Associate Member in Good Standing and Sheeps' Clothing, Founding Member of the International Secret Conspiracy for the Oppression of Teddybears, and Non-User of Condoms

We Thank You From the Bottom of Our Hearts, and the Hearts of Our Bottoms, For Your Graciousness in Calling Us. (We may not be overly happy with the abusive name you chose to call us, but hey, at least you called us!)

We carried out the test as per your instructions. The man and the woman were duly connected with the Screw-in Screw-on Stainless-Steel Condom (Registered Trade Mark) of The Pentagon (with three volume controls), and left in [censored] National Park.

Unfortunately the current theory is wrong. The leopard ate them both.

So apparently the Screw-in Screw-on Stainless-Steel Condom (R) of The Pentagon does not in fact work at the moment as a Leopard Repellent. (Note: We pre-tested them with a house cat and the house cat was duly repelled - perhaps the tuning was out? And perhaps, Dearest Darling Nigerian Scamster, we were wrong in theorizing that the leopard would be repelled out of a sense of public duty? That if we had theorized the leopard would be repelled by an existential dilemma, the pair might still be alive today?)

Perhaps we need to find a more compliant leopard? Should we begin the next stage of the plan - breeding a leopard that can be reliably predicted to be repelled by a man and a woman connected by the Screw-in Screw-on Stainless-Steel Condom(R) of The Pentagon? What would you suggest? More volume controls? We are relying on your sterling reputation in the fields of leopard repulsion and anti-leopard engineering, and your renowned ability to keep a confidence.

We also need more volunteers. Would you, Dearest Darling Nigerian Scamster, perhaps like to serve as a volunteer for the new and improved Screw-in Screw-on Stainless-Steel Condom (R) The Pentagon Leopard Repellent (Patent Pending)? With electronic stimulation? And eleven new volume controls?

When would be a good time to pick you up and take you to the [censored] National Park? Morning or afternoon? And can we have your residential address? We, Dearest Darling Nigerian Scamster, would not like to deprive your family of the joy of seeing your truly heroic partipation in what must be truly one of the last remaining challenges for mankind.

We need more people like you, Dearest Darling Nigerian Scamster - young, fit and courageous - to test the new theories of leopard repulsion that have sprung out of the development of the Screw-in Screw-on Stainless-Steel Condom (R) of The Pentagon.

And remember, if you repel the girl, you get to keep the leopard!

Signed,
With all due respect
The Grand Panjandrum
The Freak Show Manager

Late Breaking News: The person who has been tested with this all-new penis-and-breast enlargement program, has escaped and is now on the loose. If you should encounter a 3-foot high woman with a 2 foot three inch long six inch thick penis and 2 foot diameter breasts, you are advised to take all due care and advise the police of your whereabouts.

And you are requested to tell the ungrateful bitch that "All is forgiven, please return", and in any case, the Freak Show Manager is breathing down my butt and groping my neck and I worry about my safety - particularly as she absconded with his money.

Notice - if she is still taking the pills she absconded with, she may now be only 2 foot eight inches high, with a 2 foot seven inch long nine inch thick penis and 2 foot 4 inch diameter breasts. Please remove the pills from her - they are perfectly safe, and you may keep and use them as a sign of our gratitude. (And try not to bend over in her presence - it can be painful, extremely painful! And she LAUGHS about it! We still do not understand why she does this - she never used to do any such thing before she was volunteered!)

The Freak Show Accountant.

Also..

[Channard]

.. no mention of God, Baby Jesus, Moses, Jehova, Mohammed, L Ron Hubbard and 'Bob' all blessing you for replying to the letter.

Yeah? So Do I :-)

[billstewart]

OK, I don't get the phone calls, but some days it seems my procmail filters get 300-500 Nigerian 419 scams. Usually it's a lot less, since most of the spam's Viagra or other drugs instead.

Nigerian Scams

[n_tit_e]

I hate this scam !! I was a business owner, and I recieved about 5 letters over the space of a year from Nigerians telling me that they wanted to give me $50,000,000. All I had to do, was give them $10,000 and then we could get underway. I myself struggle to think how anyone could actually fall for these scams but obviously somepeople do since these letters are obviously being paid for by people other than the people who are sending them. Nice to see someone getting nailed for some of this, though I fear that it will not be the end of scammers taking advantave of the less intelligent of our planet !!

You need help with letter!

[CrystalFalcon]

I can provide!

Through THIRD ANNUAL NIGERIAN EMAIL CONFERENCE we learn how to write better emails and make more moneys!

Visit website today!

http://j-walk.com/other/conf/index.htm

He got off lucky.

[Fantastic Lad]

This scam has been pulled off with many incrementing steps,

"Thank you for your $4,000, but now we need another $10,000 because of this new snag."

Worry of offending and thus losing the investment already made, lures people into upping the ante many times.

In some cases, people have finally been invited/persuaded to fly into Nigeria to settle the matter, (or wherever the scam is based), and have there been kidnapped and held for ransom.

There are dangerous, organized people behind this scam, and I seriously doubt that one guy being arrested in Australia is the solution. It sounds as though your pot-smoking friend got off easy, probably because he paid so much up front. He didn't end up dead in Nigeria.

-FL

Heh

[Julian Morrison]

I guess that proves you don't have to be smart or even hard working to become a rich businessman in the US

But it also proves you do have to be smart or at least ethical in order to stay rich. Random increase, selective decrease: the formula for evolution.

These guys were actually quite dangerous

[Fantastic Lad]

This scam has been pulled off with many incrementing steps. . ,

"Thank you for your $10,000, but now we need another $8,000 because of this new snag."

Worry of offending and thus losing the investment/s already made, lures people into upping the ante many times, probably while their stomach juices become increasingly more acidic and they tell themselves ever larger lies so as to be reassured that they are not being ripped off.

In some cases, people have finally been invited/persuaded to fly into Nigeria to settle the matter, (or wherever the scam is based), and have there been kidnapped and held for ransom.

There are dangerous, organized and well-funded people behind this scam. I hear they didn't just arrest some asshole in Australia, but an international ring of assholes. May they burn together in flaming tar for a thousand years.

Somebody here already noted. . . "You can't scam an honest person." --Unfortunately, this is not true. I know people who would from their kindness want to loan money with no hope or desire for reward in order to help somebody out.

Greed is certainly a big, big lure, but Vigilance and Knowledge are also required to ensure safety. I have a rule of thumb: "Never help a greedy person. Never help those who won't help themselves." --Rendering help to a selfish person means there is no chance of the favor being returned to you or anybody else, thus any energy spent in this way is simply sucked out of circulation. Pointless. "Pay It Forward" works wonderfully, but only if people actively avoid assholes and vampires.

-FL

similar scams

[golgotha007]

this 'nigerian spam' idea has appeared in other forms as well.

i'm trying to sell my car and posted it on a few free car sales websites. so far, i've received 4 of emails exactly like this:

"We have a client who is interested in purchasing
your ( 2000 vw gti vr6 glx ) for the price of $( 14,500 ).Please forward me your final asking price "

of course, i then reply with the price confirmation, but then i get this:

"Hello,
Thanks a lot for your mail and the information, also for all your efforts towards making this transaction a success, i really love it and wish to buy as soon as possible. Anyway, this is how we are going to seal this transaction there is an associate of mine in the US who is owing me $19,800 i am going to instruct him to send you a cashier's check for that amount,and when it clears your bank you can now send my balance by Westernunion. Although i know that the value of the check is more than the price of the 2000 VW GTI VR6 GLX, but i am willing to trust you with my balance So if this offer is acceptable to you,let me have your contact information so that i can instruct my associate to send you a check,that is your name,address and phone number Please get back to me as soon as soon as you get this mail so that i can know your decision regards this transaction. I am banking on my balance so that i will be able to settle my shippers here in there local office because it is cheaper and faster.My regards to the family
Banks"

so this scam basically falls upon the same principle. obviously we all know where this is going, but i decide to play along anyway and sent him a bogus PO box to send the check to.

the next email was this:
"Thanks so much for the mail and the rightful information. Anyway, i just want you to know that what is required is your physical address and phone number, so as to deliver the payment to you in person. So, do well to let me have your Full name, physical address and phone number, in order to get the payment to you as soon as possible. And what do you mean by "terrifc deal"?. Waiting to hear back from you soon. Thank you and God bless.
Regards
Banks"

my question: why does he need my physical address and phone number? it's obvious at this point he will let me know about some snag and that i need to send him some money for whatever reason.

on a side note, i am selling my Volkswagen GTI VR6 GLX if anyone is interested.

so, people selling their autos online, be wary of this scam.

Re:similar scams

[illtud]

my question: why does he need my physical address and phone number? it's obvious at this point he will let me know about some snag and that i need to send him some money for whatever reason.

Nope, that's not how it works. You get the cheque (check, for you leftpondians), you pay it in, it clears, someone comes round and picks up the car, then a few days later the bank calls you up and tells you the cheque is a dud, and they want their money back. Check it out at snopes.

Now I'd be suing my bank if this happened, but I'm assured that I wouldn't get very far.

Anyway, my point was that they don't ask you for any money, so it's quite a good sucker trap. It's basically exploiting the Average Joe's misconception of how banks and cheques work (ie, not like they *should*).

Re:similar scams

[swordgeek]

Interesting. In Canada at least, once a cheque clears, it's the bank's problem.

The obligatory ...

[rollingcalf]

In Soviet Russia, YOU send email scams to Nigeria!

Re:WHOIS THIS?

[Halo1]

Then go to the Internic problem report form and file a complaint. If all data is invalid and the owner cannot be contact the owner, the domain will be suspended.

Like all other branches of gov't

[swb]

"We get a lot of mail complaining about people committing crimes via email. But since we're only really interested in arresting terrorists and drug dealers, we don't have the resources to go after these people. And even if we did, we think this is just an aggressive sales model, or so our Wall Street overlords tell us."

Lets be fair.

[jellomizer]

Sounds like natural selection to me. I'm surprised they figured out how to book the plane ticket.

The problem is not genetically stupidity just ignorance. Scammers pray on people where they may be the most ignorant. There are some people out there who don't know about these nigerian scams, and because of greed and ignorance, or the spur of the moment they fall for them. It is just like when you go to the fair and try the play the games of improbability offered by the carnies. Or giving a donation to what you thought was a charitable donation. Or accepting a Gift from a morally questionable friend. But every once in a while every person cant put 1 and 1 together to get 2, sometimes they put 1 and 1 together and get 11. All people do stupid things if you like to admit it or not, it happens. And some people do really stupid things, because they let their hearts get in the way of their head.

Re:Lets be fair.

[TheyMightBeGiants]

Also in being fair, before investing alot of money into ANYTHING, a wise person, or even half alive person investigates said investment.

There was a woman in Jersey that embezzled something in the neighborhood of a quarter million dollars (if my memory serves me) for this scam. Likely, it took her more effort to embezzle the money, than it would have to look up the scam on the web.

I say those that fall for this scam, and any other net-hoax crap, deserve the ridicule levied at them.

Now they need to get the "MS Security Patch" guy

[walterbyrd]

I get dozens of those every day. They never get opened, or even downloaded, but it's still annoying.

if you ever visit Nigeria

[WormholeFiend]

this country seems to breed scammers like crazy, so be careful, as evidenced by this BBC story:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/from _o ur_own_correspondent/3201692.stm

Poor colonel M'Gundu

[Colosse]

I guess he really needed my help. Now he got caught because of me!

Re:And that's what smokin' pot will do for ya!

[ClioCJS]

Most pot smokers are adults with jobs. 1 in 9 americans smokes pot weekly. Much higher than the unemployment rate.

More potsmokers than gay people, but they have less rights, despite the fact that gay (or straight) sex, especially unprotected, is more dangerous to your health than smoking pot is.

The ideal punishment

[mnmn]

The Aussi courts should really let the guy go. They should just release his picture, name, address, phone number, addresses of his relatives and friends, the name of his college, and they should track him and keep the public updated about his whereabouts. The ensuing witchhunt will demonstrate the public's true willingness to put in effort to get rid of spam.

If this was Saudi Arabia, they would tie him to a post and let anyone who has received more than 1000 emails in one day give this guy a bonk in the nose. I know I would pity him real soon.

lottery scams

[isfuglen]

Has anyone seen the International Contracting Company Ltd. scam? With Carl Gareth? When I saw their website, I could have sworn the picture used for my good man Carl was a picture of O.J. Simpson. And that the pictures of the rest of his gang were pictures of B-celebs. But I can't find the website anymore...

Probably a good thing

[Jordan Bell]

It's probably a good thing that this fellow was arrested. The whole business of email scams seems so silly to people like us that with whom computers are such a natural part of our lives, but for people to whom computers are a bit mystical, these scams are easy to fall for.

I'm only a university student, but I remember when I was in grade school my father showed me a fax he got about a dangerous new virus making the rounds (the fax was obviously a hoax, itself a kind of worm in the sense of proliferating and by proliferating clogging communication lines). I knew immediately, even then, that this was a hoax, but not him-- because computers were not so natural to him. Same with this. It's pretty clear to us slashdotters that a man writing a letter to an arbitrary person offering them millions of dollars goes against (1) logic and (2) economics, but that is not true of all people.

Want more background?

[Cruciform]

More info on the Nigerian scam at Snopes.

I get these, but they are a little different

[silicon not in the v]

I get one of these about every other week. I might possibly get more, but I use a Yahoo mail account, which is great about finding and filtering out spam. The ones I get usually don't ask for me to send any fees to them. They probably don't because they would have to tell where to send it, and that would leave some trace to them. Instead, they ask me to provide my bank account number, so they can just wire me the money. Oh, goody! I don't have to send them anything; they're going to send me money first!

People falling for this kind of scam

[cra]

People falling for this kind of scam just confirms the fact that hydrogen and stupidity are the two most common elements. Not necessarily in the listed order I might add.

Re:And that's what smokin' pot will do for ya!

[ClioCJS]

... And the bogus conclusions were what?

That 1 in 9 smoke pot weekly? I went to the government section of the library and read that myself straight out of the NIDA national phone survey.

Incidentally, not everyone phoned by the government is willing to admit they smoke pot, so the actual number is likely much higher than 1 in 9.

Sex can kill you.
Marijuana can not kill you, toxicologically.

Someone will invariably say "What about the person who drives on it?". To which I would respond, "What about the person who drives while having sex?" [which also would be more dangerous].

Re:And that's what smokin' pot will do for ya!

[t0qer]

w00t that was awesome!

Did you ever take debate?

Re:And that's what smokin' pot will do for ya!

[ClioCJS]

Nope, but I've spent most my life arguing with whoever is in the same room as me.

I'm an asshole.

And I love it.