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419er Lost in Space
rjp writes "The Register has what is probably the best 419 scam attempt ever! 419er's in space, if only! As always, check out 419 eater for more 419 goodness."
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A fool and his money are never together for long... or sth. like that...
... y Dios vio que Linux era bueno... Genesis 99.666
Gotta love these scams, wonder if anyone still falls for them, obviously it just takes one person. I'm sure more likely are the Ebay/Paypal and bank account phishing scams.
What the hell is "on the spoke"?
Thanks.
its the ISS thats the giant 419 scam..
"You lied to me! There is a Swansea!"
Reminds me of a time when someone sent me spam trying to sell me a warp core.
I wish I still had it in my archives.
Urgo: "I want to live. I want to experience the universe and I want to eat pie!"
Jack: "Who doesn't??"
Robot: Danger Will Robinson! If you fall for this, your cranial capacity is minuscule! Danger!
Dr. Smith: Shush, you blithering imbecile! Nobody could POSSIBLY fall for something so obviously fake!
"If we let things terrify us, life will not be worth living."
- Seneca
At this point, I have no sympathy for people who fall for this. Someone must have been smoking some really good stuff to come up with something this stupid.
What's a 419 scam? Does this refer to some obscure US penal code number? I've recieved the Nigerian money-laundering spam letters, and it's variants, but I've never heard of it referred to as a 419 scam.
Waidaminit! There never was a Soyuz T-16Z flight! The whole thing is bogus!!!
Wow !!! Thanks a lot for posting this . I am ready to volunteer. Finally ..... I will get the millions I deserve.
/.
Any one knows a Ferrari dealer around here ??? I just spent 100 bucks on a new optomagnetic mouse which cures AIDS and cancer (After all I will be getting millions soon)
Thanks again
The way these scams work is that if you send it to enough people, sooner or later somebody is going to buy into it no matter what and that is scary.
I just wonder how many people already have fallen for this one.
The Russian astronaut that's going to be stuck on the space station because of the Register's unfounded skepticism is going to be pissed.
If we send the money with the moon crash project, the astronaut might be able to pick them up when it passes by.
Apple built a platform for their ideas, Google built one for everyone's.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
I'm surprised that Nigeria actually has a space program - http://www.nasrda.gov.ng. Granted they don't have astronauts yet, but wow, impressive! I guess this is the first time I have actually learned something from 419 spam--or any spam for that matter!
Good job!
419-baiter baiter...?
In the free world the media isn't government run; the government is media run.
I wasn't trolling. I thought this referred to the US penal code and we were assumed to know what 419 meant. As it is, it referrs to the Nigerian penal code, and we're just supposed to know what 419 stands for. At least where I'm from (not the US nor Nigeria) we call it the "Nigerian letter scam" or "Nigerian scam", or sometimes just annother annoying spam.
not all Nigerian astronauts stuck on Soyuz are scammers you know.
(That's from "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress", and yes, that's Luna City as in the Moon colony...)
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
For those wondering what the heck a 419 Scam is, Wikipedia explains.
the JoshMeister on Security
20 minutes into the future
I received a message like this more than once. I think the sender is mentally disturbed, and not looking to make money.
Or, maybe the sender is a scam artist looking for mentally disturbed people.
On another optimistic note, his grasp of the Klingon language is quite vast.
Harpo Tunnel Syndrome--my wrist feels funny.
why the russian crew took the return cargo rather than the nigerian astronaut.
As hard as it is to believe, the 419 coalition takes a serious stance on those Nigerian scams. They claim that it is the third to fifth largest industry in Nigeria and suggests the government is actually involved. It seems to have been around since the early eighties.
Now if those scams were sent specifically to some rich blokes with the official Nigerian government's letterhead printed on top, I might understand their concern, but as it stands, it is so obviously a fraud that I can't help but think that those who swallow it, deserved it.
Alternatively, you could see it as one of the more original ways for a third-world country to reclaim some of the riches we stole from them.
It's interesting what levels this works on, either as satire, parody, or an honest scam. It's right on the edge, playing with all three...very creative.
:)
The poor schmuck is supposed to be a real live government-style astronaut, not a space tourist. But we have actual, real space tourists these days (of course, not many.) There are now people in space more or less continuously, and have been for some years...so many that even the average space fan may not be able to name the ISS crew on orbit for a given mission.
The space tourists paid US$20M apiece, so $3M is right in the ballpark, possibly in the minds of some, for an appreciable fraction of the cost of a Soyuz "rescue flight." (I am well aware that the total mission costs are many times $20M, but it's within an order of magnitude of a price people have heard of associated for space travel for just any person with the money.
"His place was taken up with return cargo." That's so SAD! Brave little guy, won't you help bring him home!
It's in common usage on parts of the net, and has been mentioned several times before on /. In fact, the origin is stated in the "what is 419?" link right at the top of one of the articles!! Anyone would think you'd been stuck on a secret Soviet military space station for 14 years or something.
Nigerian Astronaut wants to come home
... because it is not written in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS!!!!
Google cache
wrong reply level
Advance fee fraud, often also known as the Nigerian money transfer fraud, Nigeria scam or 419 scam after the relevant section of the Nigerian criminal code, is a fraudulent scheme to extract money from investors living in rich countries in Europe, Australasia, or North America. Although these confidence tricks originated in Nigeria, they have since become a worldwide criminal activity that is conservatively estimated to net billions of dollars a year. They have been ongoing since at least 1989, and are carried out through the mail, fax and increasingly through e-mail spam. Originally, the schemers contacted mainly heads of companies and church officials, but private citizens are routinely targeted as well.
Read more...
Dear Sir,
ASSISTANCE REQUIRED FOR ACQUISITION OF ESTATE
I write to inform you of my desire to acquire estates
or landed properties in your country on behalf of the
Director of Contracts and Finance Allocations of the
Federal Ministry of Works and Housing in Nigeria.
Considering his very strategic and influential
position, he would want the transaction to be as
strictly confidential as possible. He further wants
his identity to remain undisclosed at least for now,
until the completion of the transaction. Hence our
desire to have an overseas agent.
I have therefore been directed to inquire if you would
agree to act as our overseas agent in order to
actualize this transaction.
The deal, in brief, is that the funds with which we
intend to carry out our proposed investments in your
country is presently in a coded account at the
Nigerian Apex Bank (i.e. the Central Bank of Nigeria)
and we need your assistance to transfer the funds to
your country in a convenient bank account that will be
provided by you before we can put the funds into use in
your country. For this, you shall be
considered to have executed a contract for the Federal
Ministry of Works and Housing in Nigeria for which
payment should be effected to you by the Ministry, The
contract sum of which shall run into US$26.4 Million,
of which your share shall be 30% if you agree to be
our overseas agent.
As soon as payment is effected, and the amount
mentioned above is successfully transferred into your
account, we intend to use our own share in acquiring
some estates abroad. For this too you shall also serve
as our agent.
In the light of this, I would like you to forward to
me the following information:
1. Your company name and address if any
2. Your personal fax number
3. Your personal telephone number for easy
communication.
You are requested to communicate your acceptance of
this proposal through my above stated email address
after which we shall discuss in details the modalities
for seeing this transaction through.
Your quick response will be highly appreciated. Thank
you in anticipation of your cooperation.
Yours faithfully,
BIBI LUCKY.
no in all upper-case letters? Must be bogus!
IANANASASOD (I Am Not A NASA Scientist Or Doctor), but all the sci-fi and sci-non-fi I've read have mentioned muscle atrophy and bone density degeneration, even with the best diet and exercise programs we currently have for "zero-gravity" living. That's why these guys who set endurance records for being in space often meet the press in a wheelchair.
Of course, picking apart these letters for accuracy is sort of silly in its own right.
Start a happiness pandemic
For those of you not familiar, there are a number of web sites now that feature accounts of fed-up e-mail users messing with the 419 scammers. Here is one such result. Check out 419eater.
Wh47 d1d j00 541, 31337 15n't t3h r0xor5 ne m0r3???
20% of $15M is $3M which is what they're asking for so you'd only make money on the intrest between receiving the money and giving it back. Looks like a scam to me. I'd avoid it.
/sarcasm
at 10% interest, compounded monthly over 14 years, he'd have to be putting away $38,483/month after taxes to accumulate $14M.
The 419 folks also operate under disguise of lotteries. A few scammers apparently built their computer center in an old dusty NASA facility. Maybe they could help?
he'd be totally screwed, and probably unable to move (he'd absolutely be unable to stand).
The human body works best when exercised and used... use it or lose it. Ask any body-builder what happens when he stops lifting; his muscles will lose their strength-training-induced hypertrophy, and he'll get smaller. Zero gravity studies on returning astronauts have shown very rapid bone loss and strength loss... 14 years in orbit would render him unable to stand up... it would probably be a herculean effort to even lift his head. His bones might be so weak by that point that simple gravity could leave him with multiple fractures.
Think it can't happen? It happens all the time in elderly ladies with osteoporosis... and these are people who live in normal gravity (9.8m/s/s). I can't tell you the number of elderly patients I've had with rib fractures from a simple coughing fit... or spinal compression fractures from sitting down too hard in a chair.
14 years in zero g? He'd be weak as a kitten, and probably break half his bones simply from gravity.
Even if a man chops off your hand with a sword, you still have two nice, sharp bones to stick in his eyes.
The English in that email looks too good to me (albeit not perfect). Hence it must be a fake scam! Fake scams... the new human invention of 2004!
a fool and his money soon has many friends.
Looks like someone sent them the money, because they are going to bring Mike home.... FAQ
--WooooHoooo--
Remember, it's only three days to 4/20. Time for some 420 goodness.
No it's just people here on slashdot who do not understand. You and me are going to get rich!!
... is the thought that the Russian space agency even has $15M to spend on "back pay".
The Mongrel Dogs Who Teach
Is if instead of Nigerian Astronaut, Air Force Major Abacha Tunde, being the one stuck in space, it was Darl McBride.
Transporter
I'm going to be wearing a hockey mask when I go off on everyone...
Possibly there's a 420 involved too..
(if you don't get it: http://www.snopes.com/language/stories/420.htm)
"It's too bad that stupidity isn't painful." - Anton LaVey
Message No. 419 by MC Frontalot
Because he would be dead after returning to Earth while adapting to gravity.
Subject: Middle Eastern Terrorists must be brought to justics. President of the United States of America Oval Office, White House 1600 Penn. Ave. Washington D.C. USA Dear Mr. Sir, REQUEST FOR ASSISTANCE-STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL I am George W Bush, the President of the United States, and arch nemisis of Saddam Husein. He was the most feared and hated leader in the middle east. We have now learned that he has resently been purchasing materials needed to build weapons of mass destruction. I feel that he needs to be removed from office. In the 20+ years since he has been in power, he has made himself secure, but we feel that for $ 87,000,000,000 American Dollars, we can remove him quickly, with minimal impact on civilian life. We need you assistance in this measure. I am told that because of certain laws, we cannot withdraw that amout without the approval and consent of the tax payers. I am asking for you to take 30-60% of your income, and send it to me by April 15, 2004. Consequently, my colleagues and I are willing to transfer the total amount of $500 per tax payer to your account or subsequent disbursement, since we as civil servants are prohibited by the Code of Conduct Bureau (Civil Service Laws) from opening and/ or operating accounts in our names. Needless to say, the trust reposed on you at this juncture is enormous. In return, we have agreed to pull out of Iraq before June 30. All the funds not used will be reimbursed. Kindly expedite action as we are behind schedule to enable us include downpayment in this financial quarter. Please acknowledge the receipt of this message via my direct number 001 (0) 888-111-1234 only. Yours Sincerely, President George W. Bush President, Chief Executive gboy@whitehouse.gov also gpimp@whitehouse.com
because most of us haven't heard of it until now.
"And there be unix which have made themselves unix for the kingdom of heaven's sake." - Matt. 19:12
Search for 419 on Google, you lazy slug.
Patrick Doyle
I mod down every jackass who puts his moderation policy in his sig. Oh, wait a sec....
Holy shizoli, if anyone actually belives this story, I got oceanfront property on the moon for ya, real cheap...
I highly encourage anyone who needs alaughtot checkout the 419 eater website referenced in the news clip.
They got this scammer to pose with a loaf of bread on his head and mail them a photo!
And this scammer actually spent $21.50 to mail this guy a $20 USD bill!
Just browse the trophy room and then read teh entire message.
I only came here to do two things; kick some ass, and drink some beer...looks like we're almost out of beer.
...if I guy had been stuck in orbit for a decade, he'd have lost so much bone and muscle mass that bringing him home suddenly would be a death sentence.
I have something in common with Stephen Hawking...
Dear slashdotters,
My name is mark, and according to what I was told 40 years ago, I'd be on the wheel-shaped space station several years ago. Since I am out of work in the Bush Depression, I am asking for donations to take myself and my SO to the ISS by Russian launch vehicle (since I don't know how to contact the facility that launched Pitr of UserFriendly...).
This, of course, will require $40M US, and so it is imperative that you contact me soon, with whatever size donation you can afford.
If you are a conservative, you get the extra benefit of two left-wingers leaving the planet, while for liberals, we can make this an issue that we can't spend the money to do this in our own country, but have to offshore it.
I look forward to hearing from you, Dear Friends and Donors.
mark
...if we could send all the Nigerian spammers into space, wouldn't that be great?
I want to go home. Please help me out and stop making fun of my situation.
Abacha Tunde
It was the dot-com boom! Oh, wait.....parted....
Previous posters pointed out that in zero G your muscles and bones weaken, this came to my mind: You know that William Gibson story: Red Star, Winter Orbit? It's in the Burning Chrome book by the way. Anyway, in this story there's an old Soviet kosmonaut who can't go back to Earth from the MIR because he spent too much time in zero G. So open up those bank accounts to help this poor Nigerian come home! :)