419ers Diversify Into Assassination Threats?

Richardsonke1 writes "Just when you thought 419ers couldn't get any worse, now they are sending death threats, according to a story at The Register. The emails require you to 'produce a mandatory sum of US$40,000.00 {FOURTHY THOUSAND UNITED STATES DOLLARS} only,into our account given below in nigeria within ninety six hours{96},alternatively you will be SNIPPED and GUNNED down during the period of our oncoming anniversary of fifty years.' All joking of 'snipping' aside, for those people who fall for regular 419 emails, this would terrify many gullible web users."

Comments

FBI

[herrvinny]

At least this should bring in the FBI. Death threats crossing state lines has to qualify as an FBI/Justice Department investigation. Perhaps even the State Department if the email was really sent from a Nigerian server.

Re:FBI

[ReelOddeeo]

At least this should bring in the FBI. Death threats crossing state lines has to qualify as an FBI/Justice Department investigation. Perhaps even the State Department if the email was really sent from a Nigerian server.


I think you have some serious and fundamental misunderstandings of the various departments and their functions.

The CIA: these are the spys. They gather information on terrorist threats outside of the country. Examples would include things outside our borders that threaten the profits of American corporations.

The FBI: they investigate crimes within the US that threaten the profits of American corporations. Examples would include arresting Russian software developers who give speeches that embarass American corporations.

The Secret Service: they raid and destroy game developers, go after counterfiters (again, profits) and protect the president (so he can protect the profits).


The Nigerian death threats do not fall within the above described charters. At present, these spams are not affecting the profits of American corporations, and thus not on anybody's radar.

Maybe they've gone to far...

[venicebeach]

Perhaps now that the scammers have crossed this line they will get the attention of law enforcement. Sending a death threat is illegal, is it not? I realize that scamming people out of money is also illegal, but in this case it seems like the initial email is already crossing the line...

Re:Maybe they've gone to far...

[Anonymous Coward]

im not sure where death threats stand, but certainly extortion is. which this is exactly it.

Crossing the Line

[Quirk]

This is a death threat. The State Dept. of the countries involved have a responsibility to protect its citizens. No matter how inept the method might be the threat stands and needs to be addressed.

Re:Crossing the Line

[freeze128]

This just proves that countries that don't have the resources to apprehend these scammers shouldn't even be allowed internet access.

If you can't play nicely, you don't get to play at all!

insanity.

[randyest]

Note : - Your death has been paid for by someone you offended sometime ago and it will be adviceable that you co-operate with us a.s.a.p.

TOWOGBOLA .A.JOHNSON SECRETARY.

Oh please. "Someone" from "sometime" ago. $40k to not kill me. Riight. I guess, as the article mentions, this might be a little scary if it's, say, you're first email ever. But c'mon -- some anonymous hotmail account which has never been linked to me gets such a threat, and I'm supposed to worry enough to send $40k to a stranger? They'd need to include at least some personal info (name, address, car make/model/color, what I'm wearing and doing right now, etc.) to make it scary.

I don't see how this can work as well as the "traditional" greed-exploiting 419 scam.

And, assuming the bank account info is legit, seems like the authorities could put the smack down on this silliness pretty quickly.

So when a mail like this hits Bush's email account

[Anonymous Coward]

So when a mail like this hits Bush's email account (taking in mind Dubya knows how to operate 'that Internet thing') , that would be a threat to him.
Would that finally let some agency take some serious actions against those scammers ?

Cynicism underrated

[Woogiemonger]

We should have a licensing program to use the internet. You should be required to answer a set of questions asking you about life in general. If the results say you think everyone is out to get you, then you are adequately prepared to use the internet.

these people are just dumb

[ErichTheWebGuy]

In the current international climate, why would anyone send out stuff that could be considered terrorism? Now, they actually stand a decent chance of being caught. Before, it was only a minor annoyance to international law enforcement. Now, the senders are far more likely to be caught and punished severely.

Not that there's anything wrong with that from our viewpoint though :)

I don't understand

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm confused. I don't follow email scams, but if these scammers want to make money they have to offer some valid place for fools to send their money. Shouldnt there be a trail leading back to the scammers? How else are they going to collect their money?

I don't see why these folks arent "out of business" already.

Account Info

[screwballicus]

The surprising thing is that this individual provided bank account info.

This leaves the scammer far less anonymity than he would normally seek to have.

Especially given that this was a death threat, revealing account info of the sender or an associate of the sender on the first email seems not only out of character for scammers (who are increasingly protective of personal details recently) but downright stupid.

My guess is the average American

[Anonymous Coward]

...is better armed than the average Nigerian.

Re:What happens....

[NeoSkandranon]

An extradition treaty..with Nigeria? Somehow I think not.

Re:Snipped ... and baited!

[Em Ellel]

It may be illegal, but for any sort of prosecution, someone must complain - and who will complain if that means they will go to jail?

-Em

Illegal *where*?

[billstewart]

If these scammers are really in Nigeria, then what matters most legally is whether Nigerian law counts emailing a death threat to some foreigner to be a violation of Nigerian law. What matters most in practice is whether you get caught, which depends on whether some police official there feels motivated to do the work to catch you. Under several recent Nigerian administrations, this is closely related to the probability that you've successfully scammed enough money from suckers to be worth hitting up for a piece of the action.

US law and US Executive Branch practice are hypocritical and schizophrenic. The US doesn't have any jurisdiction outside the US, and the Executive Branch has the policy that US laws don't apply to US government officials outside the US, but they might or might not apply to citizens, and if you do something overseas they don't like, they can kidnap you and haul you in, or confiscate your boat in the "war on drugs" or whatever.

The chances of getting realistic proactive police support from the US Feds are relatively low, but if you did actually lose money, it's possible that they'll help track down the bank, but they'll probably hit a dead end quickly. The more useful support would be something like telling their embassy that we're more pissed off about death threats than the usual scams against greedy people, or freezing US assets of Nigerian banks that don't cooperate in tracking down the miscreants, but I'm not optimistic.

Not Exactly

[blunte]

I'll bet a mere $10,000 would pay for a PI+hitman to take out the person threatening you. That's a huge savings, and it could be considered self defense.

So the list works more like this:

1) Send Death Threat Emails
2) ???
3) Die Die Die

Re:Not Exactly

[Anonymous Coward]

5 guys send you email saying "pay us $40k or we kill you" If you pay them $40k they don't kill you, or you can spend $50k killing all 5. There's no special math there, unless your brain is "special."

Re:What happens....

[Anonymous Coward]

Making a death threat on ANYBODY is illegal, not just a judge or agent. If you get e-mails like this, print them out, headers and all, and contact your local law enforcement until they get pissed off enough to deal with it.

This is great. This is something the police know how to deal with - death threats. This isn't some dodgy dumb scam now, this is something they can beat someone up over, and they like that.

Send Mariam Abacha these guys' bank account number

[billstewart]

Many of the old-fashioned 419 scammers want you to send them your bank account number so they can suck money out of it. These scammers give you a bank account number in Nigeria. It should be easy to glue the two together, such as by telling Mariam Abacha that you've got a bank account in Nigeria because your late uncle Fred was an engineer in the oil drilling business and he left it to you in care of Barrister Charles I Allen or Secretary Togowalla.

Plus you can send the assassins mail saying "My name is Laurent Kabila. You killed my Father. Prepare to die!" from whatever address the regular 419ers are using.

Re:YRO?

[Zeinfeld]

I'd say you have a right not to be threatened with assassination by scammers online.

So would the FBI, looks to me like the 419 gangs have passed way over the line here, if it can be verified.

The situation in Nigeria is that bad as the government is, the alternatives are worse. The religious fruitcakes in the north want to impose Sharia law first then massacre the Christian population or force them to convert. The current government was installed after a series of brutal military dictatorships.

The 419 gangs have murdered quite a few people over the years, but these were mostly people who had become embroiled in their schemes and thought they were helping with illegal money transfers.

Threatening murder is the type of crime that rates calling the ambassador for that country in to account and issuing an ultimatum.