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Sydney 419 Scammer Jailed
kjots writes "The ABC is reporting that the Sydney District Court has sentenced a disability pensioner to more than five years in jail for his part behind a Nigerian email scam. One down ..."
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How come when they finally get busted, it's not the stereotypical sleazeball you hope for? Life would be easy if it were 1 dimensional. Oh well, still good to see crime being punished.
How disabled? If he's one of those "disabled" people that you see up on the roof fixing tiles despite a "bad back", then this is no huge surprise. If we're talking wheelchair then I officially lament how times have changed. It used to be that wheelchair-bound geeks ran the local BBS.
Asking them to give you money through Paypal is a bad idea. These people have a buttload of stolen credit cards and that's what they will use. Ultimately all (or almost all) of it will be charged back by the card owners and removed from your account by Paypal's fraud department.
Don't do it. It would only result in more grief for everyone involved.
Presumably he's already spent some time in jail while he was awaiting trial.
He has been in jail since October 2003 (according to The Register). If there is a significant risk that an alleged criminal will flee the country, then it is standard practice to deny bail. Someone who claims to have "African Brothers" throughout the world who will help him flee probably fits this description.
There is more information here.
Behold, the gap between "should be" and "is".
Are people not taught common sense and critical thinking skills?
Just for the heck, I'm going to take that rhetorical question as an actual inquiry.
On the count of "common sense", presumably such a thing isn't taught anywhere. It's supposed to be innate, right? And while "common sense" may tell you there is no chance you've won an overseas lottery that you've never entered, don't underestimate the power of greed and wishful thinking, which tend to be more common and more motivating than "common sense".
On the count of "critical thinking skills", my experience is that the local university teaches a 100-level philosophy unit on the subject, but I've yet to find it anywhere outside a philosophy department. I think most educators erroneously assume that it's a part of "common sense". Admittedly it is, to some extent, but the average person will readily fall for certain logical fallacies (both formal and informal) without additional training in critical thinking.
As a matter of idle curiosity, what is it about 419 scams that makes you think the victims need better critical thinking skills? Does the typical 419 scam contain subtle sophistries? I'd have said they mostly contain whopping great lies, a liberal dose of appeal-to-greed, and perhaps a little garnish of emotionalism so that the victim's conscience may take refuge in the fact that they're actually helping a poor benighted widow, not slavering like a loon at the prospect of riches beyond the dreams of avarice. On the other hand, I suppose that a good (general) course in critical thinking would include learning to identify such rhetorical devices.
How many credit cards do you reckon they have with a $2.5 million credit limit?
....while I've certainly read about people elsewhere that are suckered too, I think it really fits well to the american mindset. What mindset? The dream to make it big. Real big. The american dream and all that. Like "The apprentice" and Donald Trump.
Many people realize that they aren't going to be the next Bill Gates, but they still dream. So they play on the lottery and hope that one day their dream will be fulfilled. Along comes this email promising the riches you desire.
Of course people aren't convinced at once, but they become convinced through smooth words. Why? Because they want to believe. They want to believe that their luck has changed, that they will become rich, and that everything is true. There is no critical thinking because they've already accepted the premise - that their luck has changed - and thus this offer must be real. Flawed logic at its best.
Once you live that lie, you're caught. Your life stops revolving around what is real and starts revolving around what it will be. Not what might be, what will be. And you just have to get there, do what it takes to get there. Once you do, everything will be so great that any sacrifice you make along the way doesn't matter. And so people sell all they have and believe.
When you're first on that path, it is as if you're falling and the prize is there at the bottom to catch you. You can dismiss all your friends, family, bank manager, lawyers and even the police. You will believe any lie of how getting to the prize is harder, and how they need more money. But you can't accept that there is no prize.
It is quite simply circular reasoning - because there's a price at the bottom, you're going after it - and because you're going after it, the price must be there. Most people can't see a cirular argument if it kicked their butt. (Example: God created Nature, hence Nature exists. Nature is a divine creation, hence God exists.)
Kjella
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
"Anyone who falls for this deserves to be stripped of all assets."
Bullshit. This post is another glaring example of ignorance and insensitivity.
Quite frequently, scam targets and victims are the elderly, often poor in a relative sense, sometimes desperate and lonely. They fall for the scam not out of greed, but out of need.
Sure, many victims are in fact victims of their own greed, but to paint all with the same brush is absurd and just plain wrong.
Ignorance is curable, stupid is forever.
I love that game. Fun to play, easy to win.
Sysadmins need to be given legal authority to throw people in jail.
Hmm. Maybe not.
Assume I was drunk when I posted this.