Microsoft Helping Nigeria Fight Scammers

encodics writes "News.com is carrying a story today about how Nigeria is asking Microsoft for help in fighting scammers." From the article: "Microsoft will provide technical expertise, training and other security resources to Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which is tasked with fighting cybercrime in the country. Nigeria was initially slow to respond to the problem of '419' e-mail scammers operating in the country, who were duping unsuspecting Internet users out of thousands of pounds by promising a share of the secret multimillion-pound fortune of a deposed African dictator. "

Comments

This just in - Copy of letter sent to Bill Gates

[coastin]

Allow me to introduce myself. I am Matubu Huntu Smith, my father was the head of "Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission" until his untimely death. I am writing to implore you to assist me getting a large sum of money out of my country. We will need much security help to accomplish this and I am repaired to compensate you at a rate of 52% of the nearly twenty two million dollars my father was able to secure before his death.....

DIR SIR OR MADAM (someone had to do it)

[Humba]

Chairman tender
Board of nigerian
National petroleum
Coporation (n.n.p.c)
Tel:+234-80-33013920
Fax:+234-1-7597156

Dear:sir/madam,

I guess this letter may come to you as a surprise since i had no
Previous Correspondence with you. I am the chairman tender board of nigeria National Petroleum coporation (nnpc) i got your contact in the course of my Search For a reliable person with whom to handle a very confidential Transaction Involving the transfer of fund valued eight million two hundred Thousand United states dollars ($8.2m) to a safe foreign account.

The above fund in question is not connected with arms, drugs or money
Laundering. It is the product of over invoice on contract awarded in
2005 by nnpc, to Microsoft for providing technical expertise, training and other security resources to Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which is tasked with fighting cybercrime in the country. The
Contract has long been executed and payment of the actual contract
Amount Made to the foreign contractor leaving the balance of $8.2m u.s
Dollars in A dormant account which my colleagues and i now want to transfer out of Nigeria into a reliable foreign account for our personal use.

--H

Re:DIR SIR OR MADAM (someone had to do it)

[k3s]

Must see Fox Trot on point Nigerian Scam

Re:DIR SIR OR MADAM (someone had to do it)

[bergeron76]

*chuckles*

Heh - I as a representative of an, uhm, heh *chuckles*, very significant [hand gestures] country. I'm _very_ willing to, uhm, "work something out" with your underprivileged land, err - heh, I mean that, my constituent [Microsoft, Inc.] and I are willing to "faithfully" interpret your country's proposal.

[puppetmaster Rove gestures secret service here]

I thank you for this opportunity/meeting and "only our evangelical God Bless" the USA!

(translation: my fat-cat papa got me this jeorb!)

Pounds?!?

[Anonymous Coward]

I wouldn't mind losing a few pounds myself... beats working out...

Re:Pounds?!?

[VJ42]

Yes, you know, these: £££.

Re:Pounds?!?

[Anonymous Coward]

What have French cursive L's got to do with it?

How many have fallen for these scams?

[TomRC]

How many people have actually fallen for these scams? Are there statistics?

Re:How many have fallen for these scams?

[gunpowda]

An excellent question. This information is available on my MEGA MASTER MILLION NIGERIAN EMAIL SCAM STATISTICS PAGE to which I will offer FREE ACCESS to for a limited time only if you send USD 50 to the following address...

Re:How many have fallen for these scams?

[neologee]

Check this out.
I recall reports of wealthy buisnessmen held in Nigeria by hostage takers.
I don't have the link on me.

Re:How many have fallen for these scams?

[Rinnt]

Anyone remember how a diplomat was murdered over these scams?

Re:How many have fallen for these scams?

[Anonymous Coward]

from The Ethics of Scambaiting

Numerous victims of scammers have committed suicide or been murdered due to these scams. One particularly nasty type of scam involves getting a victim to travel to the scammers country, usually Nigeria, South Africa or to Amsterdam, with large amounts of cash to 'finalize the transaction'. The victim is then kidnapped, often beaten and tortured and sometimes killed.

This is not a rare event. It has happened numerous times. At the time of writing this FAQ the latest known victim was a 29 year old Greek man, George Makronalli, who traveled to South Africa as part of a 419 scam. He was then kidnapped and killed when his family refused to pay the ransom. A day later, police found George's body in Durban. Both his legs and arms were broken and he had been set alight - probably while he was still alive.

Whaddya mean, thousands?

[SysKoll]

thousands of pounds by promising a share of the secret multimillion-pound fortune of a deposed African dictator.

Thousands? Only thousands? What a rip-off. My deposed dictator offered me $350 millions for only $500 of participation.

Re:Whaddya mean, thousands?

[bergeron76]

It's kind of like when they bought Macromedia for the "Flash" component, while subvertly covering the real purchase - Dreamweaver.

If you control the source of creation like, oh say, Dreamweaver - which the _vast_ majority of designers/coders/programmers use, you can control the outcome (regardless of it's "standards" compliance).

Your users are none-the-wiser because they just want pages that look right.

This is the same-old scenario, just in a different form. Scare your users senseless, and then "protect" them from your FUD.

It's everywhere in life - you either read it blindly, or you educate yourself about the issue and turn this world into something corruption-free.

//High-Fives Coastin and Humba !!

[kulakovich]

Damn I was too slow. I thought I had it all.

ok, blast me now for off topic so I can go home.

kulakovich

Isn't that a bit like

[Anonymous Coward]

asking McDonalds to solve a food shortage problem in Africa.

Re:Isn't that a bit like

[bigtrike]

That's not such a bad idea actually. Most McDonald's foods have a very high calorie/weight and calorie/volume ratio. While producing meat is not extremely efficient energy wise, the shipping would be much cheaper. McDonald's also has years of experience in distributing food as cheaply as possible. It would only take a couple of menu items to provide sustenance. The average value meal contains more calories than the average Cuban eats in a day, and Cuba isn't anywhere near as bad off as most parts of Africa.

Re:Isn't that a bit like

[ehiris]

No, this is almost like asking SPAM to solve the food shortage in Africa.

Re:Isn't that a bit like

[Gordonjcp]

While producing meat is not extremely efficient energy wise

I don't know, it seems pretty energy efficient to me.

1. Get cow
2. Put cow in rough pasture
3. Wait until cow is bigger
4. Profit!

Of course if you do stupid stuff like pump cows full of drugs so they can digest whole grain (hint - they're ruminants, they're good at foliage, not cereals) then I suppose it is less efficient.

Re:Isn't that a bit like

[karnal]

You forgot the part about needing a chainsaw.

You know. To kill the cow.

Re:Isn't that a bit like

[operagost]

Actually, they use bolt guns for that.

Re:Isn't that a bit like

[Xugumad]

Not to mention deforestation so they have somewhere to put cows. Y'know, until the ground becomes unusable because it no longer has forest to protect it from the weather.

The big efficiency issue with cows, however, is people putting them on land that would be fine for growing more or less anything directly consumable by humans, which happens a lot more due to the increased demand for meat, because everyone seems to have this belief it's a good idea to eat lots of it. Actual recommended daily intake of meat is 5-7 ounces/140-200 grams.

So, right, yeah, had a point. Cattle aren't efficient if used where vegatables/fruit could be grown, and eating less wouldn't do you us any harm.

Re:Isn't that a bit like

[Xarius]

Yeah, McDonalds sent the Africans 100,000 straws with the food.

The Africans sent a letter back saying "thanks for the leg warmers!"

*runs away*

Re:Isn't that a bit like

[zippthorne]

Yeah recommended by a government organization.

Many of the "drink-the-coolaid" cults we are so fond of ridiculing use protein deprivation to make their victims more suggestible. The all-grain diet has certain advantages. So if you know that reducing protein consumption turns populations into sheep, would you as a responsible arm of the ruling elite suggest a level that was appropriate? or a level that satisfies more aims than just health.

I agree on the first point: cattle are not very land efficient*, but the jury's still out on the second.

*but McDonald's is very cattle efficient. You could eat three whoppers and still fall under the 7 oz limit, and what percentage of the cow gets rejected from fast-food-burger patty production?

Re:Isn't that a bit like

[Gordonjcp]

Yes, but there are lots of bits of the world where you *can't* grow crops. Most of North-West Scotland (where I live), for example. It's too hilly and wet. About all that does grow is heather and tough grass, which humans - not being ruminants - can't eat. Cows and sheep can, though. A cow is a really good way of making heather and grass edible.

Nigeria's a nice country ...

[FreeUser]

Nigeria is a nice country. Be a shame if anything happened to it.

Fox, meet henhouse. Keep an eye on it, will ya?

- Bill

MS providing scammers free copies of MS Money

[Anonymous Coward]

In hopes that they will use it, significantly slowing down their ability to manage their ill-gotten gains.

Re:MS providing scammers free copies of MS Money

[Anonymous Coward]

ROFL, that is the funniest thing I have read all week.

Dear Mr. Gates

[Red Flayer]

I am writing to acquire your assistance in recovering significant assets I have inherited from my uncle. Due to a recent coup, the funds are being held up by a bunch of internet scammers.

I am willing to pay you $50 million dollars to help me liberate these assets, please provide your banking information so I can wire you the funds.

Sincerely, Prince Babitobe Famisippi Olemeade

Helping...

[b1gk1tty]

Doesn't seem to me that Nigeria needs help from M$ to scam Americans... Although MS has been doing it a lot longer...

why microsoft?

[Anonymous Coward]

They should enlist the swiss instead of microsoft to help these poor nigerian princes manage their money better.

Correct me if I'm wrong but...

[Anonymous Coward]

Those unsuspecting internet users were basically robbed while attempting to commit a crime, were they not?

Everyone who got dupped should be procecuted for thier crimes not smothered with pity.

Re:Correct me if I'm wrong but...

[Anonymous Coward]

Those unsuspecting internet users were basically robbed while attempting to commit a crime, were they not?

Everyone who got dupped should be procecuted for thier crimes not smothered with pity.


Exactly. The people that responded were hoping to get some of that ill-gotten wealth for themselves. No one that is truly honest will fall for a 419 scam. I admit, the victims were never going to see a dime of the money they were promised but there should be some type of punishment for them. They went into the deal knowing if it went through, they would be scamming the Nigerian government, International financial institutions and the people of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (whom the politicans stole the money from in the first place).

The victims do not deserve our sympathy, they should be laughed at and thrown in jail!!

Re:Correct me if I'm wrong but...

[hcob$]

I personally believe that calling someone a "419" should now be as commonplace as moron, idiot, mouth-breather, imbicile, fucktard, speedy, stupid, or pedro.

pedro?

yep, pedro... (sorry, had a varsity blues moment there).

Oh, and they should be fined an amount equivalent to the rest of their bank account.

Re:Correct me if I'm wrong but...

[Anonymous Coward]

actually, that's not always the case. Some of the scams are "you've won the lottery", "please help us build a church", "please help the hurricane victims", "we have to sell and will need fees for the contracts up front", etc etc. Just depends on the modality that the lad uses.

Re:Correct me if I'm wrong but...

[Anonymous Coward]

Those unsuspecting internet users were basically robbed while attempting to commit a crime, were they not?

Everyone who got dupped should be procecuted for thier crimes not smothered with pity.

Many victims were not attempting to commit a crime.

from The Ethics of Scambaiting

Many of the early letters did state either that person x (usually a foreign national) had died without relatives and the corrupt government would confiscate this money if person Y (the victim) doesn't impersonate a relative to claim the money. Another variation was that the money had been obtained by over-invoicing oil contracts and they needed help to sneak it out of the country. But usually these letters had a disclaimer to the effect of, "This is a completely legitimate transaction. It will be carried out legally, and you will be protected from any breach of the law." This was to reassure more honest victims that everything was above board and legal.

Now letters come in hundreds of different formats - just check out the Surplus Letters Forum! There are the well-known next-of-kin letters, the orphan scams, repentant dying sinner needs help giving fortune away to charity, tsunami victim donation appeals, fake cheque scams, wash-wash, anti-scam scams (been a victim of 419 crime? We'll get your money back for you - at a price!) and more.

Good, well-meaning people get tricked. Consider this woman:

From: XXX XXX Jennings
To: Amanda Fairheart-Smythe
Date: Tue, 7 Dec 2004 12:09:16 -0600 (Central Standard Time)

Dear Amanda Fairheart-Smythe,

I wish I had received this email over 3 years ago. This man has stolen all that I had saved and money that I borrowed. I heard from his Mother (?) telling me a sad story that she was dying from Aids and wanted me to take her children as my own when she died. She had set up an Inheritance account and put it in my name. How stupid could I have been? What I sent was to cover legal fees, legal documents, etc... The money was never sent here. I have heard in the last couple of days from the bank and have found out that Kwesi Bandermann and others are thieves. Why did it take over 3 years to find this out? I would never put your informants life in danger. My life is in danger now as well as my family. I have received threats this week. I am so afraid now and don't know what to do. How did you know that Kwesi Bandermann was expected to arrive here by plane? He did not arrive and I pray to God he doesn't. How did you get this email address? Only 2 people had it. It was Mr. Richard Meddings and Kwesi Bandermann. I can tell you the whole story if you need it.

Sincerely,
XXX XXX Jennings

All she wanted to do was adopt some children whose mother had died of AIDS. She was scammed over 3 years and lost vast amounts of money. Greedy? I don't think so.

Also consider the vast number charity scams. Less than 2 days after the tsunami killed over 200,000 people in Asia on Boxing Day 2004, scam letters were being circulated. People responded to these not because they were greedy but because they were generous and wanted to help those in trouble

where to apply???

[GillBates0]

a share of the secret multimillion-pound fortune of a deposed African dictator.

where can i apply for my share in tihs secret fortune?? it sounds superk00l!! FREE GMAIL invites to all teh PEEPZ who answer my q!!!111!!1

Dictator?

[Otonotachibana]

Dictator? She told me she was an african princess! I feel so used...

Re:Dictator?

[ChocoBean]

at least all you lost was money, right?

RIGHT???!!!

scam?? I call this American TV

[0110011001110101]

duping unsuspecting Internet users out of thousands of pounds

Here in America we call this "The Biggest Loser", and the producers of this show are raking it in!! People are losing pounds left and right without the Sultan of UmmPapaMowMow...

Re:scam?? I call this American TV

[Anonymous Coward]

is that a Jon Wayne reference?

Re:scam?? I call this American TV

[0110011001110101]

no, Elaine's boss from Seinfeld. But maybe originally.. am I missing an obvious joke or is this a serious question?

$500? "It's a total rip-off"

[benhocking]

http://www.msnbc.com/comics/daily.asp?sFile=ft0510 14

Disclaimer: MSNBC is a joint project with Microsoft or some such nonsense.

Crazy foreign spam!

[Morgalyn]

I recently got my first Nigerian scam emails ever in my GMail account recently. I saved it, because it amused me. How it managed to get there is unamusing, but at least it was autofiltered to spam.

On the topic of amusing spam, has anyone ever gotten Hare Krishna spam? I did, once. I actually did some Google'rch to figure out what the hell it was. I kept it, too, because it makes me happy (coincidentally) for no apparent reason:

From: Neateye Reply-To: Neateye To: --------------------- Date: May 6, 2005 2:13 AM Subject: Gouranga Call out Gouranga be happy!!! Gouranga Gouranga Gouranga .... That which brings the highest happiness!!

Re:Crazy foreign spam!

[Morgalyn]

GAHHH! I hit submit instead of preview. Here's a fixed format on that email, SORRY EVERYONE. On an unrelated note, anyone have any idea why the pre tag isn't allowable HTML for comments?

From: Neateye
Reply-To: Neateye
To: ---
Date: May 6, 2005 2:13 AM
Subject: Gouranga

Call out Gouranga be happy!!!
Gouranga Gouranga Gouranga ....
That which brings the highest happiness!!

Re:Crazy foreign spam!

[hcob$]

Yeah, I got that once... Funny, the only time I'd ever seen it was in my GMail acount.

Oh sheesh!

[maynard]

You mean I'm not going to get my reward after all!?!? *smacks forehead*

Oh no!

[porcupine8]

Does this mean they'll have to forfeit their Ig Nobel?

Re:Oh no!

[ethx1]

Does this mean they'll have to forfeit their Ig Nobel?

My goodness, the two aren't even remotely related. The poor country finally has some good press and you come and associate it with the scammers. Tsk, tsk!

What about the money?

[Poromenos1]

Where does the money they confiscate from them go? Isn't it enough to buy the technology to fight them?

The REAL letter...

[kulakovich]

1835 73rd Ave NE
Medina, WA 98039
USA


Dear President Obasanjo,

My name is WILLIAM HENRY GATES III, and I am President of the Microsoft Corporation...

Dear Prince Olemeade

[Anonymous Writer]

I am writing to acquire your assistance in recovering significant assets I have acquired from monopolistic business practices. Due to a recent antitrust lawsuit settlement, the funds are being held up by a bunch of government lawyers.

I am willing to pay you $50 million dollars to help me liberate these assets, please provide your banking information so I can wire you the funds.

Sincerely, Bill Gates

Statistics for 1997-2005

[ianscot]

From the National Internet Fraud Watch site, here are some:

Internet Fraud Statistics from 1997 through the first half of 2005

According to those Nigerian money scams were 8% of the total, with an average of two-and-a-half grand lost per victim, in 2004.

(I can't say this group isn't overstating the problem to boost its own importance, but those are stats, anyway.)

Well look at the bright side...

[Yonder Way]

Nigeria was initially slow to respond to the problem of '419' e-mail scammers operating in the country, who were duping unsuspecting Internet users out of thousands of pounds by promising a share of the secret multimillion-pound fortune of a deposed African dictator.

At least they are combating the obesity epidemic.

Re:Well look at the bright side...

[Wilson_6500]

OK, why Insightful? They mean pound as in bling. This is funny if anything.

After all, I sure as hell wouldn't want a share of some dictator's multimillion pound fortune if it were pounds of human flesh or something.

Check out today's Foxtrot

[pmike_bauer]

On a related note check out today's foxtrot comic.

Letter to nigerians from M$

[Anonymous Coward]

Dear Nigerian Scammers,

It has come to our attention that you are using Linux machines to send emails to all your "investors". You may or may not have heard, but Linux is completely unstable and prone to frequent crashing, bad drivers, and general malaise. I would like to propose an initial offering of 100 copies of our much superior OS. If you can provide your bank account routing numbers, we would be happy to draft your account for each copy of the OS, as well as each time we need to upgrade it, to thawrt off those pesky viruses (Linux does not do this for you, but instead requires lengthy downloads and pesky manual installations). Once in place, your nigerian scam emails will be sent out blazingly faster, and we will share 52% of the earnings this creates with you (over 100 BILLION dollars from our tests). Please do not google for BSOD, M$ sucks, or anything similar, as it will impede our ability to help you out with this offer.

Yours truly,

Bill

Nigeria should be careful

[bogaboga]

Nigeria should tread carefully with Microsoft. Otherwise, they (Nigerians) will be locked into Microsoft's proprietary hold - for good!

On the other hand, I suppose if Nigeria wanted to fight these scammers, they would have used a fraction of their oil profits to hire some OSS developers who I strongly believe, would deliver strong software and technical advice to fight these scammers.

Re:Nigeria should be careful

[Anonymous Coward]

On the other hand, I suppose if Nigeria wanted to fight these scammers, they would have used a fraction of their oil profits to hire some OSS developers who I strongly believe, would deliver strong software and technical advice to fight these scammers.

In Nigeria, OSS is fairly non existent. It's pirated MS software from Asian countries (not placing blame on anyone here) that floods the marketplace. Think about it, everyone in the world has heard of Microsoft and Bill Gates, the richest man in the world but honestly ask your non geek friends if they have heard of Linus Torvalds. Or how about Eric S. Raymond, or Richard Stallman. It's the same out there. They have heard of Microsoft but that's it.

Re:Nigeria should be careful

[$raim_n_reezn!]

Actually, for a long time until around '97, most banks or places that could afford it i.e. universities were using mainframes or in the case of colleges unix systems. With windows 95 all that started changing. NT4 especially turned things in Microsofts favour as it was easy like you said to procure illegal copies of said software. Now the only guys who use Linux are hobbyists or techies that are interested in such stuff of which there are only a very few amount of them. Some companies and banks run such systems at their backend but all desktop stuff is primarily windows. If there was an enforcement of the no piracy thing. Nigerians I can assure you would be the first to go OSS because 'awoof' pronounced ah-woof (free as in beer) is what most nigerians desire considering they have to save money for the essentials of life.

Re:Nigeria should be careful

[Anonymous Coward]

Ah!! A fellow Naija man. ;)

As I read the rhythm & lyrics jumped into my h

[Quirk]

"Microsoft will provide technical expertise, training and other security resources to Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which is tasked with fighting cybercrime in the country"

Microsoft security resources and 419 email scammers go together.

Try, try, try to separate them
It's an illusion
Try, try, try, and you will only come
To this conclusion

Love and marriage, 419 scammers and MS security
Go together like a horse and carriage ...

Let's do this right...

[pieterh]

To the CHAIRMAN of MICROSOFT CORPORATION

Dear MR or MISS CHAIRMAN,

I am OLUSEGUN OBASANJO, the current president of Nigeria, a country in West Africa. I have been referred
to you after Conducting Enquiries, and I hope you treat this contact as a sincere and confidential message
from a friend. Contacts through the Internet have become difficult, with many scammers and tricky boys.

It recently came to my notice that my predecessor, General SANI ABACHA, who is still in good heart and
health, despite my daily visits to the leopard fetish, left a large number of TOP QUALITY SCAMMERS alive
and well in the country of Nigeria, especially concentrated in two regions: Lagos, and Port Harcourt,
thanks to the presence of many internet cafes in those regions.

These scammers, also known as "419 boyos", present me, and my present regime, with a problem. We cannot
ship them out of the country legally, since the very presence of such a mass of scammers in any single
plane or aiport lounge would cause the substance and material of the local internet to collapse, not
to mention the local economy, which would surely be drained of all resources as the boyos did their work.

I am actually contacting you because I have understood that Microsoft has certain problems that we may
be able to resolve in a beneficial fashion.

My Minister for International Relations, Dr Shine-Shine BOBO, has overseen a series of tests. We have
compared the top-rated business development consultants from the USA, India, the UK (London), and the
Chinese Economic Development Zone. We found that the average time taken to sell a new license of Windows
VISTA to the average ITC manager was between two hours and five days, according to the economic incentives
offered, the availability of compromising photos of the aforementioned manager, and the presence or not of
on-site "sales assistants", most of whom previously worked as security personnel for Russian businessmen.

Next, Dr BOBO tested the skills of a group of 419 boyos, captured in a lighting raid by the Special
Business Improvement Task Force (Armed) last July in Benin city. We gave them the choice of selling
VISTA or being tortured with chili peppers (this has worked very well for tax collection, and the
Ministry of Finance has now a special Pepper Insertion unit, responsible for a 30% increase in tax
revenues since 2003!). Most chose VISTA, and the results were impressive!

Not only did 80% of managers agree to buy VISTA within 1.5 hours (as compared to 30% after three hours,
and 60% after two days), but these managers also agreed to pay an average of $150,000 per licensed seat.

Dear MR slash MISS CHAIRMAN. I do not need to mention that with virtual licensing, this could raise
as much as $600,000 per computer.

We are willing to provide you with our best 419 boyos in exchange for only 10% of this new and
exciting revenue stream.

Please contact me rapidly, my email address is obasanjo_olegun_the_second@gmail.com. If you are
serious in your intentions, I will invite you to Abuja to meet my wives.

BEST REGARDS

O. OBASANJO

The trouble with these scams is...

[pmike_bauer]

These scams apparently work, otherwise they would be dead by now. The sad thing is that anyone in the West would be so greedy as to help some stranger transfer millions of dollars out of a cash-poor country such as Nigeria or Uganda.

Re:The trouble with these scams is...

[i_should_be_working]

Interesting. I never thought about it that way. Puts the victims in a new light. And if someone were trying to funnel millions out of Germany or France the recipient of the email would probably call the authorities.

I also like how these scams take advantage of peoples' amazing ignorance of current events in African countries.

Re:The trouble with these scams is...

[Anonymous Coward]

...The sad thing is that anyone in the West would be so greedy

Uhm, isn't that the definition of "the West" -- greed?

Scambait: 419eater.com

[digitaldc]

http://419eater.com/

Has info about scambaiters, kind of a funny effort. But the question must be asked, do 2 wrongs make a right?
article links from last year:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3887493.st m
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/07/13/164 2255&tid=133&tid=111

Re:This just in - Copy of letter sent to Bill Gate

[east coast]

About as easily as posts I've had have been modded "overrated" even tho they were never modded. Oh well, I guess we have to accept it for what it is and hope that the meta-modders beat this type of abuse down...

Oh! That's right! We can't meta-mod an over or underrated post! I'm sure that loophole in mod abuse will be fixed real soon.

huh?

[Anonymous Coward]

I work for the Microsoft.

So I am really getting a kick out of most of these replies.

Some of you guys are very good at making it sound like you know what you are talking about.

But trust me.... You don't.

I think you just want to make yourself sound smart, when in reality you dont know what you are talking about.

This is how bad info gets passed around.

If you dont know about the topic....Dont make yourself sound like you do.

Cuz some /.'ers belive anything they hear.

Re:huh?

[Reliant-1864]

What's funny is you can post this to any article on Microsoft, and it will be fully accurate and modded up as insightful. You can also replace Microsoft with something on topic in the article, and you have a reply that works anywhere

Re:huh?

[swimmar132]

I see you work for the Microsoft. How's work at the Microsoft? Are you enjoying being part of the Microsoft?

Re:huh?

[Anonymous Coward]

what's also funny is he posted it as anonymous coward so he could give a fuck about mod points.

Re:huh?

[ethx1]

I work for the Microsoft.


the Microsoft?!!
My God! You really call it that?!

Re:huh?

[Fizzl]

At

Least

I

Can

Format

My

Posts

Re:huh?

[Anonymous Coward]

I got 2 for being insightfull-- despite this being a Fark cliche. It works in almost any topic.

*kekeke*

Re:huh?

[Fizzl]

I was thinking about quoting some priceless snippets out of your posts, but decided I would had to quote all of it to give it justice. OTOH, You (the reader) can hit the parent button to figure out the context.

Anyway. Now even the standard monkeys are fleeing microsoft? Now they have to hire uneducated, illiterate, incoherent monkeys out of THE zoo?
(Yeah, I'm drunk and nasty as per usual when posting.)

Ya sure

[holden_t]

They pitched in so well that I'm still getting these scams with MSN email addresses, just finished deleting one from jones_legalfirm@msn.com.

Don't buy it for a minute.

T.

Re:This just in - Copy of letter sent to Bill Gate

[Anonymous Coward]

Hah! Perhaps someone has gone on a redundancy spree. Even your post is "redundant". Perhaps mine will be too, unless I say the following, of which no-one has said ever before in the history of mankind:

Flippityfloppygloophintowhansignaskigflabbem!

I'm getting $20 million from a Ugandan for $350

[MBCook]

Who needs to pay $1000 or $500. I'm getting $20 million from a Ugandan for $350.

Some things are just so topical.

MS05-$30,000,000 patch

[Skiron]

I dunno who is ripping who off here? WTF does MS care about it? Naff all, the same they care about any other spammer (unless, of course, the world adopts _their_ closed source, licensed, and patented anti-spam design, designed to run the internet mail base).

Wait...

[misleb]

You mean the Nigerian scams are ACTUALLY coming from Nigeria? I thought the whole thing was completely made up buy some losers in Florida or something. Well, it is good to know that the scammers were at least honest about their nationality. Go figure.

-matthew

Re:Wait...

[southpolesammy]

I had thought the same thing...my understanding was that Nigeria was a front for organized crime from around the world. Nigeria themselves just plays a part as a remote location with little protection should one be stupid enough to travel there to "collect" the carrot being dangled in front of them -- sort of like, "Now, that you're here, good luck getting out. But I can help you for, say, the sum of $10,000..."

Re:Wait...

[Detritus]

Fraud and corruption are huge problems in Nigeria. Organized crime is rampant and has been exported to many other countries via Nigerian emigres. Not all Nigerians are crooks, but enough are to ruin the country's reputation. See http://www.fbi.gov/hq/cid/orgcrime/aace/africancri m.htm.

Re:Wait...

[The Cydonian]

Nigeria-originated spam is just a contemporary version of the decades old 419 scams that apparently netted US$ 5 billion way back in 1996 itself.

Really?

[Anonymous Coward]

You mean they REALLY were from Nigeria?

oh the irony...

[namekuseijin]

ask a scammer to stop another scammer...

i feel no pity for their victims

[hsmith]

i mean, anyone who thinks this is legit is too stupid to have the money they are going to lose in the first place. when will people figure out that getting rich is not as easy as responding to an email.

Great idea

[marlinSpike]

Just give them free versions of Windows. They'll be so inundated by viruses and IE exploits that their computers will be rendered unusable and thus they won't be spamming anymore!
Why didn't anyone think of this before?!

Re:Great idea

[Anonymous Coward]

HA HA HA this is sooooo funny. You are cool. You said what we were all thinking. Its funny because Micro$oft makes windows and ie which have virus problems. hahahahahahaha.

Set a thief to catch a thief

[Anonymous Coward]

Why use Microsoft? Use someone who's proven himself against the 419ers. Like the scambaiter who actually took the scammers from a ride and made $250 out of them: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/06/18/pc_builder _takes_419ers/ It's a small start.

Interesting and funny read

[Failover]

I came across this on a forum dedicated to exposing 419 scams a few months back, and though it's not one of those emails promising riches (it's an eBay scam), it's still relevant. It's extremely funny, but it also shows the lengths to which they will go to get your money, including threats. http://www.thescambaiter.com/forum/showthread.php? t=109

Could be either!

[phuked]

If they succeed, I'll sure miss the lads of lagos. But this might also mean that nigerian scam could be distributed through Windows Update!1

Re:Scambait: 419eater.com

[Anonymous Coward]

Two wrongs help reduce the chance of a third. As long as scambaiters can occupy these scammers, there is less chance of the scammers hitting a real victim. Plus it makes for some hilarious reading and pictures.

I got an email

[Quiet_Desperation]

Dear Nigerian resident,

Request for urgent business relationship!

I am a top official at a major American software manufacturer who is interested in exportation of our goods into your fine country. We need to move several shiploads of our product into your nation, and are willing to cut you a generous percentage of the profits. Please respond as soon as possible.

You bestest pal,
Billy Gates

And so on...

Not sure when my citizenship switched to Nigera.

Probably the same night I got that tattoo.

On my ass.

And a timely Foxtrot

[Quiet_Desperation]

http://www.ucomics.com/foxtrot/2005/10/14/

Re:Scammers fighting scammers?

[joschm0]

No, it's more like spammers fighting scammers.

They asked Microsoft first....

[WoodstockJeff]

... because most of the ones we've received in the past few months are sent by MSN/HOTMAIL users. While many actually used MSN.COM or HOTMAIL.COM accounts, Microsoft has a few hundred "vanity domains", for which there is no accountability whatsoever - attempts to report the spam get bounced, because there is no "abuse@" for these domains, and abuse@hotmail.com will only accept reports of hotmail.com accounts, just as abuse@msn.com will only accept them for msn.com accounts.

It's a nifty little scheme - use one of the vanity domains, and you can send spam for months. The mail is delivered through HOTMAIL.COM servers, so blocking by IP doesn't work. Unless, of course, you are willing to take the colateral damage of blocking all HOTMAIL and MSN customers.

Which, it turns out, might not be much real damage at all...

Re:They asked Microsoft first....

[gstoddart]

While many actually used MSN.COM or HOTMAIL.COM accounts, Microsoft has a few hundred "vanity domains", for which there is no accountability whatsoever

Got a list?

Re:They asked Microsoft first....

[bani]

but wait! it gets even better.

microsoft is running a SPAMFILTER on their abuse@hotmail.com account!

that's right. if your complaint isn't bounced with:

Unfortunately, we cannot take action on the mail you sent us because it does not reference a Hotmail account.

then your complaints get bounced with:

----- The following addresses had permanent fatal errors -----
abuse@css.one.microsoft.com
    (reason: 550 5.7.1 <Your e-mail was rejected by an anti-spam content filter on gateway
(131.107.3.125).Reason...uage, graphics, or spam-like characteristics. Removing these may let the e-mail
through the filter.>)

i think this is a great example of what's wrong with microsoft in general.

Re:They asked Microsoft first....

[WoodstockJeff]

Got a list?

Not comprehensive. I can come up with about 50 of them from recent spams, things like "ukpromotionals.net", "contractawardingcommittee.net", "national-lottryresults.net", etc.

Re:They asked Microsoft first....

[Tenareth]

abuse e-mail addresses get a huge amount of spam, because they are easily discovered or guessed. Ours gets about a 1000:1 ratio of spam to real e-mail, not running a spam filter really isn't an option.

The only one that is worse is support@ :)

Re:They asked Microsoft first....

[Anonymous Coward]

I can only confirm this. Nearly a good third of the nigerian spam I have recently seen was sent through hotmail: http://www.urgentmessage.org/IPfreely/_i?filter=65 .52.0.0-65.55.255.255

Those "MSN Personal Addresses" seem to be very attractive for many scammers. Gain some 'credibility' registering myboguslottery.com while the mails still come via hotmail...

Re:They asked Microsoft first....

[Anonymous Coward]

...microsoft is running a SPAMFILTER on their abuse@hotmail.com account!
that's right. if your complaint isn't bounced with:
[snip]
then your complaints get bounced with:
[snip]

instead of forwarding it to abuse@msn or abuse@hotmail, send it to abuse@[msn_personal_address] Ie: abuse@abachafamily.org

doing that is supposed to work, but doesnt necessarily mean it will 100% of the time, after all we're talking about Microsoft...

can read more about killing MSN Personal Addresses here: http://www.419eater.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3735 8

Re:Scambait: 419eater.com

[HappyDrgn]

Does asking them to send money to a not-for-profit charity count as wrong?

Isn't it obvious?

[RedNovember]

No wonder Microsoft has such bad security if they believe scams like this...

Then again, maybe they're finally running out of FUD and need more money to buy some from the GOP...

Re:Scambait: 419eater.com

[misleb]

What's wrong with wasting a scammer's time?

-matthew

right after Google joining forces with Sun Micro..

[Anonymous Coward]

M$ joins forces with Nigeria!
WoW!!!!

Yeah, they're from Nigeria all right

[Anonymous Coward]

My father, a CEO, has been getting these kinds of letters in the mail for decades now. Funny how they decided using email was cheaper - and quit sending it using snail mail. They have however moved to other countries in Africa
- to avoid the obvious link to Nigeria. Some of them now live in the Netherlands, where they invite people to meet them. "Bring the money along with you!". It amazes me that people still don't know about them - and even more that idiots actually [still] fall for it!

Counting the number of morons:

[EmperorKagato]

When does scamming have to do with Microsoft Windows XP?

How about starting with Hotmail, Microsoft?

[bgalbrecht]

About 40% of the Nigerian scam emails that get past my greylists (but usually not Spam Assassin) go through Hotmail. If Microsoft is going to help Nigeria filter this at the source, then they should start with their own email service. I hardly see any scam email coming from either Yahoo! or GMail.

Get out that email tracker!

[hanshotfirst]

I'll bet the Nigerians heard about that Email Tracking Program Bill tested a few years ago. That would be really helpful in seeing who spammed and who got spammed along the way!

Clippy

[datasetgo]

In a related story, Microsoft today announced it has installed a 150 meter tall version of Clippy, which can now be seen hovering over south-east Nigeria. No word yet if it is actually assisting with anti-spam efforts or continuing to ask "Can I help you make an outline?"

419, Phone numbers screwing me up...

[gerf]

My area code is 419... Seriously. So whenever I hear of a 419 scam, I get a completely different initial idea of what someone is talking about

A nice and easy way to annoy spammers

[Anonymous Coward]

OpenBSD's spamd is easy to set up and supports greylisting. It is fun to annoy spammers with it: Annoying spammers with spamd

Above comment is a "Rip-Off"

[gerf]

Please read today's "Zits" comic, available at Ucomics.com I believe.

Re:Above comment is a "Rip-Off"

[WilliamSChips]

I believe you mean Foxtrot.

Re:Above comment is a "Rip-Off"

[Anonymous Coward]

Oops. You're right. Those are the two i get via email, so i kinda slipped up.

Duh!

[se7en11]

Duh! I would have thought MS would have been smarter than to fall for this. I mean if it only took me 2 times to realize a Nigerian price really doesn't get my money, then for sure the MS company should get it the first time...

RE: Microsft Helping Nigeria Fight Scammers

[Siddly]

Microsoft advising Nigeria on security? ... Forgive them father for they know what they do.

Survey - freshest PAPER 419 letter

[Anonymous Coward]

My employer got a PAPER 419 letter in the summer of 1994.

Anyone get one since then?

How about the relay scammers?

[Zaphod-AVA]

Email scam isn't the only way it's being done in that area.

Phone scammers use the system intended for the hearing impaired to add a layer between them and the credit card scams they attempt, to the point where if you sell something to someone using the internet relay, you are a complete fool. A huge percentage of the calls on this system are scammers now, and the companies that provide the service don't wish to fight it, since they are paid by volume of calls!

-Z

Re:How about the relay scammers?

[haaz]

Oh yeah. I worked for a while as an IP relay operator. "Our friends from Nigeria" were for real -- I was complicit in the execution of thousands of dollars of fraud using stolen credit card numbers. My employer -- now known as Verizon -- actually had implemented an anti-fraud policy that enabled our supervisors to inform the call recipient that (paraphrasing) "management believes this call is of a fraudulent nature" and gave them the option to hang up. Most did, wisely, although at least one I handled continued, even accepted a sale. Their loss... but this is a real problem. That and the bored teenagers, but they're not using stolen credit card numbers, merely hormones.

honestly

[CDPatten]

anyone who fell pray to this scam is stupid. they ALMOST deserve what they got. I'd also like their names and numbers, because I have a "bridge" to sell them. If they aren't interested, I have an operating system that is completely secure and never crashes, only $99.99.

Nigeria involved?

[c0dedude]

Nigeria is actually involved in Nigerian 409's? I just assumed it was domestic or European scammers, but I suppose that was shortsighted.

What's Nigeria's motive?

[mustbepatient]

I don't have a link handy but these scams constitute a significant percentage of Nigeria's economy (I've heard estimates of 10%), so I'm not sure they should really be interested in curtailing it.

THE Microsoft is calling you....

[Anonymous Coward]

Get back to work or you will be publicly humiliated and assailed by flying chairs!

How big a loss would it be if we cut off Nigeria?

[Cheirdal]

Seriously, if we cut off Nigeria from the internet altogether how big a loss would that be to the rest of the world?

I got a lot of those

[temojen]

My email address is aliased from root, admin, administrator, postmaster, ldap, apache, etc on about 7 different domains...

I call bullshit.

[blueadept1]

"...duping unsuspecting Internet users out of thousands of pounds..."

By punishing these entrepreurs out of their honest business practice in the market of weight loss, are we not discouring a free market economy? Were trade sanctions not one of the reasons that the great depression began? Attitudes like this sicken me. Although they are unsuspectingly taking people's weight off, and I guess thereby charging them, at least they aren't running fraudulent programs which show only 'extreme cases' where people have lost 20, 40, or even as much as 100 pounds. Ridiculous.

Yes, and

[Kafka_Canada]

Yes, and Saudi Arabia to Help Fight Terrorism, or Europe to Promote Freedom at UN.

Nigeria's supposed to play a big part in stopping scammers, when they operate the scammers? Right.

Simple

[Anonymous Coward]

Deny the TLD and proxy servers.
146.231.128.1
198.32.71.12
147.28.0.39
192.36.125.2
What could be more fun?

17 convictions to date.

[Anonymous Coward]

> and seized a billion dollars in assets--but that has still only
> resulted in 17 convictions to date.

Nigeria does not want to stop these scams, at least not in Nigeria, it may want the rip-off copycat countries that are infringing on their innovative IP to be stopped.

The collection of this maoney is a significant percentage of the GNP of the country. Certainly the government wants to detect the scammers and identify them so that it can run a shakedown, seize most of the money and then let them free to continue. So far they have only managed to squeeze out 1 billion, but with some encouragement and help from microsoft they will be able to achieve the sort of revenue levels that microsoft manages for itself. Paying MS a 10% bounty will be well worth while.

The 17 who were convicted are probably those who promised that they would reform and never do it again. No point in letting them go back into the community. Use them for windows [ugh] dressing.

Of course the real problem will be getting the scammers to upgrade to Vista with DRM enabled hardware. This will be the only place that the new technology security will be available. But in the long term the move to Vista will be worthwhile (for MS) because the EMails will then be MS XML files that are DRM enabled ensuring that those who receive them will be forced to go out and buy Vista and Office 12 on DRM hardware in order to read them.

MS Marketing will have a significant advantage over Linux: if you want to make a million dollars then you _must_ have Vista and Office 12.

So all of Nigeria will go to Outlook

[gelfling]

Because that's pretty much all that MS can do.

Good choice...

[Eric Damron]

Microsoft: We'll help you fight scammers. After all it takes one to know one. BTW, have you seen our "Get the Facts" website?

Re:Scambait: 419eater.com

[markh1967]

The more time wasted by the scammers trying to scam people who are just stringing them along for laughs, the less time the scammers will have to scam real victims. I think trying to scam the scammers into sending money is a bit dubious morally (but satisfyingly ironic all the same) but wasting their time is certainly a good thing.

New "Solution" For a Very Old Problem

[NaijaGuy]

Around 1990 or 1991, the show 60 Minutes aired a program in which they visited some of these scammers in Nigeria and caught whole conversations with them on a video camera in the reporter's eyeglasses. The story detailed how for years in the 80s a lot of American businessmen were being duped by letters asking for a $10,000 advance in order to obtain large contracts. Since then, it has only gotten easier for any would-be 419 scammers, and still there is little effort being done to address the root of the problem. Moreover, Microsoft's best efforts will probably end up being like band-aids that annoyingly don't stick very well. It would be far better to try to educate Americans and Europeans about the risk of going along with such enticements, and it would be even better to try to address the reasons why this problem is so prolific in Nigeria. It has affected so many people in the US that the Secret Service has long had a website dedicated to it: http://www.secretservice.gov/alert419.shtml/

It's not just Nigeria... But it's always Microsoft

[glowworm]

Here are a few sample letters from my harvesting mailbox (All original live letters untouched and unedited):

"Dear Sir/Madam

I am an Industrialist and exporter based in China. I established a company named--CHANGZHOU WENDI MANUFACTURING COMPANY LTD in the year 1994. The company principally produces and exports raw materials such as Calcite, Barytes, Manganese Dioxide, Mica, China Clay and Ferrous (Iron) Oxide.
My company's Export market is fast expanding. Owing to our determined efforts to increase the market in Europe, America and Australia, there is the need for us to scout for an Agent/Representative in these continents. Primarily, the Representative if appointed will liaise with our customers for prompt payment.
If you are interested in becoming an Agent/Representative to our fast growing company, kindly send to your proposal/conditions to the CEO's private email address:- wendimanufacturers@yahoo.com.cn
It is imperative to state that your phone/fax number and contact address should be included in your proposal, please.

Yours faithfully,
Changzhou Wendi"

from: changzhouwendimanufacturing2@msn.com

"Dear Acquaintance,

Please permit me to introduce myself, I am John Gray, head of Mortgage department, Royal Bank of Scotland, Liverpool Commercial Banking Centre, 1st Floor 1 Exchange Flags Liverpool L2 3XN, England.

Am introducing you into a project which would need funds to execute and I have made a feasibility study on how much we need to carryout this project, I found out that it will cost about $35,000.00 U.S Dollars. Please do not panic as I have made arrangements for an investor in the United States to help us out,do kindly write back if you are still interested in my brief
explanations which is as follows;

Only recently I discovered that one account belonging to Ms. Fiona Watts now DECEASED has remained dormant for the past two years, after intensive investigations, I found out that Late Ms. Fiona Watts died in a ghastly auto accident in June, 2002.

At this point I am contacting you concerning a business acquaintance that will necessitates you to act as a new beneficiary cum next of kin to the said dormant account as I hope to give you more technical details on how i think we should transfer the funds into your nominated
offshore/residence account. Please I need you to help me with your personal details such as Full names, home/office address, phone and fax numbers respectively, you can also reach me on +44 703 194 4854 or mail back @ JohnGray1@HotPOP.com should you be interested.

PLEASE, YOU MAY ALSO IGNORE THIS LETTER AND RESPECT MY TRUST IN YOU BY NOT EXPOSING THIS TRANSACTION, SHOULD YOU NOT BE INTERESTED.

Sincerely,
John Gray."

from: jgrayofrbs_bank@hotmail.co.uk

"From the Desk of the Head Co-Ordinator
Global Sweepstakes Lottery International
1 Craven Park
Harlesden
London
NW10
United Kingdom
Tel: +447040110537
Fax: +447092865468
Ref: GSL/988/05

Dear Sir/Madam,
WINNING NOTIFICATION.

Over the years the prestigious Global Sweepstakes lottery has set out and
sucessfully organised Sweepstakes on a daily,weekly,and annual basis. We
have equally maintained a standard unrivaled in the industry as it concerns
the pay out of winnings to sucessful participants.
In line with the commemorating event marking our 10th year anniversary we
rolled out over &pound;2,000.000.00(Two million British Pounds) for our 10th year
Anniversary Draws. Participants for the draws were randomly selected and
drawn from a wide range of web hosts which enjoy our patronage. The
selection was made through a computer draw system attaching personalised
email addresses to ticket numbers.
Your email address as indicated was drawn and attached to Ticket Number
003895337498 with serial numbers GSL/9080118308/03 and drew th

Re:How big a loss would it be if we cut off Nigeri

[aaron.rowe]

Well, there's a LOT of oil there and those oil company's need their email.

No more than a token measure...

[Kahless2k]

The Nigerian goverment doesn't care about this; the way they see it is that these scammers are bringing a lot of money into the country and have generally looked the other way any time they have been confronted with it.

I remember reading somewhere that the Nigerian goverment has even stopped assisting other countries investigate the scams (no link.. sorry).

All-in-all, I don't see this as any more than a token measure to get countries like the US, Canada, et al to back off a little and will probably make no difference to the victems.

For a site which has quite a bit of information posted about various Nigerian scams (and links to other sites with more info) is http://scamvictimsunited.com/.

Someone at MS has a sense of humour

[FishandChips]

It's hard not to roar with laughter. The United States is the worst spam offender in the world, and the nabobs of spam can even enjoy promotional photos of themselves on places like Spamhaus. Such a high-pressure life style, knocking out a few million spams in betwen ambling down to the auto showroon to play around with another Mercedes or Porsche. Compared to drug-dealing and extortion, which is probably what these guys would be doing otherwise, it must be a no-brainer.

I guess tacking the problem closer to home might be, err, a little too much work. Those poor souls at Microsoft. Sigh, a meagre $12 billion a year in clear profit clearly just isn't enough to cover much more than issuing a few self-aggrandising press releases about the evils of spam and phishing provided they're taking place thousands of miles away.

A reasonable guess is that Microsoft's involvement in Nigeria will increase not lessen the problem. Folks in Nigeria itself may well likely conclude, quite sensibly, that if a rich foreign company is sufficiently concerned to start chucking money around, the 419er-game must yield fabulous profits and they should join in as soon as possible. No doubt in Nigeria the "usual suspects" - probably poor farmers who've never seen a computer but are behind with their bribes to the local powers - will be hauled in for questioning. Meanwhile the other 419er tsars will continue as normal from their comfortable lairs in Europe and elsewhere.

Thankyou

[polyp2000]

Oh Microsoft , Thankyou - for being so nice. I worship you now - im going to format all my linux boxes and install Windows, im so touched by this that rather than download cracked versions of windows im actually going to purchase legitimate copies of your operating system and spread it all over my Linux boxes. I apologise for misinterpreting your organisation as being evil or monopolistic and constituting all that i despise - forgive me ! . Now that I have RTFA I have changed my religion - wow you are so good i've just cum in my pants!

Re:Scambait: 419eater.com

[dogfriend]

I love that site.

I don't know if two wrongs make a right, but that has to be the most effective and amusing way to deal with the problem

"Fight Scammer"?

[atrocious cowpat]

Is a "Fight Scammer" something like a "Battle Droid"?

And why would Micrrosoft want tho help them? Besides: shouldn't that read "Nigerian Fight Scammers"?

Just asking...

Famous scam from D. Mac Bride (of Sco infamy)

[gilboooo]

I had for some time collected the scams I did receive.

But the most terrific and impressive one comes from
Mr Mac Bride and it's quite funny to read too :)

http://perso.wanadoo.fr/gilbert.fernandes/hoax/hoa x100.txt

419 eater is *really* doing something about it

[Anonymous Coward]

In reality, it's win-win for the Nigerian Government and Micro$oft.

Both the Nigerian Government and Micro$oft improve their images by being "seen" to be taking steps the problem, while in fact doing next to nothing. People will still get scammed as before - business as usual.

Training Nigerian government employees by Micro$oft might in fact give them additional skills to scam more effectively. The reasons for scamming are culturally much deeper than a quick "technological fix".

What can you really do about the problem?

Go to http://www.419eater.com/ , have fun and learn how to bait and genuinely burn scumbag 419 criminals safely.

Posted as AC in the interests of not Karma Whoring.

They are very creative ...

[kbahey]

As much as I despise those scammers, I have to admit that they are creative in a weird source of way.

I get the classic ones (African dictator/official dies and widow/son wants his money transferred for a hefty share).

But I also get ones that have a Christian theme, others with an Islamic tone, and yet another with an Arab tone featuring Yasser Arafat, with links to news articles from ABC News, just after he died.

These guys could use their imagination writing fiction or something. If they had better English that is ...

Re:This just in - Copy of letter sent to Bill Gate

[Darby]

About as easily as posts I've had have been modded "overrated" even tho they were never modded.

Purely devil's advocate, but you are posting with a +1 self-moderation. If someone felt your post didn't deserve that, then according to them it actually is overrated.

Re:This just in - Copy of letter sent to Bill Gate

[east coast]

If someone felt your post didn't deserve that, then according to them it actually is overrated.

Oh, so now karma is overrated? I don't buy that bullshit for a second.

What Idiots Fall For This?

[Aidan Maconachy]

I got one of the dreaded Nigerian emails and it was a load of bollocks basically. Aside from the fact that scheme the being proposed was so convoluted it made no sense, the grammar and spelling was atrocious. I can't believe people actually bought into this scam. Well ... if I had a few million I might do something slightly insane with a few thousand ... aside from that, no way in hell.

Re:Scambait: 419eater.com

[Anonymous Coward]

Another way to help out (besides baiting) is to join in on the Halloween Flash Mob. Temporarily take down the fake bank sites that the scammers use to convince victims theyre legit (and are often used for identity theft) by eating up their bandwidth! More info at http://www.aa419.org/

Can also use the lad vampire 24/7 to help take these fake bank sites down http://aa419.org/vampire/ladvampire.php

While not as fun as baiting, it helps to save numerous victims and requires virtually no time on your behalf :)

M$ to learn how to racketeer!

[Palal]

Didn't we just read a story on M$ racket??? So I guess they're learning now, more cashflows for them!

how to pretend to do something while doing nothing

[Coeurderoy]

This is a good illustration of the sad situation of IT in the emerging contries, the "useful idiot" is calling his buddy from the "large us corporation" that has no idea about anything related to technology, but knows the right ropes.

In this particular case the only thing that is needed is a nice "press release" that shows that the local politician is doing something.
And of course nothing should be done, the scams are bringing in about 200 Million US$ per year into Nigeria, why stop ?

So the choice of M$ for this is ideal, high visibility and a garanty that the scammer can go on working without any real security expert bothering them.

Re:Scammers fighting scammers?

[Anonymous Coward]

Hey, kinda reminds me of that "Alien vs Predator" crapload of a movie.