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

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

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.

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.)

Check out today's Foxtrot

[pmike_bauer]

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