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419 Emails From A Cultural Perspective
dasboy writes "The LA Times has an article entitled I Will Eat Your Dollars about Nigerian 419 scammers that presents some of the cultural basis for the crime. They follow some young men in Lagos who toil over computers all-day and long into the night to snag a new victim. They even have a fight song entitled 'I Go Chop Your Dollars.'" From the article: "Scammers, he said, 'have the belief that white men are stupid and greedy. They say the American guy has a good life. There's this belief that for every dollar they lose, the American government will pay them back in some way.' What makes the scams so tempting for the targets is that they promise a tantalizing escape from the mundane disappointments of life. The scams offer fabulous riches or the love of your life, but first the magha has to send a series of escalating fees and payments. In a dating scam, for instance, the fraudsters send pictures taken from modeling websites."
Walk a mile in my shoes, buddy. You'll find out it ain't all peachs 'n cream.
I demand that King Neferspamstu cease and desist using my modeling photos for financial gain. I do not waive my rights under the DMCA.
"the American guy has a good life. There's this belief that for every dollar they lose, the American government will pay them back in some way."
This is not a new thinking. Many crooks try to justify what they are doing by making it seem that they are not hurting anyone, at least not as much as they are.
"There are more important things than stopping terrorism. Upholding the Constitution is one of them." - Ars Forumer.
Nothing like aiming high, huh?
I would have to agree that the anonymous American is a greedy fool.
Where else do you see people react to being in an accident like they won the lottery? Be it medical, car, workplace. Get hurt and bingo, how can I get paid.
Tough to admit, but deep down everyone has some greed. Greed is a survival trait. Greed doesn't apply only to money, but to status, acceptance, and a miriad other indicators be them material or immaterial.
Most scams rely heavily on the scamee forgoing rational thought to bite the lure. Nothing clouds judgement like a big payday or a supermodel.
American's are in for a rough ride when China becomes the next superpower and greed is a major reason why.
--signed "A greedy American"
Only greedy people fall for the "I have $18346205826.54 US, and I need someone to help me get it out of the country." So, how can you feel truly sorry for someone who is attempting to commit a crime and gets scammed out of his money?
Cliff Claven
K.E.G. Party Chairman
Founding Leader of: Koncerned for Egalitarin Governance
http://www.419eater.com/
An informational website that helps you scam the scammers.
- what is the definition of simultanagnosia?! I've been meaning to look it up!
Only three things are certain; death, taxes, and apocryphal quotations - Ben Franklin.
The lyrics there are helpful because the accent is hard to understand.
You can only lean on cultural relativism so much.
What I mean is, regardless of the culture you were raised in and the social climate of your environment, at some point, wrong is wrong is wrong.
In this category, I would put anything that infringes on the rights of other human beings, including murder, assault, and, yes, simple theft.
Justify it all you want. Yes, the people who fall for it are often greedy and stupid, but that doesn't make the act of the perpitrators any less wrong.
Aren't these scams just what "social justice" is supposed to be -- stealing from people because INSERT JUSTIFICATION HERE ?
Justifications:
- It's their fair share.
- They did XYZ THING in the past
- Their ancestors did XYZ THING in the distant past
- They have a different skin color than me
- They have a different religion than me
- They can afford it
- Etc.
The justifications aren't really relevant, BTW. They're just flavor. People steal/tax/defraud/embezzle/con because they want the money and because they can.
I'll buy a beer for anyone who admits to being taken in by these chumps.
Amateur. It goes like this:
HELLO I AM PRINCE FALFURALL SON OF KING FELLOVERDED WHO TRAGICLEY DIED IN A BRWERY ACCIDENT. THE CORUPT LOCAL OFFICALS HAVE IMPOUNDED ALL THE BEER BUT THE MINISTER OF TRADE CAN ARRANGE A TANKER TRUCK TO EXPORT 1,736,000.50 LITERS TO SENEGAL BUT ONLY FOR A UNITD STATES NATIONAL. IF YOU WILL HELP ME TRANSPORT THE BEER I WILL GIVE YOU TEN (10) PERCENT OR 173600 GALLONS PLEASE CONTACT ME ASAP GOD BLESS YOU!!~~!
Stressed? Me? Of course not. Stress is what a rubber band feels before it breaks, silly.
> and then suddenly would be eyeballing another woman in the computer lab
I think I've found the problem...
- For the complete works of Shakespeare: cat
scammers are criminals, and deserve to be locked up and/or shot. Not looked at as some kind of cultural escapism that is the necessary end result of a boring life.
Exactly. This whole article seems to be nothing more than sociopathic guilt transference - they know what they're doing hurts other people, so they come up with excuses about their victims in an attempt to mask their guilt.
I'm surprised they didn't use the phrase "everybody does it".
I can't tell you how many times I hear about welfare fraud where someone might net a few hundred dollars a month, but these same people never once mention the corporate people who steal millions or hundreds of millions of dollars. Or corporate bosses who steal the pension plans from people who have worked hard all their careers and are left with nothing. Thank god for social security so they won't starve.
So right now we're worried about some Nigerians stealling tens of millions a year when we've got tens of billions in medical fraud going on in this country.
Get some perspective.
Abstinence is a government conspiracy. www.SafeSexZone.co
The same is true for my geek friends. They had girl friends who were not stunning, but attractive and smart. They would have been a great companion for anyone. The geek friend would also be infatuated for a few months and then suddenly would be eyeballing another woman in the computer lab.
You mean the other woman in the computer lab?
Do not anger the worm.
And a person from Africa contacted me... I looked at the photo in the person's profile, and imagine my surprise to find out that Tyra Banks wanted to date me!
Apparently the fact that there was a slight distance and ocean between us didn't seem to matter.
When I pointed out that, "hey Tyra, the copyright notice is still on the photo" (from a well known magazine), the person sadly stopped sending me messages...
I don't think anyone (except them) would claim that their excuses are a fair justification for stealing from gullible, often not-so wealthy americans, but that doesn't mean we should ignore them.
Understanding the social and economic context that this sort of crime takes place in is important, especially if we want to combat it. Poverty and lack of education, while certainly not justifications for crime, are often part of the cause.
Much like muslim terrorists, I think it's always better to have an understanding of what's going on with the people who try to screw us over so hard, instead of just imagining them as mustachio twirling villains who are out to get us because, well, they're the bad guys.
I have once been on one of those online trading sites (like e-bay) and someone offered a single new laptop for about 700 USD. It seemed nice enough, still in the box and the price was very good. I suspected something about the price but replied anyway. The dude said he was selling it because he was a yuppie from the UK and he ordered the wrong product but couldn't get refunded.
I myself am from another EU-state so it had to be shipped over. He told me he was going to use this and this shipping company with 3-way system (escrow service) and take all the costs on him.
The site seemed legit, even had some sort of certificate of a known site for e-commerce (it said on their site) but before I agreed I checked the "click here to certify" link which took me to another site saying the certificate was correct but not quite the site of the issuer. Checking the real site of the advertised certificate the site was not in their lists.
I contacted that certificate site to verify and they said there was no certificate issued for the site so they were going to do the necessary steps. I mailed the dude saying that I wanted to use another escrow service because the site was abusing the logo of certificate issuer and that I contacted authorities and never heard from him again, his e-mail doesn't exist anymore etc.
I was almost tricked into such scam and I understand that some are being scammed buying christmas gifts for their grandchildren. But some promises are indeed too great (like the nigerian scamming letters) and should trigger something inside any sane persons head that there is something fishy.
My advice to anyone with online business: if it looks, hears or smells fishy, then check everything being said and promised until the bottom!
Custom electronics and digital signage for your business: www.evcircuits.com
Much like muslim terrorists, I think it's always better to have an understanding of what's going on with the people who try to screw us over so hard, instead of just imagining them as mustachio twirling villains who are out to get us because, well, they're the bad guys.
That is the most insightful thing I have seen in a while and totally agree...
Like the UK Transit bombings when someone says "Maybe they bombed us because we have troops in Iraq?" they get shouted down as providing excuses for the Terrorists, but the fact of the matter is that people just don't wake up one morning and say "Well I am going to blow myself up today for no good reason!"
Whatever reason they may have is actually important to the situation, but I stress it is not excusable to go and murder, steal, and scam people, but if you want to defeat the enemy you must know their motives.
It is how the detective and intelligence catches these criminal... To psychologically understand who this person maybe and also recognize signs of another possible criminal.
And it irks me to no end when I see police or soldiers refer to the enemy as "the bad guys" with no respect to understanding why they do the things they do. Sure it is there job to kill or apprehend the criminal/enemy, but these people are doing it for reasons that may seem justified in their own eyes.
If you sit back and recognize these justification you might have a better chance of avoiding and preventing being scammed, assaulted, or surviving the attach when it happens.
As Sun Tzu said "Know thyself, know thy enemy and win the battle every time.". (paraphrased)
"I am the king of the Romans, and am superior to rules of grammar!"
-Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor (1368-1437)
Whatever reason they may have is actually important to the situation, but I stress it is not excusable to go and murder, steal, and scam people, but if you want to defeat the enemy you must know their motives.
The problem is many people don't understand the difference between an explanation (why something happened) and an excuse (why what happened is okay).
This has led to the belief that understanding terrorists is the same as excusing the terrorists.
This has led to us not understanding the terrorists, and thus being ineffective at fighting them.
I have a real problem with any life view that makes failing to solve problems a requisite outcome.
The enemies of Democracy are