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The Five Nigerian Gangs Behind Most Craigslist Buyer Scams

Posted by samzenpus on from the who's-to-blame dept.

itwbennett writes Five Nigerian criminal gangs are behind most scams targeting sellers on Craigslist, and they've taken new measures to make their swindles appear legitimate, according to a study by George Mason University researchers Damon McCoy and Jackie Jones. In a new innovation, they're using professional check-writing equipment plus U.S.-based accomplices to not raise suspicions among their victims. McCoy and Jones will present their paper on Sept. 24 at the IEEE eCrime Research Summit in Birmingham, Alabama.

2 of 160 comments (clear)

  1. Re:We need to carpet bomb Nigeria by NotSanguine · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    Deregulation does not prevent fraud charges, or lawsuits. As if our laws apply to the wealthy and well connected in the US...

    There. FTFY.

    --
    No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
  2. Re:We need to carpet bomb Nigeria by i+kan+reed · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Osama bin Laden was only a couple blocks off from your target.

    Seriously though, people alleging a world finance conspiracy to screw the little guy is exactly why the World Trade Organization was targeted. And a perceived American military hegemony was why the pentagon was targeted. I'm not trying to discredit you by comparing you to an international terrorist responsible for thousands of deaths, but instead trying to highlight that someone has acted on exactly this idea before.

    It didn't turn out well for anyone.