Arrested Nigerian Email Scammer Facing Up To 30 Years In Prison (dallasnews.com)

McGruber writes: Amechi Colvis Amuegbunam, 28, a Nigerian man living in the U.S. on a student visa, faces federal wire fraud charges in connection with a sophisticated email phishing scam targeting businesses. He was arrested in Baltimore and charged with scamming 17 North Texas companies out of more than $600,000 using the technique. If convicted, Amuegbunam faces up to 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $1 million.

Comments

$1 million fine?

[Anonymous Coward]

No problem. He can get wired from the deposed prince's sister.

I was overjoyed

[russotto]

...until I learned this was the North Texas scammer. It's the scammers who operate in the Eastern District of Texas who are the real problem there.

One would think...

[arth1]

One would think that in 2015, executives would digitally sign their e-mails, and those who transfer money verify the digital signatures.
Even in backwards Texas.

Re:One would think...

[Antique Geekmeister]

> One would think that in 2015, executives would digitally sign their e-mails

Unfortunately, building in digital signatures, means bundling good encryption into common email clients. They're tightly linked technologies, it's awkward if not impossible to have one without the other. That implies coping with the US Department of Commerce, whose regulations are at https://www.bis.doc.gov/index..... Note that similar versoins of those regulations were previously handled by US Customs, but suffered many legal challenges and wee simply transferred to the Dapartment of Commerce to avoid having to follow various legal decisions on their constitutionality and re-apply them as part of a different federal agency.

These regulations are onerous for businesses engaging in telecommunications. They have effectively hindered and prevented such encryption and digital signatures from becoming widespread for at least the last 30 years. They've also prevented the widespread use of encryption at the Ethernet card or "data link layer": the regulations create unmanagable burdens for companies that want to sell the appropriate switches and network devices.

I can help!

[ravenspear]

Dear Mr Amuegbunam:

I have been requested by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company to contact you in the hope that we may be of assistance to you. Your countrymen are quite distressed at the reporting we have read which states that you are being held and are in need of funds to make bail. We can help you in this matter. The Nigerian National Petroleum Company has recently concluded a large number of contracts for oil exploration in the sub-Sahara region. The contracts have immediately produced moneys equaling US$1,500,000. The Nigerian National Petroleum Company is desirous of oil exploration in other parts of the world, however, because of certain regulations of the Nigerian Government, it is unable to move these funds to another region.

You assistance is requested as a Nigerian citizen to assist the Nigerian National Petroleum Company, and also the Central Bank of Nigeria, in moving these funds out of Nigeria. If the funds can be transferred to your name, to your United States account, then you can forward the funds as directed by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company. In exchange for your accommodating services, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company would agree to allow you to retain 10%, or US$150,000 of this amount. This should be enough for you to post bond.

However, to be a legitimate transferee of these moneys according to Nigerian law, you must presently be a depositor of at least US$10,000 in a Nigerian bank which is regulated by the Central Bank of Nigeria.

If it will be possible for you to assist us with this initial required deposit, we would be most grateful and can proceed with the funds transfer.
Please call me at your earliest convenience at 18-467-4975. Time is of the essence in this matter; very quickly the Nigerian Government will realize that the Central Bank is maintaining this amount on deposit, and attempt to levy certain depository taxes on it.

Yours truly,

Prince Alyusi Islassis

Re:People were stupid enough to believe this in 20

[Anonymous Coward]

Obligatory related web comics.

Re:Seems extremely excessive

[Iamthecheese]

It doesn't seem excessive to me. These people target the unintelligent, the naive and the desperate. It doesn't look like a lot of money until you realize it's taken from the pockets of those least able to afford it. That money represents thousands of ruined lives. If you ask me I say string that fucker right up.

It runs on fear

[joeblog]

If I had received an email to wire $100000 from a company executive I'd surely call up and verify.

These scams work best in extremely hierarchical organisations where underlings are trained to blindly follow orders and to be terrified of questioning their boss. The target organisation also needs to have a culture of dishonesty, else how could a boss demand that an underling wire them money without a valid invoice? Sounds to me like organised crime got taken by a petty crook.