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Nigerian Email Scammers Are More Effective Than Ever (wired.com)
You would think that after decades of analyzing and fighting email spam, there'd be a fix by now for the internet's oldest hustle -- the Nigerian Prince scam. But the problem, a new report suggests, has only grown to become more widespread and sophisticated. From the report: There's generally more awareness that a West African noble demanding $1,000 in order to send you millions is a scam, but the underlying logic of these "pay a little, get a lot" schemes, also known as 419 fraud, still ensnares a ton of people. In fact, groups of fraudsters in Nigeria continue to make millions off of these classic cons. And they haven't just refined the techniques and expanded their targets -- they've gained minor celebrity status for doing it.
On Thursday, the security firm Crowdstrike published detailed findings on Nigerian confraternities, cultish gangs that engage in various criminal activities and have steadily evolved email fraud into a reliable cash cow. The groups, like the notorious Black Axe syndicate, have mastered the creation of compelling and credible-looking fraud emails. Crowdstrike notes that the groups aren't very regimented or technically sophisticated, but flexibility and camaraderie still allow them to develop powerful scams.
On Thursday, the security firm Crowdstrike published detailed findings on Nigerian confraternities, cultish gangs that engage in various criminal activities and have steadily evolved email fraud into a reliable cash cow. The groups, like the notorious Black Axe syndicate, have mastered the creation of compelling and credible-looking fraud emails. Crowdstrike notes that the groups aren't very regimented or technically sophisticated, but flexibility and camaraderie still allow them to develop powerful scams.
Well, by this point, after decades of reports on it, I wouldn't call it "fraud" exactly, more like some sort of tax... Idiot tax? Greed tax? Take your pick.
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A friend fell hard for an American nurse he meet over the Internet who works for a hospital in Nigeria. This "relationship" went on for a whole year. When he lost his job and started having financial difficulties, I found out about his Internet girlfriend and started asking his questions. It was too late. He wired his entire savings of $5K on the promise that he would get back his money plus $10K to "hold" for her until she got back to the US. When the check didn't show up, the amount that he would hold gradually increased to $20K. He got mad when I told him he got scammed by a Nigarian confidence scammer. The only proof that he has that this "woman" exist are pictures and texts. No video, no audio. A year later he is still waiting for his check, still thinks he has a girlfriend and believes that she is the victim of the Nigerian government because the president is too ill to sign anyone's paycheck.
The success of the Nigerian Scam is a testament to the stupidity of the average user. Anybody who would actually send money to a self-claimed royal personage in a random email deserves to get clipped, IMHO! It obviously doesn't take a genius to set up a free email account. . .
Wrong header
It should read: Ever more stupid and greedy people online.
Paying well-forged invoices is neither stupid nor greedy.
The FBI should start sending out fake Nigerian spam, then sending anyone who responds an automated warning that "if this were a real scam, you'd be broke soon." Call it a mass education campaign.
as people get older their brains go. Not always, but there's plenty enough that do. A lot of these people have money from retirement earned before their minds went. The only thing you can do (besides curing age related cognitive decline) is try and keep the scammers away from them.
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Yeah, no.
PO number and invoice number, please, boss. And I've checked the system and there are no outstanding invoices from [companyname].
If you read the article, you'll see that one of their techniques is to watch your inbox for a legitimate invoice, then change the payment information on that invoice to their bank.
So, yes, there will be a PO number and an invoice number.
If an actual Nigerian prince ever gets into a pickle and needs some assistance from strangers, it's good to know that the general public hasn't yet become too jaded to help, and he still has some hope.
True. Proper procedures will prevent most of this kind of thing. But in too many companies, urgent email from the CEO gets less scrutiny that it ought to. The scammer is addressing the target by name. Often, the first email is just a "Hey, Bob, are you in the office right now?" ping.
The nastier ones are the ones like XXongo referred to, where they watch your inbox, or have infected your PC with malware that echoes all your mail to them. (I've seen both.) They just wait until there's a conversation about a lot of money about to change hands. Then they insert a reply, quoting all the legitimate conversation up to that point, with "We just had an issue with our bank and had to change accounts, please send the payment to ..." with a different bank. People buying a house have had their escrow payment snatched in this way.
The first of these, a few years ago, the bank was something suspicious offshore. Now, it's an American bank with an American-sounding name as the owner. This is generally some poor schlub who answered one of those "We are looking to hire someone as a part-time financial agent ..." spams. The ignorant money mule thinks they have a legitimate job, until the FBI comes knocking on their door. All they knew was that money comes in, they transfer it to their "employer", minus their commission. Then, surprise, they're on the hook for all the money that flowed through their bank account off to Bank of Lagos.