Nigerian E Fraud
Interesting piece at the LA Times about Nigerian e-mail scams. I assumed these fraud attempts met with at least limited success, but figured they didn't net much. After all, if you have enough mental mojo to turn on your computer and log onto the Internet, you should have enough rigor to discern the obvious fraud in those e-mail. Turns out I was wrong. Link. Excerpts:
The e-mail scammers here prefer hitting Americans, whom they see as rich and easy to fool. They rationalize the crime by telling themselves there are no real victims: Maghas [gullibe white people] are avaricious and complicit.
To them, the scams, called 419 after the Nigerian statute against fraud, are a game. . .
"Nobody feels sorry for the victims," [former scammer] Samuel said.
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.
"Is the girl in these pictures really you?? I just can't get over your beauty!!!! I can't believe my luck!!!!!!!" one hapless American wrote recently to a scammer seeking $1,200.
The scammer replied, "Would you send the money this week so I may buy a ticket?"
"Aww babe. I don't have the money yet. I will get it, though. Don't you worry your pretty lil head, hun," the victim wrote back.
The real push comes when the fictional girlfriend or fiancee, who claims to be in America, goes to Nigeria for business. In a series of "mishaps," her wallet is stolen and she is held hostage by the hotel owner until she can come up with hundreds of dollars for the bill. She needs a new airline ticket, has to bribe churlish customs officials and gets caught. Finally, she needs a hefty get-out-of-jail bribe.
The U.S. Secret Service estimates such schemes net hundreds of millions of dollars annually worldwide, with many victims too afraid or embarrassed to report their losses.
Link.
I remember hearing once that Nigeria is a resource-rich country that could become an economic powerhouse, if only they spent more time being productive and less time trying to cheat the system and each other.
