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Worldwide Slump Makes Nigeria's Online Scammers Work That Much Harder
By Karin Brulliard
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, August 7, 2009
LAGOS, Nigeria -- Online swindling takes dedication even in the best of times, the scammer said earnestly.
EVERYTHING MUST GO! WE'VE GOT DICTATOR DIAMONDS, DICTATOR GOLD, LOTTERY WINNINGS AND SO MUCH MORE!!!! I CANT BELIEVE HOW INSANE I AM!! MY WIFE WONT SPEAK TO ME BECAUSE I'M LOSING MONEY!!!! SHE DOESN'T UNDERSTAND THAT I HAVE TO CLEAR OUT THE WAREHOUSE!!! JUST RESPOND TO THIS EMAIL AND WE'LL GIVE YOU THE ADDRESS TO SEND YOUR INITIAL INVESTMENT TO!!! I'MMMMMMM CRAZY BANJO!!! SEND MONEY TO-DAY!! :crazy::crazy:
I have mixed emotions on some of this. On one hand I see it as a bad crime to get money this way. On the other hand I see it as some idiotic greedy bastard getting what they deserve. If you are so stupid as to fall for one of these things you deserve what you get. Sort of a financial Darwinism.
Wireless Internet has allowed scammers to move from cybercafes into private residences to churn out e-mails. Nigerian scammers are mostly young men who learn from one another, often as apprentices of cartel-like schemes.
"I'm selling greed," said Felix, 29, an e-mail swindler. "You didn't apply for any lotto, and all of a sudden you just see a mail in your mailbox that you're going to win money? That means you have to be greedy."
Some e-mails promise wealth, perhaps in the form of jewels trapped in the bank box of a deceased dictator, but later require victims to wire "fees" for paperwork or insurance.
It is preying on the less intelligent but unless your IQ resides under 90 then you're just greedy, IMO
The dating scams I have more of a problem with because they are preying on the weak lonely.
Dating scams promise love, but eventually the sweetheart needs cash. The most sophisticated lure investors to view venture opportunities in foreign lands -- and persuade them, over fake business meetings, to sink millions.
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"My fiancee is there in Lagos. . . . She is an American . . . she speaks with a heavy African accent after being there for two years," one smitten American wrote to the U.S. Consulate in Lagos, pleading for help. "I have attempted to send her money so that she can leave the country, and both times the guy at Western Union stole the money."
After a little while it should become evident that they're being scammed though.
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"There is another thing scammers always say in Nigeria," Banjo said, "that every day, another maga is born in America."
Too true.
Worldwide Slump Makes Nigeria's Online Scammers Work That Much Harder
By Karin Brulliard
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, August 7, 2009
LAGOS, Nigeria -- Online swindling takes dedication even in the best of times, the scammer said earnestly.
EVERYTHING MUST GO! WE'VE GOT DICTATOR DIAMONDS, DICTATOR GOLD, LOTTERY WINNINGS AND SO MUCH MORE!!!! I CANT BELIEVE HOW INSANE I AM!! MY WIFE WONT SPEAK TO ME BECAUSE I'M LOSING MONEY!!!! SHE DOESN'T UNDERSTAND THAT I HAVE TO CLEAR OUT THE WAREHOUSE!!! JUST RESPOND TO THIS EMAIL AND WE'LL GIVE YOU THE ADDRESS TO SEND YOUR INITIAL INVESTMENT TO!!! I'MMMMMMM CRAZY BANJO!!! SEND MONEY TO-DAY!! :crazy::crazy:
I have mixed emotions on some of this. On one hand I see it as a bad crime to get money this way. On the other hand I see it as some idiotic greedy bastard getting what they deserve. If you are so stupid as to fall for one of these things you deserve what you get. Sort of a financial Darwinism.
Wireless Internet has allowed scammers to move from cybercafes into private residences to churn out e-mails. Nigerian scammers are mostly young men who learn from one another, often as apprentices of cartel-like schemes.
"I'm selling greed," said Felix, 29, an e-mail swindler. "You didn't apply for any lotto, and all of a sudden you just see a mail in your mailbox that you're going to win money? That means you have to be greedy."
Some e-mails promise wealth, perhaps in the form of jewels trapped in the bank box of a deceased dictator, but later require victims to wire "fees" for paperwork or insurance.
It is preying on the less intelligent but unless your IQ resides under 90 then you're just greedy, IMO
The dating scams I have more of a problem with because they are preying on the weak lonely.
Dating scams promise love, but eventually the sweetheart needs cash. The most sophisticated lure investors to view venture opportunities in foreign lands -- and persuade them, over fake business meetings, to sink millions.
______________________________________________
"My fiancee is there in Lagos. . . . She is an American . . . she speaks with a heavy African accent after being there for two years," one smitten American wrote to the U.S. Consulate in Lagos, pleading for help. "I have attempted to send her money so that she can leave the country, and both times the guy at Western Union stole the money."
After a little while it should become evident that they're being scammed though.
____________________________________________________________
"There is another thing scammers always say in Nigeria," Banjo said, "that every day, another maga is born in America."
Too true.
