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Spam Government The Courts News

Man Arrested in Australia Over Nigerian E-mail Scam 346

Posted by CowboyNeal from the urgent-proposals dept.
slasher_14 writes "A 39 year old Sydney man has been arrested over the Nigerian Scam. Simultanious raids were conducted in two homes by police, who siezed computers and documents. Over the last 6 months, Australian police have tracked about 1.5 million dollars. The man faces Dubbo Local court today, charged with 17 offenses." Hopefully this means my inbox will be seeing less of these e-mails.
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Man Arrested in Australia Over Nigerian E-mail Scam More

Man Arrested in Australia Over Nigerian E-mail Scam

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  • Thank God we're seeing more of this (Score:5, Interesting)

    by CrackHappy ( 625183 ) * on Thursday October 30, 2003 @08:04PM (#7353990) Journal
    It's so nice to see that governments and police forces are finally able to catch up to these kinds of spammers and criminals to get them out of my damned inbox. I almost wonder if it wouldn't be cool for a Internet task force to be developed, completely divorced from any government that would try to track these kinds of people down and turn them in to local authorities. Any volunteers?

    • Re:Thank God we're seeing more of this (Score:5, Interesting)

      by rf0 ( 159958 ) <rghf@fsck.me.uk> on Thursday October 30, 2003 @08:08PM (#7354025) Homepage
      These 419 scams (named after the nigerian police code) can be dangerous. There have been reports of where people have actually gone to foreign countries and then been kidnapped forcing the familes to pay a ransom note.

      Rus
      • It is that easy to get a hot chick with money? Forget about those rich russina woman, I am going American!

      • Re:Thank God we're seeing more of this (Score:5, Funny)

        by hendridm ( 302246 ) * on Thursday October 30, 2003 @08:43PM (#7354255) Homepage

        > These 419 scams (named after the nigerian police code) can be dangerous. There have been reports of where people have actually gone to foreign countries and then been kidnapped forcing the familes to pay a ransom note.

        Sounds like natural selection to me. I'm surprised they figured out how to book the plane ticket.

        • Re:Thank God we're seeing more of this (Score:5, Informative)

          by rifter ( 147452 ) on Thursday October 30, 2003 @10:37PM (#7354907) Homepage

          " > These 419 scams (named after the nigerian police code) can be dangerous. There have been reports of where people have actually gone to foreign countries and then been kidnapped forcing the familes to pay a ransom note."

          Sounds like natural selection to me. I'm surprised they figured out how to book the plane ticket.

          Discovery channel had a special on these, and said they actually predated fax machines. Originally the scams were sent by first class mail (so, no, putting a stamp on spam will not stop it, at least in this case), then by international fax (again expensive) when fax machines were invented, then by email when that became available.

          Then they explained that people were actually paying these spammers and going to foreign countries to meet them at the bank, etc. As if that was not bad enough, they interviewed a successful businessman and multimillionaire who gave them every last dime of his cash over a period of years! I guess that proves you don't have to be smart or even hard working to become a rich businessman in the US (though I haven't made it yet, and would not give the Nigerian spammers a dime). :P

    • It's so nice to see that governments and police forces are finally able to catch up to these kinds of spammers and criminals

      KILL THE SPAMMERS!!! But leave dictators alone, they're none of our business!!! What a pathetic world we live in...(Sarcasm)

    • Re:Thank God we're seeing more of this (Score:5, Funny)

      by t0ny ( 590331 ) on Friday October 31, 2003 @12:48AM (#7355607)
      Hopefully this means my inbox will be seeing less of these e-mails.

      Dont worry, you can still naturally enlarge your breasts.

      BTW, does selling natural breast enlargement to male computer users seem redundant to anybody else?

  • Bit player (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Carnildo ( 712617 ) on Thursday October 30, 2003 @08:04PM (#7353997) Homepage Journal
    17 offenses? $1.5 million? Sounds like he's a small-time wannabe. Don't expect any noticable reduction in the number of scams in your mailbox.
    • Why does that seem small? $1.5 million's a lot of money. Plus there was a few pieces of property and some automobiles. Where are you getting your numbers from that lead you to believe that this guy's small?

      • Re:Bit player (Score:3, Funny)

        by cdrudge ( 68377 )
        Isn't $1.5 million AUD is like, what, close to $10 US these days?

        • Re:Bit player (Score:3, Informative)

          by sholden ( 12227 )
          Since the US dollar tumbled recently, those jokes just aren't as funny.

          A year ago AU$1.5 million AUD was US$10 or so. "these days" though, it's worth a little over US$1 million.

          What I find humorous about the story is that it happened in Nyngan [webshots.com], of all places.

          • Lets be frank - you and I both know there's nothing else to do in Nyngan. The guy is facing court in Dubbo too. I remember last time I was in Dubbo. *shudder*

            YLFI

            P.S. Surprised that the digital camera has penetrated to that part of the country.

          • Re:Bit player (Score:2, Funny)

            by bendude ( 135729 )
            Informative !?!?!

            He's making figures up.

            au$1,500,000.00 was worth at least us$12.70 this time last year.

            What is it they say? Lies, Damn Lies and Finance Reports?

      • Re:Bit player (Score:5, Insightful)

        by frankthechicken ( 607647 ) on Thursday October 30, 2003 @09:10PM (#7354381) Journal
        It's not just the money, it's the fact there were that many people willing to give up information so easily that makes it so scary. It just shows why security is so bloody hard to maintain. You cannot ever have a truly secure system whilst relying on people who don't know the power/value of their OWN personal information, let alone someone else's.
    • "In the last six months, we've probably tracked about $1.5 million," Inspector Thommeny told reporters in Sydney.

      So basically, that is all they've actually got him for.
      He is supposed to have homes in London, a couple in Sydney, and one in country NSW.
      They will never be able to unravel it all, unless he outright fesses up.
    • "17 offenses? $1.5 million? Sounds like he's a small-time wannabe."

      Depends. Are we talking about total, or are we just talking about what the cops can prove?

    • Re:Bit player (Score:3, Insightful)

      by nordicfrost ( 118437 )
      The con artists of the Nigerian scams don't actually make a lot of money. The millions and millions of dollars they claim to have don't exist of course, and they make money by saying they need "5000 USD for plane tickets, 1000 for charges when moving the money" etc.

      It is rare for these scams to bring in more than some thousands per sucker. If they strike gold, the sucker would actually go to Nigeria of whereever, be kidnapped and held for ransom. That's where the big bucks is in this buisness.

  • Wait a minute ... (Score:5, Funny)

    by SuperDuG ( 134989 ) <[be] [at] [eclec.tk]> on Thursday October 30, 2003 @08:05PM (#7354000) Homepage Journal
    They can't seize that money, part of that 1.5 million is supposed to be mine. Dammit I got the emails to prove it too!

  • Typical (Score:3)

    by ergonal ( 609484 ) on Thursday October 30, 2003 @08:05PM (#7354002)
    Let's feed him to the lions at the Western Plains Zoo (in Dubbo). ;)

  • Victims (Score:2, Redundant)

    by rf0 ( 159958 )
    Of course this man is in the wrong and like all spammers should be chucked out with the trash however you have to wonder how stupid some of the victims are. If something looks to good to be true it probably is.

  • At the end of my last year in college, my roommate was kicking around my office reading e-mail. He recieved the Nigerian money laundering e-mail and, since he was trying to kill time, he looked up the FBI hotline number and phoned in a report of suspicious foreign money launderers. The Feds asked him for his phone number and address, and said that they would investigate it further. We were expecting the FBI to drop by the house to see some of the evidence, but they never did...

    However, they clearly thought

  • A kindly request for help (Score:5, Funny)

    by omar.sahal ( 687649 ) * on Thursday October 30, 2003 @08:06PM (#7354018) Homepage Journal
    TO: Slashdot.org community

    Dear Sirs Madams
    "I am Mrs. Mariam Abacha, the widow of Gen. Sani Abacha, The Late Nigerian Military Head of State. I am presently in distress and under House arrest while my son Mohammed is undergoing trial in Sydney by bribed officials in Australia. He is presently detained in prison custody. The government has frozen all the family account and auctioned all our properties.
    To save the family from total bankruptcy and to save my son I have managed to ship to Europe and Asia through a Shipping company, the sum of US20, 000,000.00 respectively kept by my late husband."
    You assistance is requested as a non-Nigerian citizen to assist in countering this crime. I will pay large sums in order to pay these bribed officials of Australia, in order to free my son. You will be paid most handsomely to aid in the transfer of these monies. If the funds can be transferred to your name, in your United States account, then you can forward the funds as directed by my associates. In exchange for your accommodating services I would agree to allow you to retain 10%, or US$4 million of this amount.
    However, to be a legitimate transferee of these moneys according to Nigerian law, you must presently be a depositor of at least US$100,000 in a Nigerian bank which is regulated by the Central Bank of Nigeria.
    If it will be possible for you to assist us, we would be most grateful. We suggest that you meet with us in person in Lagos, and that during your visit I introduce you to the representatives of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company, as well as with certain officials of the Central Bank of Nigeria.
    Please call me at your earliest convenience at [Phone Number]. 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.

    • Welcome! (Score:3, Funny)

      by GQuon ( 643387 )
      The Lord's peace be with you!
      I brother Fede Raltra working at a mission in the Decom district, Lagos, Nigeria. I am also the organizer of the annual Nigerian email conference [j-walk.com]. You are hereby cordially invited to the conference.

      To register, send your address, daytime telephone numbe, name of your contact in Amsterdam, and the registration fee to me (the address on the page is out-dated):
      Nigerian EMail Conference
      c/o Fede Raltra
      Decom Mission
      600 Penn. Av. N. W.
      Wa Shing
      Ton D. C. 20580
      Lagos
      Nigeria

    • Fake! (Score:4, Funny)

      by quacking duck ( 607555 ) on Thursday October 30, 2003 @08:52PM (#7354303)
      I call fake. It wasn't written in ALL CAPS.
    • Hmm, 10% of M$20 = M$4 - sounds like authentic Nigerian math to me.
    • To: Mr. Bello Gambari, Esq.
      From: Josephine March
      Subject: RE: Urgent and Confidential Business Proposal
      Date: Sat, 22 Dec 2001 12:14:53 GMT

      Dear Sir:

      I am in receipt of an urgent communication from your client, Mrs. Miriam Abacha, widow of the late General Abacha. I regret to inform you that I find it impossible to comply with Mrs. Abacha's request that I transmit to you my bank account and credit card numbers.

      I was incredibly moved by the plight of Mrs. Abacha, who has been molested, policed, and frozen!! T

  • Other news: (Score:4, Funny)

    by QEDog ( 610238 ) on Thursday October 30, 2003 @08:07PM (#7354023)
    Man arrested for penis enlargement scam. 17 millions of penis inches were found during the raid...

  • Huh (Score:2)

    by smoondog ( 85133 )
    I'm surprised this guy is from Australia. I'm sure there are *a lot* of other scammers out there. There are lots of flavors of nigerian scam emails out there and they all (in my observation) have had horrible typographic errors and poor grammer. (I know, mine is bad, too, but at least I'm not the brother of the king of whatchamaplace) I assume this guy was an early scammer who successfully hit a few people.

    -Sean
  • Like... the centre of 419 spamming is Amsterdam and London AFAIK, and it's such a large business that arresting one guy is pretty much meaningless.

    PCs should simply come with warning stickers: "ATTENTION: if anyone offers you money, advice on making money, or easy ways to make money, HE IS A CROOK. (if you don't believe us, please send $1000 to us in small bills IMMEDIATELY to learn it the hard way.)"

  • The US Secret Services pages on this scam: (Score:5, Informative)

    by ron_ivi ( 607351 ) <sdotno@NOSpAM.cheapcomplexdevices.com> on Thursday October 30, 2003 @08:17PM (#7354089)
    http://www.secretservice.gov/alert419.shtml "The Financial Crimes Division of the Secret Service receives approximately 100 telephone calls from victims/potential victims and 300-500 pieces of related correspondence per day."
    • "We get a lot of mail complaining about people committing crimes via email. But since we're only really interested in arresting terrorists and drug dealers, we don't have the resources to go after these people. And even if we did, we think this is just an aggressive sales model, or so our Wall Street overlords tell us."

  • Alright! (Score:4, Funny)

    by EverDense ( 575518 ) on Thursday October 30, 2003 @08:18PM (#7354097) Homepage
    Send me AUD$50 and I'll hit him for you...

    honest!

  • Effect on the local economy? (Score:4, Funny)

    by vk2tds ( 175334 ) on Thursday October 30, 2003 @08:19PM (#7354098)
    Has anyone concidered how bad this might be for the local economy. After all, the $1.5M in the bank account was probably the only reason that the bank was even open...

    I am just concerned how the local economy is going to handle so much less money coming in. This was probably 80% of the business at the bank :-)

    Darryl

    • Re:Effect on the local economy? (Score:4)

      by hayden ( 9724 ) on Thursday October 30, 2003 @08:50PM (#7354295)
      This was probably 80% of the business at the bank
      Bank, regional Australia?

      I think the phrase you are looking for is "What bank?"

    • Check out http://www.nyngan.com/ for some real funny stuff. I especially love the fact that it's in the "Bogan" shire (Aussie joke). I visited a friend there a few weeks ago and gave him heaps about it. Especially the "Bogan Catchment Area". He never did tell me how many bogans they caught there.

      Anyway, $1.5M is probably many times the combined income of all residents of Nyngan. I have no idea why it's called the "Central West" in the article. Nyngan IS the "Dead Centre" of NSW. I'm surprised they e

  • I am with the Police Unit who conducted this raid. (Score:4, Funny)

    by orichter ( 60340 ) on Thursday October 30, 2003 @08:23PM (#7354127)
    We currently have this 1.5 Million dollars and are trying to return it to its rightful owners. If you have been subjected to this evil Nigerian money scam, please send your Name, Social Security Number, Date of Birth, and the amount stolen from you along with a bank account number where we can return your funds. Our e-mail address is u.r.sucker@hotmail.com. Please help us to right this terrible wrong:)

  • Not the *only* person.... (Score:5, Informative)

    by MrClever ( 70766 ) on Thursday October 30, 2003 @08:24PM (#7354133) Homepage

    Here in the land of Oz, last night's broadcast news (and repeated this morning and again a few minutes ago on the mid-day news), this Australian arrest was part of multi-national raid involving basically every continent except Antarctica!!

    IIRC some of the noteable arrests occured in Cairo, Amsterdam, Australia, Malaysia and Singapore. This was (is??) a global scam, but evidence is stacking up to suggest this Australian connection was one of the key players (not merely a pawn).

  • Name? (Score:4, Funny)

    by Lord_Dweomer ( 648696 ) on Thursday October 30, 2003 @08:25PM (#7354144) Homepage
    I didn't RTFA, but was his name by any chance Prince Wandube Muntumbo? I'm still waiting for a check from him.

  • What? (Score:2)

    by fizban ( 58094 )
    1.5 million??? You mean there are actually people in this world who own computers and are stupid enough to fall for this shit? I weep for the human race.

  • Oh, the typos... (Score:4, Funny)

    by Fnkmaster ( 89084 ) on Thursday October 30, 2003 @08:30PM (#7354184)
    Do these people who mimic the 419 scams also mimic the atrocious spelling, typos and poor command of the english language in most of the Nigerian scam emails I get? I just wonder how an Australian dude could pull off a _true_ Nigerian scam unless he gets all those little details just right.
    • One would hope so - that's what makes it a good scam. Note there are only two kinds of scam:

      1) I'm smart. You're smart, the rest of the world is dumb. Let's take their money.
      2) I'm dumb. You're smart. Take my money.

      Case 2 is a much easier sell, especially if I provide objective proof like bad spelling and poor command of the English language.

      Once I convince the mark I am stupid, I change his calculus from "I risk $100K to get $4M. I might lose $100K." to "this sap will deposit $20M in my bank account

  • Nope (Score:2)

    by heli0 ( 659560 )
    Australian police have tracked about 1.5 million dollars.
    "Hopefully this means my inbox will be seeing less of these e-mails."

    After reading that figure the number of people entering this racket has probably increased.

  • Justice (Score:3, Funny)

    by BCW2 ( 168187 ) on Thursday October 30, 2003 @08:49PM (#7354286) Journal
    Bailif whack his pee pee.

    (with apologies to Cheech & Chong)

  • using WHOIS (Score:5, Interesting)

    by dnahelix ( 598670 ) <slashdotispieceofshit@shithome.com> on Thursday October 30, 2003 @08:51PM (#7354302)
    I got this email this morning...

    Hello,Previously you had requested some information online in regards to potentially earning additional income from home.Our company Travelogia(one of the fastest growing companies in North America) has ...[bulk edited out - you get the idea] ... earning additional income, I will not waste your time. Remember, it won't cost you a dime to check us out...sure might cost you an absolute fortune not to! http://www.ProTravelBiz.com Sincerely Robert Holman
    it was from "abeulicnta@ebay.com" <ihmribcyph@sina.com> which is messed up because it's like a fake email within a fake email. Of course, it was formatted the same way you see here, no correct breaks or anything. Anyway, I go look up the website name on register.com's WHOIS feature. (Note: I had to hit refresh several times before I got more than a 'timeout') Well, this is what I got! (in the form of a gif image, go figure)

    Organization:
    Robert L. Holman II
    Robert Holman II
    4617 E Holiday Estate Court
    Granbury, TX 76049
    US
    Phone: (817) 326-6107
    Fax..: (817) 326-5066
    Email: Robert@Robert-Holman.com

    Registrar Name....: enom.com
    Registrar Whois...: whois.enom.com
    Registrar Homepage: http://www.enom.com

    Domain Name: PROTRAVELBIZ.COM

    Created on............: Mon, Oct 27, 2003 [Note the very recent creation date]
    Expires on............: Wed, Oct 27, 2004
    Record last updated on: Mon, Oct 27, 2003

    etc, etc...


    So I called him, apparently at his house, judging by the unceremonious, 'yeah this is Robert' answer. I confirmed it was Robert Holman and then proceeded to tell him I did not appreaciate his SPAM and he needed to at least put an opt out and use his real email address on the return. He stammered as he tried to tell me he could prove I 'opted-in' which is total bullshit. I told him if I got any more mail from him I was going to sue him.

    So, my fellow SPAM-hating brethren and sistren, use WHOIS on register.com [register.com] to fight back at these jerks.

    I also used WHOIS to find out who was sending me bogus eBay login screens.

    • whois aint (Score:3, Interesting)

      by jefu ( 53450 )
      Increasingly I'm finding that whois (through any number of domain registrars) by command line or on the web, is returning no information at all. Or information that is of no use. (Like email at fake addresses, fake phone numbers and the like.)

      And the fact that the organization holding the ".org" domain (ISOC) is completely unwilling to chase down .org spammers, scammers and sleazeballs is all the more annoying. Their response to me when I tried to complain about a spammer using a .org domain (with no

      • The almighty buck has spoken.

      • Re:whois aint (Score:3, Informative)

        by nchip ( 28683 )
        (Like email at fake addresses, fake phone numbers and the like.)

        Remember that ICANN requires registrar to terminate any domain in 14 days if whois information is bogus. So the spammers have few choices:

        1: use correct info and get tracked.
        2: use fake info and luse the domain
        3: use somene elses info and get sued for identity theft

        Their response to me when I tried to complain about a spammer using a .org domain (with no whois info)

        What was the domain anyway?

        Are you sure you use the right whois server?

    • Re:using WHOIS (Score:3, Informative)

      by pipingguy ( 566974 )
      www.dnsstuff.com [dnsstuff.com]
    • Robert Holman II
      4617 E Holiday Estate Court
      Granbury, TX 76049
      US
      Phone: (817) 326-6107
      Fax..: (817) 326-5066

      Gee, Granbury is just a few miles southwest of Ft. Worth, TX. Think there might be a few trick or treaters showing up at this slimeball's door tomorrow night?

      And no one would even think of going to a local bookstore and grab a subscription postcard from all the magazines on the rack, fill in this slimeball's name and mail them in. Would they?

      WOULD THEY??
    • This sort of thing is a good start, but what really needs to happen is that the names of people who send spammers money needs to be published on a page of shame, so that they may be harrassed
  • This is a site [rica.net] that was setup to fight the scam and to educate people.

  • I wonder if he'll need help getting his AU$1.5m... (Score:3, Funny)

    by Osrin ( 599427 ) on Thursday October 30, 2003 @09:09PM (#7354370) Homepage
    ... moved out of Australia. Maybe I should email him my bank details.
  • The man faces Dubbo Local court today
    Dubbo Local court ??? Is that aussie for "Kangaroo Court" ????
    • It's a rural area about 5 hours west of Sydney. Chiefly known for its Western Plains Zoo, which has heaps of African animals. The US equivalent would be some minor whistlestop in Texas.
  • Dear My name is Mr.Mark Adams a retired Colonel in the Liberian Army, a close aide and confidant of Mr. Charles Taylor, the former Liberian president.

    During the civil war in Sierra Leone (a neighbouring African country) that lasted several years, the rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF), which fought against the legitimate Sierra Leone government, was actively supported by former President Charles Taylor on account of his differences with the Sierra Leone president. He provided training bases, military a
  • Dear Friend.

    I am Mrs. Mariam Sese-Seko widow of late President
    Mobutu Sese-Seko of Zaire. Now known as Democratic
    Republic of Congo (drc). I received your company
    profile from the Chambers of Commerce in Morocco.

    I am moved to write you this letter, this was in
    confidence considering my present circumstance
    and situation. I escaped along with my husband
    and two of our sons David and Mukoko out of
    Democratic Republic of Congo (drc) to Abidjan,
    Cote d'ivoire where my family and I settled, while
    we later moved to set
  • For my money laundering service [packetvision.net].

    Note: It's a joke... laugh.

  • All jokes aside (Score:5, Interesting)

    by t0qer ( 230538 ) on Thursday October 30, 2003 @09:42PM (#7354565) Homepage Journal
    My friend's grandmother has this neighbor who was sort of the neighborhood whacko (schizophenia, medicated) He lived with his dad up until the time his father died and the estate was split up amungst the surviving siblings.

    Well, he had a trusting nature about him, almost anyone could be his friend. Since he had been a roadie for many bands (Grateful Dead, Fleetwood Mac to name a few) for the price of getting him stoned you could listen to him go on for hours about his days as a roadie, while you fished out of his carp stocked green algae swimming pool. Although he was crazy, he was a fun guy to be around if you had a few hours to kill.

    So here he was with all this money from his families estate. The house was sold, so he bought himself a luxery van to live out of. The rest of the money he put into money market accounts and had planned to live out the rest of his days cruising to concerts and playing his guitar out of the back of his van.

    Tradgedy struck when the nigerian e-mail scam hit his inbox. He fell for it hook line and sinker. After arranging with the english accennted guy on the other end of the phone line, they agreed to meet in amsterdam to facilitate the transfer of funds (which was through cashiers check)

    Even after he got off the phone, even when he was going to the bank, even when he stepped off the plane his sanity nagged, no pleaded with him "This is a scam Kim, please just go home". Sanity had never gotten him anywhere so he just ignored it.

    He met the guy at some cannibus club, and after a few nice bowls of fine green, his sanity returned to his subconciousness, where it layed dormant most of the time. He handed the man the cashier check for $200,000 with full confidence he was doing the smart thing with his money.

    Once returning to the states he tried dialing the number the man had given him, disconnected. He tried the e-mail address, no reply. 3 months after he had pissed away $200,000 on a cashier check and a handshake, he finally told his friends what had happened.

    I posted this somewhere before on the nigerian scam, a lot of people responded "Serves him right for being stupid with his money" I don't agree with them though. We're talking about a guy with the emotional maturity of a 9 year old.

    The same mentality that would perform this scam on weak minded and lonely adults is the same mentality that would take advantage of a little kid. Spare me the "Theives code of honor" I hope this guy gets life.

    • Indeed (Score:3, Interesting)

      by sbszine ( 633428 )
      Great post. People often say "you'd have to be insane to fall for that" or "you'd have to be an idiot to fall for that", and it may well be true. It would certainly explain the popularity of spamming and scamming.

      There are plenty of people out there with Downs Syndrome or a low IQ or a mental illness thats make them gullible, and some percentage of them must have access to the internet.

  • This is Hilarious... (Score:3, Funny)

    by Mister Transistor ( 259842 ) on Thursday October 30, 2003 @11:12PM (#7355102) Journal
    An old high school buddy called me about 2 weeks ago. His voice was all hushed, and he asked me if I knew anything about getting a bank account set up in a fake name.

    Well, I thought about it for about 3 seconds, and started snickering. I said to him, is this, by any chance, for someone wanting to bring funds into the U.S.? He said yes...

    I started to laugh out loud. I said to him, guess what, guy... You've got scam! I explained the 419 scam to him, and started to quote one (approximately) from memory. "Sound Familiar?" I asked him. Sheepishly, he said yes.

    I have received about 50 of these so far, and I forward them to the FTC, with "No Financial Loss" heading up a copy of the email. They won't reply, but they will add it to their gallery of rogues. I hope this guy was one of the ones I turned in...

  • I thought the nigerian scam was along the lines of "I need to deposit money in your account" - the article talks about claims "you've won the lottery!"... can't say I've ever got that one.
  • And as punishment for his crimes, the man will be forced to live in Dubbo for the rest of his life... :)
  • Just goes to show that we already have the resources to stand up to spam.

    These people are committing fraud, plain and simple. Fraud is a serious crime, and the bigger the distances, the more serious it becomes.

    While we may be getting a lot of spam nowadays, expect that to fall off sharply as law enforcement, public awareness, and vigilance makes entering this business too costly for the average Joe to survive for long.

    The only surviving spammers will be those who are semi-legitimate, or on such a small s

  • These guys were actually quite dangerous (Score:3, Informative)

    by Fantastic Lad ( 198284 ) on Friday October 31, 2003 @06:58AM (#7356721)
    This scam has been pulled off with many incrementing steps. . ,

    "Thank you for your $10,000, but now we need another $8,000 because of this new snag."

    Worry of offending and thus losing the investment/s already made, lures people into upping the ante many times, probably while their stomach juices become increasingly more acidic and they tell themselves ever larger lies so as to be reassured that they are not being ripped off.

    In some cases, people have finally been invited/persuaded to fly into Nigeria to settle the matter, (or wherever the scam is based), and have there been kidnapped and held for ransom.

    There are dangerous, organized and well-funded people behind this scam. I hear they didn't just arrest some asshole in Australia, but an international ring of assholes. May they burn together in flaming tar for a thousand years.

    Somebody here already noted. . . "You can't scam an honest person." --Unfortunately, this is not true. I know people who would from their kindness want to loan money with no hope or desire for reward in order to help somebody out.

    Greed is certainly a big, big lure, but Vigilance and Knowledge are also required to ensure safety. I have a rule of thumb: "Never help a greedy person. Never help those who won't help themselves." --Rendering help to a selfish person means there is no chance of the favor being returned to you or anybody else, thus any energy spent in this way is simply sucked out of circulation. Pointless. "Pay It Forward" works wonderfully, but only if people actively avoid assholes and vampires.


    -FL

  • similar scams (Score:5, Interesting)

    by golgotha007 ( 62687 ) on Friday October 31, 2003 @06:59AM (#7356727)
    this 'nigerian spam' idea has appeared in other forms as well.

    i'm trying to sell my car and posted it on a few free car sales websites. so far, i've received 4 of emails exactly like this:

    "We have a client who is interested in purchasing
    your ( 2000 vw gti vr6 glx ) for the price of $( 14,500 ).Please forward me your final asking price "

    of course, i then reply with the price confirmation, but then i get this:

    "Hello,
    Thanks a lot for your mail and the information, also for all your efforts towards making this transaction a success, i really love it and wish to buy as soon as possible. Anyway, this is how we are going to seal this transaction there is an associate of mine in the US who is owing me $19,800 i am going to instruct him to send you a cashier's check for that amount,and when it clears your bank you can now send my balance by Westernunion. Although i know that the value of the check is more than the price of the 2000 VW GTI VR6 GLX, but i am willing to trust you with my balance So if this offer is acceptable to you,let me have your contact information so that i can instruct my associate to send you a check,that is your name,address and phone number Please get back to me as soon as soon as you get this mail so that i can know your decision regards this transaction. I am banking on my balance so that i will be able to settle my shippers here in there local office because it is cheaper and faster.My regards to the family
    Banks"

    so this scam basically falls upon the same principle. obviously we all know where this is going, but i decide to play along anyway and sent him a bogus PO box to send the check to.

    the next email was this:
    "Thanks so much for the mail and the rightful information. Anyway, i just want you to know that what is required is your physical address and phone number, so as to deliver the payment to you in person. So, do well to let me have your Full name, physical address and phone number, in order to get the payment to you as soon as possible. And what do you mean by "terrifc deal"?. Waiting to hear back from you soon. Thank you and God bless.
    Regards
    Banks"

    my question: why does he need my physical address and phone number? it's obvious at this point he will let me know about some snag and that i need to send him some money for whatever reason.

    on a side note, i am selling my Volkswagen GTI VR6 GLX [ventura.nu] if anyone is interested.

    so, people selling their autos online, be wary of this scam.

  • The obligatory ... (Score:3, Funny)

    by rollingcalf ( 605357 ) on Friday October 31, 2003 @07:06AM (#7356746)
    In Soviet Russia, YOU send email scams to Nigeria!

  • The ideal punishment (Score:3, Insightful)

    by mnmn ( 145599 ) on Friday October 31, 2003 @10:10AM (#7357962) Homepage
    The Aussi courts should really let the guy go. They should just release his picture, name, address, phone number, addresses of his relatives and friends, the name of his college, and they should track him and keep the public updated about his whereabouts. The ensuing witchhunt will demonstrate the public's true willingness to put in effort to get rid of spam.

    If this was Saudi Arabia, they would tie him to a post and let anyone who has received more than 1000 emails in one day give this guy a bonk in the nose. I know I would pity him real soon.

  • Want more background? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Cruciform ( 42896 ) on Friday October 31, 2003 @11:38AM (#7359158) Homepage
    More info on the Nigerian scam at Snopes [snopes.com].

  • People falling for this kind of scam (Score:3, Funny)

    by cra ( 172225 ) on Friday October 31, 2003 @12:28PM (#7359848) Homepage
    People falling for this kind of scam just confirms the fact that hydrogen and stupidity are the two most common elements. Not necessarily in the listed order I might add.

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