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Spam

"Nigerian" Spammer Arrested 241

Posted by CmdrTaco from the sad-that-this-is-a-genre-now dept.
Roger_Wilco writes "According to The Globe and Mail, a "Nigerian" spammer has been charged with with first-degree attempted larceny. Hopefully we'll get a few less of that spam now."
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

"Nigerian" Spammer Arrested More

"Nigerian" Spammer Arrested

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  • Check out the hilarious Nigerian Spam responses at (Score:5, Interesting)

    by i_want_you_to_throw_ ( 559379 ) * on Thursday November 06, 2003 @04:41PM (#7411466) Journal
    TheSpamLetters.com [thespamletters.com]. The guy who runs the site spends time writing back people who send him spam and has some great ones related to Nigerian Spam [thespamletters.com]. He keeps a running documentation of the give and take. It's a really good read if you need a laugh.

    Really funny is this one where the alleged Nigerian is requesting contact info and the guy sends him the phone numbers for the Secret Service division [thespamletters.com] that handles the Nigerian Scam. Priceless. He never heard back from the alleged Nigerian after that.
    • Yes, the sex ones are remarkably funny as well.
    • On another interesting note, Jonathan Land (who runs thespamletters.com) is a onetime member of Negativland. The name is just a coincedence.
    • i helped him out and i made a bundle! with the money, i bought a great house with a fantastic mortgage. then i married a beautiful russian bride, and i pleasure her with my surgically enlarged, viagra driven member.
    • This is slightly off topic, but

      I checked out the site, and while funny, the letters where he gets no replies don't compare to the book "Letters from a Nut" by Ted Nancy. You can find it at Amazon (or other online seller's I'm sure), including some page previews with the letters he writes and the responses he gets.

      I know it's not spam, but Ted Nancy's letters are *far* more clever than the spam responses this guy is writing. Funny, yes. But without the dialogue with the spammer, they really lose a lot.
    • Although the site can be funny, I must say those who replied and never got any answer back from the spammer are those that truly wasted time. A spammer often sends huge masses of mail where each mail just take a second or so to send, and usually don't supply a valid reply address. Then these guys sit down, taking their time to write a 3 pages long reply that no one except those visiting TheSpamLetters.com will read.
    • I replied to these guys for a while and actually took a virtual trip to Abidjan [warmfusion.com] to meet one of these scam artists. It took way too much time (doing the fake Yahoo news [206.67.47.69] stories [206.67.47.69]), but was fun while it lasted.
    • Hello American friend. I have recently been arrested, and need to come up with bail.

      In return for lending me $5,000 - the amount of my bail - I will be happy to repay you $50,000 once you help me transfer my embezzeled money from Nigeria...

    • A couple of months ago, I got a Nigerian email which had the usual story of a banker who was killed in a plane crash (flight number and date provided) etc etc etc. What was unusual was that the the email, which was sent to my .ie email address, said "Mr. X, who was Irish, was killed on flight blah blah".

      Now, Nigerian spammers don't usually take the trouble of figuring out the nationality of their potential victims. So, my curiosity aroused, I decided to investigate.

      Google is your friend. I punched in the

  • We finally got one? (Score:4, Funny)

    by smoyer ( 108342 ) <smoyer64@g[ ]l.com ['mai' in gap]> on Thursday November 06, 2003 @04:42PM (#7411470)
    Only 1,000,000 more to go!
    • Only 1,000,000 more to go!
      Not atall. He was one of the biggest Nigerian spammers (if not the biggest!), and even IF there's 1,000,000 more to go, it's still one less, which can only be a good thing.
      • Sounds like the drug war.

        • Re:We finally got one? (Score:5, Insightful)

          by Frymaster ( 171343 ) on Thursday November 06, 2003 @05:11PM (#7411795) Homepage Journal
          exactly!

          we had a war on drugs. there are still drugs. we had a war on terrorism. didn't stop that either. why should a war on spam fare any better?

          the problem with all these wars is that they are supply-side. as long as there is a demand, there were will be a supplier. fine the suppliers, arrest the suppliers... hell, kill them even. but while there still exist the droves of doe-eyed sheep (mix those metaphors!) who are willing to buy "spam-vertized" goods and services, there will be spammers.

          this arrest will in the long and medium term acheive nothing.

          • we had a war on drugs. there are still drugs. we had a war on terrorism. the problem with all these wars is that they are supply-side

            I totally agree. Terrorism would go away if we stopped asking for it.

            • Sure you can mod this funny, but when a country has a forign policy where the CIA assasinates elected leaders and was funding dictators and terrorists for the last 50 years, yes, I think you're asking for it.

  • That explains it (Score:5, Funny)

    by Saint Aardvark ( 159009 ) * on Thursday November 06, 2003 @04:43PM (#7411493) Homepage Journal
    No wonder this guy [slashdot.org] never got back to me.

    Shame, really. I was looking forward to a long, hard talk about things with him...

  • But I think this is appropriate.

    WOOT!

  • You can't arrest him! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Audent ( 35893 ) <audent.ilovebiscuits@com> on Thursday November 06, 2003 @04:44PM (#7411498) Homepage
    That guy owes me $US45,000,000!

    aw, sheesh... now how am I gonna pay my SCO licence?

  • Want to know what happens if you reply to 419s? (Score:4, Informative)

    by Chilliwilli ( 114962 ) <tom.rathbone@NosPAM.gmail.com> on Thursday November 06, 2003 @04:44PM (#7411500)
    Check out EbolaMonkeyMan [ebolamonkeyman.com] for a glimpse into the mind of scammers and the level of intelligence required to believe and reply to them.

  • A few less responses? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by yellowstone ( 62484 ) on Thursday November 06, 2003 @04:45PM (#7411515) Homepage Journal
    Hopefully we'll get a few less of that spam now.
    The Nigerian scam stuff is just a drop in the bucket . Most of the junk I get is offers to sell prescription drugs (or "herbal" variants thereof), and the Swen virus (tho it seems like Swen is finally starting to drop off...)
    • According to most US states laws, offering illegal drugs to children will get you much time in the local state pen. What needs to happen is someone needs to find an Atty General that is sick of this junk and is willing to put one of these guys in jail for a long time. Then we convince the spamer to vist the right town.

      Swen is only there because MS hasn't bothered to recall all the old windows install CDs. This means it will keep going till people stop thinking "opps! I've got a virus, I'll just reload".

  • Damn! (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    How is he going to transfer all that money to my account if he goes to prison?!

  • Please help... (Score:3, Funny)

    by Theaetetus ( 590071 ) <.theaetetus.slashdot. .at. .gmail.com.> on Thursday November 06, 2003 @04:45PM (#7411522) Homepage Journal
    I am seeking your assistance to help one Mr. Horvath-Howard, former law-abiding Canuck. Following his arrest, he is seeking legal assistance in transferring his funds out of the country, totaling 87 billion dollars US. If you help to pay his lawyer fees, he will give you twenty percent of his fortune. Please send your credit card information.

    ;)

    -T

  • echo nigerian spamming;wget -qO - http://www.sec.gov/litigation/aljdec/id84bpm.txt|s ed -n '143p'|cut -f "7,13" -d ' '|sed 's/,//g'

  • similar scams (Score:5, Interesting)

    by tarzan353 ( 246515 ) on Thursday November 06, 2003 @04:46PM (#7411536)
    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.
    • Actually, this sounds more like a phony-funds scam. Basically you're written a bad/false cheque, which may not catch up to you until your car is already gone. It's been mentioned here before, wherein somebody sells a laptop, cashes the money-order/cheque and it seems to pass... the item goes out, and then the bank calls saying the MO turned out to be a clever fake.

    • Re:similar scams (Score:4, Informative)

      by cruelworld ( 21187 ) on Thursday November 06, 2003 @04:54PM (#7411634)
      How it works is, you cash the cheque and send him the car and the remaining cash from the cheque. Then several days later the bank calls and says the cheque was a fake and you owe them back the money. So, you're out the money you sent him and the car. http://www.met.police.uk/fraudalert/briefings/june 2003.htm Bastards.

      • Re:similar scams (Score:3, Informative)

        by garyrich ( 30652 )
        Yup, I got that onw when trying to sell a used car. The "certified bank cheque" sent was such an obvious badly forged fugly thing that I can't imagine anyone being taken in by it. Just for grins I showed it to the local bank's manager. In addition to the things I had spotted he pointed out that they got the bank number wrong, many things were in the wrong place, etc. etc.
      • In the UK at least, I heard that you have express clearance available. The banks clearing system is fairly good and most cheques clear in a week. Express clearance produces an irrevocable credit within two to three days.
      • Then several days later the bank calls and says the cheque was a fake and you owe them back the money.

        Banks in the US redeem cheques this liberally? In Brazil, you can only cash a cheque in the particular building the account was made, and signature, serial number, etc. are checked. Or you deposit it in your account, extra balance is considered "pending" until the issuer's bank clears it. From that point on, the money is YOURS, and if the bank fell for it, too bad for them.

    • Re:similar scams - how this one works (Score:4, Informative)

      by dougnaka ( 631080 ) * on Thursday November 06, 2003 @04:59PM (#7411686) Homepage Journal
      This scam hurts the worst of all. This is how it usually goes down. He would really send you a cashiers check for the amount he said. You would deposit it and wait a couple days. Then you'd call the bank, and they'd tell you everything is great. You'd send him the car, and the difference. Then after a few weeks the bank would call you and tell you, 'sorry, that cashier's check was a fraud, we're debiting the amount from your accounts, please bring in X dollars.' And you, my friend, would be completely out of luck. Owing the full amount to the bank, and the scammer would have your car, and the extra money you sent him/her/it.

      IMO, this is the saddest one, because it sounds more legit, and there is practically nothing unsuspecting people can do about to thwart it.

      http://home.rica.net/alphae/419coal/

      • Seems messed up to me. Shouldn't the bank be able to discover it is a fraud BEFORE clearing the money into your account?

        At very least it seems to me there should be a maximum number of days the bank can hold your responsible for, after which the transaction is deemed void or legit.

        Of course the laws are probably written in favor of the banking industry...

      • Re:similar scams - how this one works (Score:5, Interesting)

        by ChangeOnInstall ( 589099 ) on Thursday November 06, 2003 @05:29PM (#7411949)

        This scam hurts the worst of all. This is how it usually goes down. He would really send you a cashiers check for the amount he said. You would deposit it and wait a couple days. Then you'd call the bank, and they'd tell you everything is great. You'd send him the car, and the difference. Then after a few weeks the bank would call you and tell you, 'sorry, that cashier's check was a fraud, we're debiting the amount from your accounts, please bring in X dollars.' And you, my friend, would be completely out of luck. Owing the full amount to the bank, and the scammer would have your car, and the extra money you sent him/her/it.

        I've heard about this one before too when a friend of mine got a similar offer when selling a motorcycle. (Fortunately he was advised of the scam before the bike+money was sent). My question is (to anyone who might know): how can a bank state that the check has "cleared" when it actually a fake. What is the proper state of confirmation for a check such that you are guaranteed that the transaction has been completed? This seems like a problem with our banking procedures. A customer should be able to receive a proper 'transaction complete' acknowledgement from a bank to indicate that his/her liability has ended. After that, if anything goes wrong, it's not the customers problem.

        • Re:similar scams - how this one works (Score:5, Informative)

          by TheTomcat ( 53158 ) on Thursday November 06, 2003 @07:06PM (#7412740) Homepage
          I work for a financial company, but this opinion is mine.

          When doing ACH transfers (ie, when you cash a check at one bank, but the funds come from another), there's a 6 month window where a transaction can be reversed (ie, similar to a credit card chargeback). Most banks will settle within 10 days, but there's really no way of knowing that an ACH will not reverse, until that window has closed. It's usually the backwoods banks run by "Nan and Boyd" that take forever to settle ACH.

          S
        • Its pretty easy - the bank, legally, has to release the funds from the check within five days. If the inbound check is on an out-of-the-country bank, it may take more than that amount of time to clear. So the bank releases funds to you, provisionally. The mistake that people make is in using the point when their balance jumps instead of when the check actually clears.

        • Re:similar scams - how this one works (Score:5, Informative)

          by ShinyBrowncoat ( 692095 ) on Thursday November 06, 2003 @08:37PM (#7413383) Homepage
          From snopes [snopes.com]:

          The scam works because the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) requires banks to make money from cashier's, certified, or teller's checks available in one to five days. Consequently, funds from checks that might not be good are often released into payees' accounts long before the checks have been honored by their issuing banks. High quality forgeries can be bounced back and forth between banks for weeks before anyone catches on to their being worthless, by which time victims have long since wired the "overpayments" to the con artists who have just taken them for a ride.
        • That's what we do in Canadian Banks - ensures a check won't bounce. That's why personal checks are no longer accepted around here(that and the fact debit cards are very widespread - making checks only necessary for business people).

          Kashif

    • Re:similar scams (Score:3, Informative)

      by scarolan ( 644274 )
      The reason they want your physical address is so they can FedEx a check to your location. It will look exactly like a real cashier's check, drawn on USA bank. If you call the bank you'll find that it's a bogus check.

      We get this scam all the time, its the Nigeria v2.0 - basically it goes like this:

      1. Nigerian offers to buy your product but wants to overpay you.
      2. You receive check, ship the goods and send the excess funds to him via western union.
      3. Your check bounces 3 weeks later and the bank deduct

    • here [snopes.com].

      Basically, you get the check, you think it's cleared, release car and money, find out too late that the check was fake.

    • While the appeal of stealing somebody's car and their money at the same time is quite apparent, this scam seems like it would be more effective if the perpetrator kept their ruse more subtle. Buy the car, pay with a counterfeit cashiers check. The overpaying and wanting cash back part may generate cash for the criminal in the process, but it's a definite red flag that something is amiss. A person supposedly owes them $20k but is too lazy to pay it in two separate cashiers checks? Yeah, whatever.

      I can s

      • I believe they work in the foriegn country import/export mumbo jumbo into it to make it sound more legit.

        They can't get the money into the US then out so easy because of tax reasons and money transfer fees, etc etc...

      • The variations I've heard is the person sends the difference back after the cashier's check "clears" but then nobody picks up the boat/motorcycle/car/etc that was originally being sold. So you just walk off with $500 or whatever teh difference was without ever showing your face.
    • You have a car for sale, what extras does it have? Does it have an alarm? What kind of alarm? Where is it kept?

      Believe it or not, people will often give precise details (including alarm and location) to someone promising to see and buy the car tomorrow.

      Do you really think it is still going to be there tomorrow?

    • It only hurts those who are so selfish that they put their greed before commonsense.

      As such anyone conned by the Nigerian scam deserves to be ripped off & the govt should turn a blind eye to then being scammed.

      • DABANSHEE wrote:
        The Nigerian scam is pure karma. It only hurts those who are so selfish that they put their greed before commonsense.

        Yes, but the scam discussed by the post you are replying to is not. The "mark" is just someone trying to sell their old car. The only thing the mark is offered here is their asking price for the car. It's not a case of greed or selfishness here.

        As such anyone conned by the Nigerian scam deserves to be ripped off & the govt should turn a blind eye to then being s

  • Business Opportunity (Score:3, Funny)

    by Txiasaeia ( 581598 ) on Thursday November 06, 2003 @04:46PM (#7411537)
    DEAR MR SPAMMER HELLO

    i am dr zanzibar of the country canada. i would like to introduce you TO A limited time opportunity to become arrested quick. please send five hundred thousand (500,000) of these e-mails to various people around the world so that they will give you money. you will promise to give them many millions of dollars (>$1,000,000) this plan works real good.

    PLEASE IF YOU ARE INTERESTED REPLY BACK TO MY ACCOUNT WITH YOUR PHONE NUMBER AND BANK PIN NUMBER. DO NOT WORRY I ALREADY HAVE YOUR BANK CARD AND AM WAITING TO COMPLETE THE DEAL. I RESPECT YOU AND REALLY LIKE YOU. I HOPE YOU WILL JOIN THIS AMAZING OPPORTUNITY.

    DR. ZANZIBAR, CONCERNED AND ECCENTRIC PERSON.

    • Hello Nigerian Friend
      I am Mr. Horvath-Howard from Canada. As I have recently become in trouble with the law, I am looking to get my millions which I have earned through my dealing out of the country and into Nigeria. I have $50,000,000 sitting in a bank account here, but I need the help of a Nigerian citizen like yourself. If you would help me, I would split the money with you, givng you $25,000,000.

      PLEASE IF YOU ARE INTERESTED REPLY BACK TO MY ACCOUNT WITH YOUR PHONE NUMBER AND BANK PIN NUMBER. I AM
    • DR. ZANZIBAR, CONCERNED AND ECCENTRIC PERSON.

      You play waaaay too much Metal Gear...

      Lah lah something to avoid the lameness filter....

  • hook, line and sinker (Score:3, Insightful)

    by ajax0187 ( 615355 ) on Thursday November 06, 2003 @04:46PM (#7411538)
    You'd think the spammers would be more suspicious of someone that seemed so eager to give them her money. With the rate of reply to these things so low, the spammers might figure that the people who do actually bite are actually trying to shut them down. Ah well...we can dream, can't we?
    • Its probably not an accident that these folks were based in Canada and running their scam against folks in the U.S. Even with countries as close as the U.S. and Canada are, it is notoriously difficult to extradite people for non-violent money crimes like fraud, ponzi schemes, etc. This is especially true with something like the Nigerian money scam where the whole thing is supposed to some big secret with no paper trail of contracts, documented agreements, receipts, etc.
  • Does this mean it's too late to help smuggle that $3 million out of Nigeria?

    Oh, look. Sierra Leone is giving me the same offer. Cool!

  • This happened in my home town (Score:3, Interesting)

    by johnmig ( 638946 ) on Thursday November 06, 2003 @04:48PM (#7411552)
    This is cool. Bethel is a small town (~17K) located in Western CT. Our last big bust (5 yrs ago), was when they shut down the local "health club" after it was noticed that the business hours seemed to peak after 10PM, and all of the exercise equip. was dusty. We don't make the paper often, which is why I like it here.

  • How major is this guy? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Carnildo ( 712617 ) on Thursday November 06, 2003 @04:48PM (#7411553) Homepage Journal
    No mention of how this guy compares to the Australian who was arrested about a week back. I bet he's small potatoes as well.

    The ones they should be going after are the ones in Nigeria -- the scam is the third largest source of foreign currency for that country.

    • The ones they should be going after are the ones in Nigeria -- the scam is the third largest source of foreign currency for that country.

      Really? I find that hard to believe. If I were a Nigerian trying to scam people, I would make the scam complete by claiming to be from a different country, like the Democratic Republic of the Congo, or something...

      Wait a minute--

  • The more you tighten your grip... (Score:5, Funny)

    by BJZQ8 ( 644168 ) on Thursday November 06, 2003 @04:48PM (#7411561) Homepage Journal
    The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more spammers will slip through your fingers.

  • Dammit Dammit Dammit (Score:4, Funny)

    by bobdotorg ( 598873 ) on Thursday November 06, 2003 @04:50PM (#7411584)
    This was the guy who was going to give me millions. I should have known he wasn't a genuine Nigerian when I read his email:

    HON. RAYMOND ETIEBET(DR).

    ATTN: Bobdotorg,

    DEAR SIR

    REQUEST FOR URGENT BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP EH

    FIRST, I MUST SOLICIT YOUR CONFIDENCE IN THIS TRANSACTION. THIS IS VIRTURE OF IT'S NATURE AS BEING UTTERLY CONFIDENTIAL AND TOP SECRET EH.

    WE ARE TOP OFFICIALS OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OF NIGERIA CONTRACT REVIEW PANEL WHO ARE INTERESTED IN IMPORTATION OF GOODS INTO OUR COUNTRY AND INVESTING IN EUROPE WITH FUNDS WHICH ARE PRESENTLY TRAPPED IN NIGERIA EH.

    IN ORDER TO COMMENCE THIS BUSINESS WE SOLICIT YOUR ASSISTANTANCE, KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERTISE TO ENABLE US RECIEVE THE SAID TRAPPED FUNDS ABROAD, FOR THE SUBSEQUENT PURCHASE AND INVENTORY OF THE GOODS TO BE IMPORTED AND THE INVESTMENT IN EUROPE EH.

    THE SOURCE OF THIS FUND IS AS FOLLOWS: DURING THE PREVIOUS MILITARY REGIMES IN OUR COUNTRY, GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS SET UP COMPANIES AND AWARDED THEMSELVES CONTRACTS WHICH WERE GROSSLY OVER-INVOICED IN VARIOUS MINISTRIES. THE NEW CIVILIAN GOVERNMENT NOW SETUP A CONTRACT REVIEW PANEL WHICH I AND MY COLLEAGUES ARE MEMBERS AND WE HAVE IDENTIFIED A LOT OF INFLATED SUM, DUE TO OUR POSITION AS CIVIL SERVANTS AND MEMBERS OF THIS PANEL, WE CANNOT AQUIRE THIS MONEY IN OUR NAMES EH. I HAVE THEREFORE, BEEN DELEGATED AS A MATTER OF TRUST BY MY COLLEAGUES OF THE PANEL TO LOOK FOR AN OVERSEA PATNER INTO WHOSE ACCOUNT THE SUM OF US$31,000 000,00 (THIRTY-ONE MILLION UNITED STATES DOLLARS) WILL BE PAID BY TELEGRAPHIC TRANSFER. HENCE WE ARE WRITTING YOU THIS LETER EH.

    WE HAVE AGREED TO SHARE THE MONEY THUS:
    1. 70% FOR US (THE OFFICIALS) EH
    2. 20% FOR THE FOREIGN PATNER(YOU) EH
    3. 10% TO BE USED IN SETTLING TAXATION AND LOCAL AND FOREIGN EXPENSES EH.

    IT IS THIS 70% THAT WE WISH TO COMMENCE THE IMPORTATION BUSINESS AND THE INVESTMENT IN EUROPE. PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS TRANSACTION IS 100% SAFE AND WE HOPE THAT THE FUNDS CAN ARRIVE YOUR ACCOUNT IN LATEST TEN(10) BANKING DAYS FROM THE DATE OF RECIEPT OF THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION EH. A SUITABLE COMPANY NAME AND BANK ACCOUNT(COMPANY OR PERSONEL) INTO WHICH THE FUNDS CAN BE PAID EH.

    THE ABOVE INFORMATION WILL ENABLE US WRITE LETTERS OF CLAIM AND JOB DESCRIPTION RESPECTIVELY EH. THIS WAY WE WILL USE YOUR COMPANY'S NAME TO APPLY FOR PAYMENTS AND RE-AWARD THE CONTRACT TO YOUR COMPANY NAME EH.

    WE ARE LOOKING FOWARD TO DOING BUSINESS WITH YOU AND SOLICIT YOUR CONFIDENTIALITY IN THIS TRANSACTION EH.

    PLEASE ACKNOWLEDGE RECIEPT OF THIS LETTER USING THIS E-MAIL ADDRESS EH. I WILL BRING YOU INTO THE COMPLETE PICTURE OF THIS PENDING PROJECT WHEN I HAVE HEARD FROM YOU EH.

    YOURS FATHFULLY EH,
    HON. RAYMOND ETIEBET(DR).

    FAX:234-1-7596980 TEL:234-1-4701056 EH
    • And if he were american it would have looked like this:

      HON. RAYMOND ETIEBET(DR).

      ATTN: Bobdotorg,

      DEAR SIR

      REQUEST FOR URGENT BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP HUH

      FIRST, I MUST SOLICIT YOUR CONFIDENCE IN THIS TRANSACTION. THIS IS VIRTURE OF IT'S NATURE AS BEING UTTERLY CONFIDENTIAL AND TOP SECRET HUH.

      WE ARE TOP OFFICIALS OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OF NIGERIA CONTRACT REVIEW PANEL WHO ARE INTERESTED IN IMPORTATION OF GOODS INTO OUR COUNTRY AND INVESTING IN EUROPE WITH FUNDS WHICH ARE PRESENTLY TRAPPED IN NIGERIA HUH.
    • [offtopic]
      How do you get away with typing in all caps? i get the lameness filter
      [/offtopic]
  • .procmailrc:
    :0

    * !TO_(any-mailing-list-i'm-on|my-address) /dev/null

    I can count the number of spam I receive per month on one hand since implementing that.

  • And the most interesting part of the story is... (Score:5, Informative)

    by xcomputer_man ( 513295 ) on Thursday November 06, 2003 @04:52PM (#7411609) Homepage
    That he is not even Nigerian -- he is a Canadian. The last guy they arrested was Australian I think. Not that there are no Nigerians sending these emails -- it's just that they are not being caught because of the poor state of law enforcement in the country at the moment. But the fact is that this is becoming more than just a "Nigerian" scam, it has become a very international scam.

    (Full disclosure: I am a Nigerian, and it brings me grief to no end that the first thing people think of when my country is mentioned is 419 scams).

  • awwww (Score:3, Funny)

    by MattMan741 ( 556495 ) on Thursday November 06, 2003 @04:55PM (#7411643)
    the nigerian spams are my favorite! in the days of penis/breast enlarging, at least the nigerian spams had a modicum of effort put into them and an interesting story.....
    • Actually the Nigerian 419 spams often have one of a hell of a lot of effort put into them. There is a psychological review of one of these things knocking around somewhere if you feel like exercising your Ninja Google skills. The summary was that they are very carefully crafted to bait as many people as possible, the odd spelling/grammer error might be attributed to it being from someone for whom English is not their first language, and so on. Basically, the things are seeded with all sorts of psychologi
  • better safe than sorry...

    www.scamshield.com
    www.scambusters.org

  • scam reporting SW? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Doc Ruby ( 173196 )
    I'd love to see an email and browser plugin that allowed the user to open a dialog, paste a received spam/extortion message, and send it to a database at the FTC, FCC, FBI, or whichever government department will handle it. Like spamzilla. How about company that held the database, and sent collated reports to the appropriate government agency?

  • WHAT?????? (Score:1, Redundant)

    by dtfinch ( 661405 ) *
    You mean to say I won't get my $20 million dollars?
  • They're human powered, and if we all started responding with interest we would waste so much of their time, get a good laugh, and lessen the number of people who get suckered by this crap.

    Just make a fake email account, and start correspondence. Have fun, try to get them to meet you at the airport to pick you up. Then tell them you went on to the hotel, then you changed hotels. Try to get them to go somewhere in the city they recommend that has a webcam, and get some photos for the album.

    If I had the ti

  • Wait a second - Nigerian Scam run from Canada? (Score:5, Funny)

    by Aging_Newbie ( 16932 ) * on Thursday November 06, 2003 @05:04PM (#7411731)
    Now even Nigerians are outsourcing their functions? Will Wonders Never Cease!

  • Damn! (Score:3, Funny)

    by Treacle Treatment ( 681828 ) on Thursday November 06, 2003 @05:06PM (#7411751)
    Those were the only truly *funny* spams to read.
    Kind of like listening to the Iraqi Information Minister
    Boy do I miss him!

    -- TT

  • When was your first time... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Brew Bird ( 59050 ) on Thursday November 06, 2003 @05:17PM (#7411841)
    To see this particular nigerian money laundering scheme?

    I first saw one of these via SNAIL mail back in 1991!!! Since I was fresh out of school, studing lasers, there were many jokes around the office of our small company about us designing a 'Nigerian Defense Initative', with Ground Based Lasers on the corners of the building...

    You could imagine my disgust when I started getting the same damn letter via email 10 years later... I guess there are some gullible idiots out there who keep the thing alive... but wow!
    • To see this particular nigerian money laundering scheme?

      Late '80s, by snail mail. In fact, the letter was posted from Nigeria & the exact mailing address was that I had used to send reprints of a couple of journal articles to a student at the University of Lagos.

      So I actually got a Nigerian scam from a real Nigerian!

  • Sojambi S. Pinola the Vigilante (Score:4, Funny)

    by bluethundr ( 562578 ) * on Thursday November 06, 2003 @05:37PM (#7412022) Homepage Journal


    My work bud finally had enough of this Nigerian scam that he decided he would a have a little fun with the situation. [aol.com] His deed of daring do is a damn hilarious read!

  • My New Web site. (Score:3, Funny)

    by gurps_npc ( 621217 ) on Thursday November 06, 2003 @05:43PM (#7412080) Homepage
    Obtaining my email address is easy. Just follow the instructions below.

    Click (here) and enter your email here if you want to sell me methods to increase the size of my sexual organs.

    Click (here) and enter your email if you want to sell me spam stopping software.

    Click (here) and enter your email if you want to use me to transfer ridiculously large sums of cash for a profitable percentage.

    Click (here) and enter your email if you want me to join your dating service

    Click (here) and enter your email if you want me to refinance using your service.

    EULA has small print that says: Note, all buttons forward your email address to the previous clicker. Too bad, I can't require emailers to give me their correct forwarding address.

  • This story [haxial.net] is amazing. It was featured a little while ago in Slashback.

    IMHO, it's the best one ever; without selling any punches, it ends in bloodshed :-)...


  • Was he trying to peddle free software to Princeton?
  • Visited my parents for dinner and there was a brown envelope, apparently from London. Handwritten address on the front.

    Basically it was a printed out version of the email scam.

  • "419" scams (Score:3, Interesting)

    by sonicattack ( 554038 ) on Thursday November 06, 2003 @06:17PM (#7412379) Homepage
    Nice that they actually are getting these people. They have no morals whatsoever.

    I have an IMAP folder labeled "crooks", into which all scammer correspondence go. So far I've collected about 150 of them in there.

    I actually try to answer each and every one of them; I usually send them a template mail which is designed to arouse their interest. At the same time, I send a complaint to the host of the mailservice they used. Sometimes, the scammer gets back, with a new e-mail address and asks me to use the new one instead because the old one is "no longer confidential" or some similar braindead excuse. My typical response to that is to tell them that "I just sent you all the information you requested, to the E-mail address you used before. Didn't I get it right?"

    Everything to irritate them, and waste their time. Why?

    If enough people were doing it, they would be forced to another way of earning a living. Perhaps even looking for an honest job. One can hope.
  • I am a Canadian businessman wrongfully accused of larceny. All othe avenues have been denied to me and, although I am an honest businessman, I have been force to take drastic measures and seek the assistance of a third party. As a result of recent ventures I have pursued, I am in possession of a bank account with a balance of $3,226,783.00 United States Dollars, but I have not been allowed by the authorities to acces these funds while incarcerated. I have been informed by another party (google) that you
  • One, perhaps little known, fact that I find interesting is that some of these scammers, after collecting their harvest of fresh E-mail addresses from a message board, posts on the board with certain keywords to indicate to other scammers that these addresses now are "claimed" or "taken".

    The posts usually come with a sender, subject or body containing combination of the words "Mugu" and "Guymen". "Mugu" seems to mean "Big fool" in Nigerian.

    Try a Google search for the words (ignore Google's suggested repl

  • "Attempted" larceny (Score:3, Interesting)

    by jemenake ( 595948 ) on Thursday November 06, 2003 @07:50PM (#7413092)
    The thing that really jumped out at me was the "attempted" larceny.

    I can see it now. The next step of escalation on the part of the spammers will be that they'll make sure that they really are in touch with the family of some rich Nigerian dead dude. That way, when the authorities come to bust him, he'll have plausible deniability; "What? I really am working with the the widow of the late Mr. Djboutu.... just call her, she'll tell you!".

  • BBC says that Nigeria is the happiest country in the world [bbc.co.uk].

    Coincidence?

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