Why do folks keep running the Nigerian Scam?

[Grant Lamontagne]

Simply put, the answer is because people keep falling for it.  I just got this one in my Hotmail inbox today:

FROM: JAMES GEORGE!!

TEL: +34 600 3xx xxx.

 

Dear Good Friend,

How are you today? Hope you are doing great? I decided to write you because I have no other alternative since after the death of my father in the hands of the bad government of my country Sudan. It has been very difficult for me on how to safeguard box money my late father left for me with United Nations storage department New York before his death. My late father packaged this money inside a box as family artifact. At the moment we are facing financier problem. Therefore, I want you to act as the new beneficiary on my behalf and claim box of money. I will give you 30% of the total money.

 

My name is James George from Darfur Sudan in Africa. I and my mother and my two daughters are presently in Spain in the Europe as an asylum seeker under Spanish Government. We fled out of my country after the bad government of my country killed my father due to my father was activist and opposition to the bad government of my country.

 

So if you accept to assist me claim the box of money out from United Nations storage department New York, please reply me back with your full name and your mailing address with your company name if you have, also include your home phone number and cell phone number when you are replying for easy communication. I will give you entire necessary documents to back you up, to enable you claim the box of money legally. Note the diplomat in charge of my box of money at United Nations storage department does not know that the box in their position contains money; therefore do not tell them when you start communicating with them.

 

Lastly if you claim the consignment and deposit the funds to checking account, we will then relocate to your country, and most importantly to invest our own share of the money in your country, and for my daughters to continue their Education. I am waiting eagerly to hear from you, God bless you and your family.

 

Sincerely,

James George.


I love these.  It's nice to at least see some idiot at least trying to update it a bit and make some changes so it's not glaringly obvious.

For those not familar with this scam, they offer a percentage of the fictitious sum in exchange for you handing over your banking info, so they can safely move the money out of the country.  Of course, rather than put the funds in your account, they happily make off with all the funds in your account, and possibly some other account info as well, which allows them to later on get credit cards, loans and so on in your name.  It's called the Nigerian Scam because it usually involves some deposed ruler of one of the more unstable African nations (like Nigeria) as he tries to sneak himself, family and untold wealth to a sanctuary somewhere else.

As far as scams go, it's one of the most prolific because it's easy to do- it started on fax machines in the 80's and has grown to emails and other methods over the years.  It costs very little to do (especially emailing) and all it takes is one or two "suckers" to fall for it and it has more than paid for itself.  And, if one tenth of one percent fall for it, these guys will be millionaires in just a few short days.  Especially with an email campaign, they could hit millions of people each day.  Figure at 5 million emails, on tenth of one percent is 5,000 potential marks.  If they get an average of $200 from each person, that's $10,000/day.  All for the cost of a computer and internet access.

And, it's almost impossible to track down.  Of course, you are in for a real bad time if you are, as many countries will give you a life sentence in prison (and not all jails are as nice as the ones in North America!), some countries will maim you (lopping off hands of thieves is still in practice in many parts of the world) and other places will even put you to death by hanging, firing squad or other, more unpleasant possibilities.

Why is it done?  Same reason as SPAM is done.  It's very low risk.  the chances of getting caught are very slim, and even if INTERPOL or other agencies do track you down, if you are even remotely intelligent, you've moved on.  For the price of a few drinks in an internet hot spot almost anywhere in the world and a few hours of your time, you can send out hundreds of thousands of virtually untraceable emails.

Yup, crime is a great business for those who are inclined to do it.  In many ways, I wish I could be a sleazeball like that, but I've seen the inside of our "nice" jails in North America- I worked in Corrections for three years, I was on the RIGHT side of the bars!- and I wouldn't want to spend time there.  I can only think of what would happen if I scammed someone important in many European, Asian or South American countries and was extradited as a result...

The worst part is, there isn't anywhere near the kind of gain associated with hunting these guys as there is for them doing it.  I think a bounty of about %15  of the provable amount they've scammed would be sufficient and realistic reward.  Then , maybe they'd think twice about doing it, knowing full well that other lowlife opportunists are gunning for them.

No point to this thread, just thought I'd share my thoughts.  As an investigator I am always fascinated by this kind of stuff and the mentality/motivation behind it.

Def

[Anthony]

As much as I hate scammers of any kind (internet or in person scammers)...I can't feel bad for their 'victims'. 

If you boil it down, it's like a guy on the street asking for a $20 bill, so he can go to the next street over and get $200 from his cousins friend, then give you half...no one would fall for that would they?  Then again...

[Grant Lamontagne]

Actually, it's worse than that... it's more like you are handing them your wallet so they can go to the next street over because they need a way to carry the money!

It seems so obvious to you and I, but apparently folks still fall for it, or this scam would have dried up long ago.

Def

[Raukodur]

They did this study my brother was telling me about, where they found that the majority of people who fell for this scam were already pretty well off, i.e. greedy people wanting even more, maybe htinking that even if it is a scam they can afford to lose a bit in the hope it isnt, and making hundreds of thousands.

There is something connected to these scams called 'scam baiters' or something like this, people who draw these guys in and just for the hell of it take up weeks of their time.

[Thargor]

This is a brilliant site:

http://www.419eater.com/

They pretend to go along with Nigerian scammers and get them to take photos of themselves with fish on their heads or paintings and carvings of random objects, theres some really funny ones in the Letters Archive:

[Grant Lamontagne]

That's pretty good- I pulled a good one one these guys once.  I was working for a really hard core security unit at the time and we sent them detailed information on how we'd run an extraction process for up to six people (they would get to choose) including any and all funds, delivered safely to the US, then included a photograph of my unit, armed to the teeth, and made a counter offer for several times what they had offered in the first place.

Never heard from them again!  :grin:

Def

[AJ]

because there will alway's be people like this...

http://forum.multitool.org/index.php/topic,1607.0.html

[Grant Lamontagne]

I just got another one!

Pls reply asap
I am Mr.Patrick Chan a Director of the Hang Seng Bank Ltd,
Hong Kong.
An Iraqi named farouk bassem,a business man made a numbered fixed
deposit valued at Eight million United States Dollars only in my
branch. Upon maturity several notice was sent to him, even during the
war, four years ago (2003).

Again after the war another notification was sent and still no
response came from him.

We later found out that farouk bassem and his family had been killed
during the war in Gunfire that hit their home at Mukaradeeb where his
personal oil well was. After further investigation it was also
discovered that farouk bassem did not declare any next of kin in his
official papers including the paper work of his bank deposit. should
be interested in executing this with me; indicate your interest by
sending me the following:

1. YOUR NAME
2. YOUR RESIDENT ADDRESS
3. YOUR OCCUPATION
4. YOUR PHONE NUMBER
5. DATE OF BIRTH
6. COUNTRY OF RESIDENT

Your response with the requested information should be sent to reach
me at my personal email address below:
patrickchan_09@XXXXXXX
Please make sure you direct your response to my private email address
patrickchan_09@XXXXX
Sincerely,
Mr.Patrick Chan

It always amazed me that people fall for these things.  What really gets to me is the number of successful people who fall for these things!  You'd think that anyone who could get ahead in the world had to be smarter than the average bear, but many of the people who get screwed by these people have hundreds of thousands of dollars in the bank... or should I say had hundreds of thousands of dollars!  Sure, even monkeys fall out of trees from time to time, but this is like a beginner's tree with a fall arrester harness in it!  You shouldn't be able to fall for a scam like this no matter how hard you try.

People get scammed, it's a fact of life.  Being a former security speSmurfpillst I know that there's no 100% method of being safe, but you minimize the risk as much as possible, then you make the bad guys expend so much effort to get it that they might as well have had a real job in the first place.  These guys aren't even trying...

Def

[znapschatz]

And then there are scam victims like my dad, who fell for one, not because he was an innocent, but because he was suffering from senile dementia and could no longer fend for himself.  Fortunately, in this case, things were put right in the end. 

Criminals operate without pity or remorse.  It's the way of the world.

[CQC-7]

I hate scam artists.  I am not a bright guy but I know that there is absolutely NOBODY out there in their right mind that would give you millions of dollars on a whim. 

I do have an interesting thought on identity theft though.  If someone steals your identity they be come you, right?  Well, lets make a law called the "Identity suicide act."  Someone becomes you at least on paper (they control your finances), you kill them and get sentencd to a brief stay in a mental ward for attempted suicide.  Why, you might ask?  You tried to kill yourself but only managed to kill the part that controls your money and you are still alive.   Great plan right.     

[Grant Lamontagne]

Great- unless they get you first!

Remember, most criminals know more about the law than the average person!

Def

[Papacat]

It's funny and sad that these scams are reported often in the newspapers, magazines, online, and on TV, and still people are suckered into them.  I think for some people, greed overtakes common sense. 

[CQC-7]

I think that most crooks are smart but dumb in their ways.  If they put as much effort into doing somthing good rather than evil they might be alright.  But then again, trying to do good with an evil mind leads to one of the thing that I despise.  Poloticians!

[Anthony]

Did anyone see that Dateline special with Chris Hansen about these scammers?  Therre were so many "HOW DUMB CAN YOU BE?!?!" moments it was astonishing...

[jock1]

I will never forget what an old time lag told me "you can't con an honest man"greed is what gets most of these fools done

[CQC-7]

Although I believe that greed is what drives economies, it eventually makes things unravel within the individual.

[Grant Lamontagne]

I got another invitation to a fantastic "opportunity" today!

Greetings,

My name is Elias Montoya, I am a branch manager of Banco Pichincha Quito Ecuador. I have packaged a financial transaction that will benefit both of us, which involves three million seven hundred and fifty thousand dollar $3,750.000.00. Meanwhile you will have 35% of the total fund after the transaction.

If you accept this offer to work with me I will give you details on how we can achieve it successfully. Please contact me with this email address:

Mr. Elias Montoya

If anyone feels they want in on a share of the 3.7 million, let me know and I'll forward Elias' info on to you.... 

 

Def

[Top-Gear-24]

A Belgian TV show named "Basta" did an episode on the Euro Million scam, you know, the one where you receive an e-mail saying you won the Spanish Euro Million for example, but they need you to pay a fee before they will transfer the money.  The guys from Basta had to pay 760 Euro in advance, but instead they payed 7.6 Euro, what follows are weeks of fooling the scammer.  I'll post the youtube clip, but remember, these guys speak "bad" English on purpose, to sound more gullible.  In real life, these guys are quite talented and also make a science show.

It was this same show that got rid of these annoying tele-games on late night Belgian television, where you had to call a number to join a sort of quiz, live on tv.  The guys from Basta proved that these tele-games were a fraud and they were banned from tv (the tele-games, not Basta).

[tommywp]

These aren't always scams. I replied to a similar email and cam away with $42k. And you can too! Just message me with your credit card and bank account numbers and I'll get you all set up.




 

[ironraven]

These aren't always scams.

 

[Grant Lamontagne]

Got a fancy new scam to add to the list- at least, new to me.

Greeting,

I am  Capt. Kate Carr Lee, an Army Nurse attached to the U.S. Army corps of engineers in Iraq. I have decided that I seek your assistance in a matter that requires your urgent attention.

I shall send you more comprehensive details upon receiving your response on how we will proceed with this project as i strongly wish to assure you we need to act fast on this because we have limited time frame in concluding project at hand.

Look forward to your prompt reply to enable us move forward.

Regards,
Capt. Kate Carr Lee

It's the same old scam, just "legitimized" by taking advantage of all the folks out there that like to support troops.

Frankly I think the governing bodies should look the other way and let the military take care of this one, any way they see fit.

Def

[Etherealicer]

Got a fancy new scam to add to the list- at least, new to me.

Greeting,

I am  Capt. Kate Carr Lee, an Army Nurse attached to the U.S. Army corps of engineers in Iraq. I have decided that I seek your assistance in a matter that requires your urgent attention.

I shall send you more comprehensive details upon receiving your response on how we will proceed with this project as i strongly wish to assure you we need to act fast on this because we have limited time frame in concluding project at hand.

Look forward to your prompt reply to enable us move forward.

Regards,
Capt. Kate Carr Lee

It's the same old scam, just "legitimized" by taking advantage of all the folks out there that like to support troops.

Frankly I think the governing bodies should look the other way and let the military take care of this one, any way they see fit.

Def

At least it is in proper English. Last I got was barely legible German

[Grant Lamontagne]

I get those too, but they aren't usually nearly as effective as the English ones are. 

Def

[ColoSwiss]

We've been getting several calls a month from the "IRS", claiming we owe back taxes. If we don't pay up immediately they're sending agents to arrest us. Fine, send them. We'll have a couple of deputy sheriffs here to assist them.

A friend of my Mom's received a phone call from the "Mexican Police" saying her grandson had been arrested and to send bail. She went down to Walmart to get a money card to send. Fortunately the people at Walmart asked about it and told her it was a scam.  She called her grandson (something she should have done first), who was safe at school in the US and had never been to Mexico.

[Fortytwo]

Sadly the answer is because people fall for them, a friend is giving legal advise and they had a case were someone had transfered 50k USD to a scammer. And actually getting the scammers to court is next to imposible so it's basically risk free. 

[Grant Lamontagne]

That's pretty much it. 

The Nigerian scam is successful because it works, and in Nigeria, the ability to scam people is considered to be a desirable trait.  While we see someone being scammed as the "good guy" and the scammer as the "bad guy" they see the scammer as strong and the scammed as weak, and the strong survive. 

That difference of opinion is responsible for many of the world's problems right now.

Def

[dks]

Many people  idolise Del Trotter and Dominic Toretto, who basically scam people or steal from them; many of them are not Nigerian 

[Grant Lamontagne]

I blame the English and their portrayal of Robin Hood.

 

Def

[Mechanickal]

I blame the English and their portrayal of Robin Hood.

 

Def

[ColoSwiss]

The US just busted 56 people in conjunction with the 'IRS' scam. Said it involved five call centers in India. Now if they'll just send some of these scum bags to jail for a long time instead of letting them off in some plea deal.

http://www.freep.com/story/money/personal-finance/susan-tompor/2016/10/27/irs-india-scam-crackdown/92829554/