nigerians strike again

[ryanfido]

[MegaKitsune]

[rbcp]

I just had a nice long Yahoo conversation with a scammer, presumably from Nigeria although "she" claims she's from the UK.  She wants to send me checks for thousands of dollars that I cash and then send them 90% of the money.  I gave them my address, hoping that maybe they'll send me a fake check.  Here's the chat log.  Notice that she BUZZes me after almost every sentence.

BUZZ!!!
julianah_marley: i am Julianah, the Deputy Personnal Manager of Rose House Hold Company in Accrington,UK.
brad_the_carter: omg!
brad_the_carter: can i have your autograph?
julianah_marley: what do u mean
brad_the_carter: it's the 21st letter in the alphabet.  but that's not important right now
julianah_marley: i mean for wat ok
brad_the_carter: what can i do for you today, julianah?
brad_the_carter: got millions of dollars for me to transfer to my account, perhaps?
julianah_marley: and you
julianah_marley: i am 28 f uk accrington
julianah_marley: We are looking for a representatives who is based in United States, Someone who his Faithful and Honest  who will be helping us recieving payments from our customers based in the states. We are willing to pay $400 or 10%  per everypayment you recieve from our clients on our behalf and you  can still keep ur regular job while you work as it wouldn't affect your present state of job
BUZZ!!!
brad_the_carter: that sounds almost too good to be true!
BUZZ!!!
julianah_marley: yeah
julianah_marley: All you have to do is help us recieve payments from our reliable customers in the united States.These  payments will be coming to you in either Cashiers Check,Money Orders which are drawn on US Bank and  hey will be issued in your Name and send to you as our representatives
BUZZ!!!
brad_the_carter: i think i would prefer to just quit my old job though, and do this full time.  the money is much better.
brad_the_carter: oh, the wonders of the internet!
brad_the_carter: do you need my address?
julianah_marley: do u have a cam
brad_the_carter: it's broken.  i jizzed all over it.
julianah_marley: ohh..ok
julianah_marley: what about your picx
brad_the_carter: they're in my profile
julianah_marley: ok..
julianah_marley: which one of this check will you be able to cash immediately from yourbank or cashing place immediately.....Money Order....Cashier Cheque....Traveller's Cheque
BUZZ!!!
brad_the_carter: my bank would take any of those.  we're on pretty good terms, me and the bank teller.  she'll hook me up.
julianah_marley: As soon as you receive any payment from any of our clients,all you need to do is take it to your Bank or a Pawn Shop or a Check Cashing Place around you and have it cashed it,then you going to deduct your $500 or 10%  from it and send whatever the remaining to the company based on instruction that will be given to you

brad_the_carter: I will buy a calculator for this purpose.
julianah_marley: hmm....ok
julianah_marley: If you are interested i would need you to give me your Full Name,Contact Address,Phone Number and  your e-mail address so i can send it to my client and he'll issue and the payment to you I want you to be rest assured that this transaction wouldn't cost you any amount and no tax involved in  it
brad_the_carter: My name is Brad Carter.  My address is PO Box 465, Albany, OR 97321.  My phone number is 561-616-0064.  And my email address is bigfatscam@brad-carter.com
brad_the_carter: Thanks for telling me about this unbelievable opportunity!
julianah_marley: hmm..ok
julianah_marley: by the way what is your name
brad_the_carter: Brad Carter
julianah_marley: All you have to do is just to receive payments which will be sent to you through Fedex or UPS courier   services from our clients and this doesn't entails any money from you for everything will be arranged by  our clients
brad_the_carter: Well I'm ready when you are.
julianah_marley:
But,the problem we have is trust and honest,But we have our way of getting anyone that have the paln to  gets away with our money,such person will be tracked down by the authority.I mean the FBI
brad_the_carter: I would never steal money.  God would be pissed at me!
julianah marley: what do u mean by scam in your email id
brad_the_carter: oh, "scam" is another word for "playa" in America.  And I have a bit of a weight problem, hence the "big fat" in there
julianah marley: well we deal with FBI
julianah marley: so how much could you be able to cash in your bank
brad_the_carter: Well I have $2,000 in there now.  So I guess they would cover up to that amount.
julianah marley: can you be able to cash about$3,000
brad_the_carter: Yes, I think I can do that, in the name of bad arithmatic.
julianah marley: what do u mean by bad arithmetic
julianah marley: do you know your percent
brad_the_carter: of course.  If you send me $3,000 I would need to keep $300 of that and send you $2,700, correct?
julianah marley: yeah
julianah marley: can you mail your full details to my email know
julianah marley: so we could contact each other when we are not online
brad_the_carter: sure.  what's your email address?
julianah marley: julianah_marley@yahoo.com

[sam.2600]

nice, My own mediocre attempt at humor has been highly amusing to myself., i love it when they email me!

[sam.2600]

INCREDIBLE! he gave me the EXACT SAME SPEECH! would it be cool if i posted my conversation with him?

[sam.2600]

Instant messages are being archived on this computer.
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julianah marley: hello
julianah marley: who are you plz
dcfcsexonclouds: im a witless stupid american who is very gullabul, can i please talking to you about checks?
dcfcsexonclouds: your are UK yes?
dcfcsexonclouds: hello?
julianah marley: yeah
julianah marley: We are looking for a representatives who is based in United States, Someone who his Faithful and Honest  who will be helping us recieving payments from our customers based in the states. We are willing to pay $400 or 10%  per everypayment you recieve from our clients on our behalf and you  can still keep ur regular job while you work as it wouldn't affect your present state of job

julianah marley: are u interested in the job offer
dcfcsexonclouds: oh my gods! that sounds so fabulous and its like, totally awesome! how could i go wrong?!
julianah marley: All you have to do is help us recieve payments from our reliable customers in the united States.These  payments will be coming to you in either Cashiers Check,Money Orders which are drawn on US Bank and  hey will be issued in your Name and send to you as our representatives
dcfcsexonclouds: and no grammar or actual education is required? will i be able to quit my current job to do this?!
julianah marley: no it is just a part time job ok
julianah marley: which one of this check will you be able to cash immediately from yourbank or cashing place immediately.....Money Order....Cashier Cheque....Traveller's Cheque
dcfcsexonclouds: before we continue, what benefeit will i see from this?
julianah marley: all you need to do when you get the payment is to deduct your percentage and send the remaining money ok
dcfcsexonclouds: what if i deduct ALL of the money you send me?
julianah marley: no you are not going to deduct all the money coz the mone
julianah marley: rest money is for the company
julianah marley: so you could be able to get another payment ok
dcfcsexonclouds: what if i just keep all of the money?
julianah marley: no if you do that you would not be able to receive any money from us again or from our clients]
dcfcsexonclouds: but im a nigerian scam artist just like you.
dcfcsexonclouds: i have to eat food
dcfcsexonclouds: ill be back later julianhaahaha


Hide Recent Messages (F3)

dcfcsexonclouds: where were we?
julianah marley has signed out. (6/16/2006 8:53 PM)


 

[Colonel Panic]

Wow. Just Yahoo IM him using his email addy.

[Colonel Panic]

Man this dude is a freaking retard.

I Yahoo IM'd him with the message "Hello? You emailed me"

He responded within seconds, and again he copied and pasted the same pitch lines, with the same grammatical errors intact!

This is the pic he was using for an avatar:

Here's the chat log:

Show Recent Messages (F3)

julianah marley: are you interested in the job offer]
John Albert: maybe. I'm kind of skeptical about such things
John Albert: could you tell me more about it?
julianah marley: SUMMERFIELD
julianah marley: We are looking for a representatives who is based in United States, Someone who his Faithful and Honest  who will be helping us recieving payments from our customers based in the states. We are willing to pay $400 or 10%  per everypayment you recieve from our clients on our behalf and you  can still keep ur regular job while you work as it wouldn't affect your present state of job
John Albert: hmmmm ok
John Albert: what kind of company is it?
John Albert: WOW is that your pic?
julianah marley: yeah
John Albert: Is that really you?
julianah marley: ye
julianah marley: yes
julianah marley: i am working for the rose holding company
John Albert: you didn't copy and paste that from some porno website, did you? Cuz u look HOTTT!!
John Albert: rose holding?
julianah marley: i mean where i am working ok
John Albert: so what are you holding?
 
John Albert: oops sorry
julianah marley: ok
John Albert: my wireless router cut out for a second there
John Albert: I really need to buy a new one
julianah marley: which one of this check will you be able to cash immediately from yourbank or cashing place immediately.....Money Order....Cashier Cheque....Traveller's Cheque
John Albert: SUMMERFIELD
John Albert: I can cash any kind of check. My bank is teh 1337!
John Albert: is rose holding like some kind of a courier service or something?
julianah marley: it is a company
John Albert: well duh!
julianah marley: Rose Holding Company
julianah marley: ok
John Albert: what does your company hold, if I may ask?
John Albert: If I have to pee, will you hold it for me?
julianah marley: This rural based Company and it's dis ectors are involved in a number of
activities, from I.T. to engineering to agriculture to Lifestyle (Luggage and Clothing) and Tourism. The challenges are:  working with small companies and individuals in the 'rural area of Northumberland and Cumbria - offering marketing assistance, management advice and support or, linkage with other UK or International companies, finance and sometimes ...... a life-line
julianah marley: Rose
julianah marley: As soon as you receive any payment from any of our clients,all you need to do is take it to your Bank or a Pawn Shop or a Check Cashing Place around you and have it cashed it,then you going to deduct your $500 or 10%  from it and send whatever the remaining to the company based on instruction that will be given to you
John Albert: wow so I could actually be helping people if i sign up for your little racket?
julianah marley: yeah
John Albert: I really do need money for a new router. A 2nd job would be nice
julianah marley: If you are interested i would need you to give me your Full Name,Contact Address,Phone Number and  your e-mail address so i can send it to my client and he'll issue and the payment to you I want you to be rest assured that this transaction wouldn't cost you any amount and no tax involved in  it
John Albert: who is this client you speak of? I hope she's a cute 'n' sexy, hot 'n' horny teen like yourself!
julianah marley: All you have to do is just to receive payments which will be sent to you through Fedex or UPS courier services from our clients and this doesn't entails any money from you for everything will be arranged by  our client
John Albert: yeah, I know the drill. I used to do money laundering all the time, so I'm used to cashing lots of money orders, traveller's checks and cashier's checks
John Albert: I cut the teller in and she makes sure the managers don't get wise
John Albert: She's fucking the bank manager
John Albert: so tell me, are you single or married?
julianah marley: i am single
John Albert: goddamn you serious?
julianah marley: and you
John Albert: well, I'm    married but the wife and I have an "open" relationship so yeah
John Albert: I'm... available
John Albert: hey wait a minute...
John Albert: you're not really a guy are you?
julianah marley: you mean you are still seraching
John Albert: cuz I hate that
julianah marley: hey i am real ok
John Albert: when people use the internet to make themselves appear different than they really are
julianah marley: so are you interested in the job offer
John Albert: um, sure
John Albert: could you fax me a contract or something?
julianah marley: so send me all your neccesary information so you could start receiving payment from our clien
julianah marley: clients
John Albert: well, I'd feel better if I had some sort of contract. You know, nothing formal. No need to hire a lawyer just yet. Just some standard Nigerian scammer boilerplate would be fine
julianah marley: what do u mean i dont seems to understand ok
John Albert: oh nothing, just yanking your chain
julianah marley: hey do you know that one of our branch is in Nigeria
John Albert: no way
John Albert: I bet there's some fine-ass African bitches at that branch
John Albert: with big, ripe round onion bootays!
John Albert: so you need my name and bank account number?
julianah marley: nope
julianah marley: i need your full name and contact address your moblie number and email address
John Albert: you wouldn't be taking advantage of a poor, uneducated, lonely middle-aged pervert like me would you?
julianah marley: we will never do that ok
John Albert: cuz I love teh onion bootays but every nice girl I meet online ends up being some kind of a Nigerian scammer or something, trying to get his hands on my substanital inheritance
julianah marley: nope
julianah marley: we can never do that ok
John Albert: ok send me more pics of yourself and I'll gave you my contact info, 'k?
julianah marley: But,the problem we have is trust and honest,But we have our way of getting anyone that have the paln to  gets away with our money,such person will be tracked down by the authority.I mean the FBI
John Albert: FBI! Pfffft
John Albert: the FBI couldn't find their own assholes with both hands and a flashlight
John Albert: trust me
John Albert: I know
John Albert: my cousin works for them and he's a fucking idiot
julianah marley: oops ok
John Albert: spends all his time chasing after space aliens and bigfoots
julianah marley: so send me your information needed know and be fast ok
John Albert: you really think I'm Rose Holding material?
julianah marley: hmmmm
John Albert: you never sent me the pics! you tease!
julianah marley: forget about that know i will send you later ok
julianah marley: so lets focus on businees first
John Albert: ok back to business
John Albert: so all I have to do is send you my address and I'll start getting these sweet checks in the mail?
julianah marley: and you will start receiving payment ok
John Albert: how much will these checks be for?
John Albert: I mean, what are we talking about here? Hundreds, thousands, hundreds of thousands?
julianah marley: hey give me the details first and i will tell you the information you need to know ok
John Albert: so where are you located right now?
John Albert: in the UK?
julianah marley: yeah
John Albert: where at?
julianah marley: accrington
John Albert: what's the weather like over there? Cuz here it's hot as a 10-dollar glock
John Albert: and humid like Oprah's asscrack
julianah marley: hey lets face busineess ok
John Albert: ok ok sorry
John Albert: I have ADD
John Albert: but I can't afford my meds
John Albert: life sucks
John Albert: I used to be so happy when I was a kid
John Albert: now all my friends are gone
John Albert: and the only people I ever get to talk to are nigerian scammers on Yahoo IM
julianah marley: hey what is all this do you want to start receiving payment or not
John Albert: hell yeahs I do!!!!
John Albert: $.$
John Albert: and by "payment" you mean, have my email account hacked and my identity stolen along with my sizeable inheritance?
John Albert: cuz let me tell you, money don't buy happiness
John Albert: take it from me
julianah marley: yeah that is true
julianah marley: i really understand
John Albert: do you?
John Albert: I doubt it, It sure sucks being so filthy-ass rich
John Albert: ok I'm through whining like a pussy
John Albert: time to man-up
John Albert: here's my name
julianah marley: maybe if you start receiving payment from us i think we could work things out ok
John Albert: Harry Stinkfinger
John Albert: no just kidding
John Albert: actually its Bob Turkey
julianah marley: k
John Albert: I live at 10 Easy Marks Way
John Albert: Credulous, Rhosse Island
John Albert: sorry
John Albert: Rhode Island
John Albert: my typing skills aren't so good
John Albert: cuz I'm not supposed to drink while taking my meds
julianah marley: ok
John Albert: zip code: 65037821
julianah marley: hey the zip code is invalid ok
John Albert: what?!?
John Albert: no wonder I never get my mail
John Albert: shit
John Albert: my email address is icantbelieveyourfallingforthis@yourdumbforascammer.com
John Albert: SUMMERFIELD
julianah marley: you wrong
julianah marley: bye forever
John Albert: bai bai!
julianah marley: you are not serious ok
John Albert: ...
John Albert: I'm serious as ebola, dude
BUZZ!!!
John Albert: ooooOOOOOOOooOOOOOOooOOooooo
John Albert: jerkoff

julianah marley has signed out. (6/17/2006 7:53 PM)


<edited 6-17-06 to add the avatar pic>
<edited 6-19-06 to remove the quote box>

[ryanfido]

I just had a nice long Yahoo conversation with a scammer, presumably from Nigeria although "she" claims she's from the UK.  She wants to send me checks for thousands of dollars that I cash and then send them 90% of the money.  I gave them my address, hoping that maybe they'll send me a fake check.  Here's the chat log.  Notice that she BUZZes me after almost every sentence.

BUZZ!!!
julianah_marley: i am Julianah, the Deputy Personnal Manager of Rose House Hold Company in Accrington,UK.
brad_the_carter: omg!
brad_the_carter: can i have your autograph?
julianah_marley: what do u mean
brad_the_carter: it's the 21st letter in the alphabet.  but that's not important right now
julianah_marley: i mean for wat ok
brad_the_carter: what can i do for you today, julianah?
brad_the_carter: got millions of dollars for me to transfer to my account, perhaps?
julianah_marley: and you
julianah_marley: i am 28 f uk accrington
julianah_marley: We are looking for a representatives who is based in United States, Someone who his Faithful and Honest  who will be helping us recieving payments from our customers based in the states. We are willing to pay $400 or 10%  per everypayment you recieve from our clients on our behalf and you  can still keep ur regular job while you work as it wouldn't affect your present state of job
BUZZ!!!
brad_the_carter: that sounds almost too good to be true!
BUZZ!!!
julianah_marley: yeah
julianah_marley: All you have to do is help us recieve payments from our reliable customers in the united States.These  payments will be coming to you in either Cashiers Check,Money Orders which are drawn on US Bank and  hey will be issued in your Name and send to you as our representatives
BUZZ!!!
brad_the_carter: i think i would prefer to just quit my old job though, and do this full time.  the money is much better.
brad_the_carter: oh, the wonders of the internet!
brad_the_carter: do you need my address?
julianah_marley: do u have a cam
brad_the_carter: it's broken.  i jizzed all over it.
julianah_marley: ohh..ok
julianah_marley: what about your picx
brad_the_carter: they're in my profile
julianah_marley: ok..
julianah_marley: which one of this check will you be able to cash immediately from yourbank or cashing place immediately.....Money Order....Cashier Cheque....Traveller's Cheque
BUZZ!!!
brad_the_carter: my bank would take any of those.  we're on pretty good terms, me and the bank teller.  she'll hook me up.
julianah_marley: As soon as you receive any payment from any of our clients,all you need to do is take it to your Bank or a Pawn Shop or a Check Cashing Place around you and have it cashed it,then you going to deduct your $500 or 10%  from it and send whatever the remaining to the company based on instruction that will be given to you

brad_the_carter: I will buy a calculator for this purpose.
julianah_marley: hmm....ok
julianah_marley: If you are interested i would need you to give me your Full Name,Contact Address,Phone Number and  your e-mail address so i can send it to my client and he'll issue and the payment to you I want you to be rest assured that this transaction wouldn't cost you any amount and no tax involved in  it
brad_the_carter: My name is Brad Carter.  My address is PO Box 465, Albany, OR 97321.  My phone number is 561-616-0064.  And my email address is bigfatscam@brad-carter.com
brad_the_carter: Thanks for telling me about this unbelievable opportunity!
julianah_marley: hmm..ok
julianah_marley: by the way what is your name
brad_the_carter: Brad Carter
julianah_marley: All you have to do is just to receive payments which will be sent to you through Fedex or UPS courier   services from our clients and this doesn't entails any money from you for everything will be arranged by  our clients
brad_the_carter: Well I'm ready when you are.
julianah_marley:
But,the problem we have is trust and honest,But we have our way of getting anyone that have the paln to  gets away with our money,such person will be tracked down by the authority.I mean the FBI
brad_the_carter: I would never steal money.  God would be pissed at me!
julianah marley: what do u mean by scam in your email id
brad_the_carter: oh, "scam" is another word for "playa" in America.  And I have a bit of a weight problem, hence the "big fat" in there
julianah marley: well we deal with FBI
julianah marley: so how much could you be able to cash in your bank
brad_the_carter: Well I have $2,000 in there now.  So I guess they would cover up to that amount.
julianah marley: can you be able to cash about$3,000
brad_the_carter: Yes, I think I can do that, in the name of bad arithmatic.
julianah marley: what do u mean by bad arithmetic
julianah marley: do you know your percent
brad_the_carter: of course.  If you send me $3,000 I would need to keep $300 of that and send you $2,700, correct?
julianah marley: yeah
julianah marley: can you mail your full details to my email know
julianah marley: so we could contact each other when we are not online
brad_the_carter: sure.  what's your email address?
julianah marley: julianah_marley@yahoo.com

1) i wanted to quote this so it would be so long
2) you will get a check, and it will be printed out from materials from qchex.com, a legitimate home-payroll operation website.

[Colonel Panic]

I've been doing a bit of freelance web development work lately, so I often check on the major employment-related websites looking for new opportunities. It was on one of these sites yesterday that I came across a posting that claims I need no prior experience for a suspiciously lucrative position called "Transfer agent."

What's worse, I visited their webpage: http://www.hc-invests.com

Obviously a scam. I fired off a quick email expressing my avid interest in the position:

Dear Hiring Manager,

I am responding to your Help Wanted ad, dated June 19, 2006:

    Job Type: Full-time and Part-time
    Salary: 50/hour
    Transfer Agent
    posted 06/19/2006

    An international financial institution is looking for a Transfer Agent.
    Your main role: Processing deal instructions.
    Set up new accounts.
    Maintenance of shareholder accounts.
    Query handling.
    Intermediary
    commissions and trailer fees.
    Job Requirements:
    Your profile: A first experience in the financial services sector. Initiative taker.
    Send your CV to thorst@hc-invests.com

Attached is my resume, in both Microsoft Word and Adobe Acrobat formats.

I would like some more detailed information about this position. I tried to visit your webpage,  but it appears to have been disabled.

I am looking forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

******** ********

This morning I received this reply:

Dear ******** ********,

Thanks for your interest to our company.

The new recruitment program has been started recently and we are in need of regional Transfer Agents whoes work consist of distributing funds received from our customers. You are not required to have any extra knowledge or to be experienced in this business. This job can endow additional income to you and your family as it will not require more then few hours a day.

LV Finance Ltd. is an International Limited Latvian financial company. After 8 years of presence in the world stock market the Company has become one of the leading investment programs developers. We offer top-tier service level, whilst the number of services in the field of investments and investment management is ever
growing. No matter how big our customers are, they can benefit from our full attention and consistent operating performance in any corner of the globe. Partnership with the biggest world corporations has enabled us to respond effectively to the customers' needs even more since we joined our forces. According to the leading financial periodicals and rigorous professionals we are among the top financial institutions, which managed to steal a match on the competition.

*WHAT YOU NEED TO DO FOR US?*
The international money transfer tax for legal entities (companies) in Latvia is 25%, whereas for the individual it is only 7%. There is no sense for us to work this way, while tax for international money transfer made by a private individual is 7% . That's why we need you. We need agents to receive payments (bank transfers).
This way we will save money because of tax decreasing.

Agent's work consists in receiving payments from our customers and making further payments to our main office or to one of our regional affiliate departments.
Being a part- time job, it should not take more than 2-4 hours per day. We pay weekly. Your starting salary will be 1000 USD each week. All money transfer charges and fees are covered by our company. So you will be responsible just for making proper payments in time. Each transaction will be made only after prior notification by phone call or e-mail.

We hope to hear back from you.

NOTE: PLEASE ALL REPLIES MUST BE MADE TO THE FOLLOWING EMAIL ADDRESS: thorst@lvfinance.info



Respectfully,
Thomas Horst
Senior Manager,
LV Finance Ltd.

This appears bears a close resemblance to the above posted scam, doesn't it? Receiving payment checks from clients, then forwarding it on to their company in an effort to evade taxation?

[Colonel Panic]

I'm starting a new thread to show how to look up phone numbers, addresses, contact and technical info about domain name owners from their domain names.

The info may not indicate where they're really operating from, but you can see how they give the impression that their operation is spread over several countries.

To read about it, go here: http://www.phonelosers.org/community/index.php?topic=231.0

[Colonel Panic]

I found more information on those Nigerian scams.

Here are 2 stories I have found that shed some light on the operations of Nigerian scammers.

This explains how that cashier's check scam works:

http://www.scamvictimsunited.com/counterfeit_cashier's_check.htm

Counterfeit Cashier's Check

How the scam works . . .

You are selling an item over the Internet - it could be a used car or motorcycle, jewelry or even bred animals. You receive an email offer to purchase your item and the buyer says he'll send a bank cashier's check. The buyer is from Nigeria or "West Africa", but has a business associate in the United States who will send you the cashier's check.   Then you are told that for some reason the check was already made out to you for an amount larger than your asking price.  The buyer asks you to please deposit the check, wait for it to clear, and then send him the difference -- "but only after the cashier's check clears, of course."

You are skeptical - but, sure enough, the bank cashier's check arrives by Fed Ex, it looks real, your bank accepts the check, and the bank assures you the funds are in fact available. So you wait the time the bank recommends to verify that the check is clear and then you wire the difference to your buyer in Nigeria and prepare to ship your item.

A week later your bank calls: "We're very sorry, but the cashier's check was counterfeit" -- a superb copy, but worthless. Your account is frozen. You must pay the bank back the entire amount of the cashier's check. You may even be considered a fraud suspect yourself.

Your "buyer" disappears. About the only good news: sellers rarely get to the point of shipping their items abroad.

So apparently the "Transfer Agent Job Offer" is just another twist on a very old scam, which dates back to the 1920's. In the days before the internet, it used to be perpetrated through the postal service and was known "The Spanish Prisoner" scam.


Here's a heartwarnimg tale that describes the prosperity that comes to diligent scammers in Nigeria:

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2006/05/29/8378124/index.htm:

Online scams create "Yahoo! millionaires"

In Lagos, where scamming is an art, the quickest path to wealth for the cyber-generation runs through a computer screen.

By Leonard Lawal, FORTUNE
June 1, 2006: 9:43 AM EDT

(FORTUNE Magazine) - Akin is, like many things in cyberspace, an alias. In real life he's 14. He wears Adidas sneakers, a Rolex Submariner watch, and a kilo of gold around his neck.

Akin, who lives in Lagos, is one of a new generation of entrepreneurs that has emerged in this city of 15 million, Nigeria's largest. His mother makes $30 a month as a cleaner, his father about the same hustling at bus stations. But Akin has made it big working long days at Internet cafes and is now the main provider for his family and legions of relatives.

Call him a "Yahoo! millionaire."

Akin buys things online - laptops, BlackBerries, cameras, flat-screen TVs - using stolen credit cards and aliases. He has the loot shipped via FedEx or DHL to safe houses in Europe, where it is received by friends, then shipped on to Lagos to be sold on the black market. (He figures Americans are too smart to sell a camera on eBay to a buyer with an address in Nigeria.)

Akin's main office is an Internet cafe in the Ikeja section of Lagos. He spends up to ten hours a day there, seven days a week, huddled over one of 50 computers, working his scams.

And he's not alone: The cafe is crowded most of the time with other teenagers, like Akin, working for a "chairman" who buys the computer time and hires them to extract e-mail addresses and credit card information from the thin air of cyberspace. Akin's chairman, who is computer illiterate, gets a 60 percent cut and reserves another 20 percent to pay off law enforcement officials who come around or teachers who complain when the boys cut school. That still puts plenty of cash in Akin's pocket.

A sign at the door of the cafe reads, WE DO NOT TOLERATE SCAMS IN THIS PLACE. DO NOT USE E-MAIL EXTRACTORS OR SEND MULTIPLE MAILS OR HACK CREDIT CARDS. YOU WILL BE HANDED OVER TO THE POLICE. NO 419 ACTIVITY IN THIS CAFE. The sign is a joke; 419 activity, which refers to the section of the Nigerian law dealing with obtaining things by trickery, is a national pastime. There are no coherent laws relating to e-scams, the police are mostly computer illiterate, and penalties for financial crimes are light.

No penalties for breaking the law

"The deterrent factor is not there at all," says Thomas Oli, a Lagos lawyer, citing the case of a former police inspector general who was convicted of stealing more than $100 million and got only six months in jail.

"What do you want me to do?" Akin asks in pidgin English, explaining why he turned to a life of Internet crime. "It is my God-given talent. Our politicians, they do their own; me, I'm doing my own. I feed my family - my sister, my mother, my popsie. Man must survive."

The scams perpetrated by Akin and his comrades are many and varied: moneygram interceptions, Western Union hijackings, check laundering, identity theft, and outright begging, with tall tales of dying relatives and large sums of money in search of safe haven. One popular online fraud often practiced by women (or boys pretending to be women) involves separating lonely men from their money.

Attempts to speak to government officials about Internet crime were futile. They all claimed ignorance of such scams; some laughed it off as Western propaganda.

But last November the Economic Fraud and Financial Crimes Commission won a high-profile case that had dragged on for years against Emmanuel Nwude, who pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 25 years for bilking a Brazilian bank out of $242 million using an Internet scam involving phony bank drafts. The commission is also pursuing a case against 419 kingpin Fred Ajudua, a lawyer and businessman accused of using the Internet to steal $1 million from a victim in Germany.

Some officials, who asked not be identified, said young people are drawn to Internet crime as a way of getting back at a society that has no plans for them. Others see it as a form of reparation for the sins of the West.

Or as Akin puts it, "White people are too gullible. They are rich, and whatever I gyp them out of is small change to them."

Editor's note: The term "Yahoo Millionaire" is frequently used by scammers in Nigeria. They are not affiliated in any way with Yahoo! the company.