Nigerian Scam Artists Taken For $33,000 229
smitty777 writes "An Australian woman who was being used by a group of Nigerian scam artists stole over $33,000 from the group who employed her. Her bank account was being used to funnel the cash from a dodgy internet car sales website. Irony aside, it makes one wonder how these folks ever got the nerve to go to the police with this matter. Those of you wondering, this article offers some answers to the question of why so many of these scams originate from this area."
Good for her! (Score:5, Interesting)
I tried to scam some scammers once, for far less money. I can definitely see how that would feel like a huge triumph.
I had gotten a response to an ad looking for a roomate. This fuckwad strung me along for days before revealing that they intended to pay for the first months rent and security deposit with a travelers check and "could you please cash it and forward the balance to....".
Oh I was fuming. I put the room back on the market, and continued with the scammer as if nothing happened. I told them the first set of travelers checks never arrived, even though they had and i already verified with the post office that they were fake.... then I got the second set....and admited I knew it was a scam.
At this point, things took a turn for the hilarious. Immediately he switched over to admitting it was a scam and....trying to recruit me to help! He claimed he needed a mailing address in the US, and needed someone to send out packages....claimed he would pay $500 per package of letters!
So of course, I told him I would do it but I needed the money up front...fully intending to keep the money and spend the next decade gloating over how I scammed the scammer.... he even told me he could get counterfit bills.... which got me thinking how fun it would be if this all resulted in my getting to report him to the SS.
Of course, the whole thing broke down when he wanted to talk on the phone....and I wasn't willing to give out my real phone number. I suppose he already had my address so it hardly mattered, but, I didn't want harassing calls either.
Re:Hello, I am a Nigerian Prince and you're a mark (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:It’s still fraud. (Score:5, Interesting)
IMNAL, Illegal contracts are still contracts. i.e., if you sign an illegal contract, you canâ(TM)t benefit by squelching on your end after you have received payment.
Oh no, they are not. A contract to commit a crime is void. If I kill your wife and you refuse to pay, no court will convict you for refusing to pay. And if you paid in advance and I refuse to kill her, no court will make me kill her _or_ refund the money.
One purpose of contracts is to make people work together. You couldn't sell a car if there was no way to make one side hand over the money and the other side hand over the car. Contracts to commit crimes are void intentionally to make that kind of collaboration harder.
Re:Hello, I am a Nigerian Prince and you're a mark (Score:5, Interesting)
To put the 419 economy into perspective, realize that Nigerians, like all Africans, have learned for hundreds of years that success comes not from hard work and investment, but from power, corruption, theft and scamming. For every hard working, honest European and American who's gone to Africa, there's been 100x more who went there to make a fortune off the backs of those $1 a day people you don't want to interact with.
I've worked in Nigeria for a few years. It is a very large, hard-working, and historically industrious country founded from old trading kingdoms. Nigeria's commercial middle class largely survived colonial times. But the discovery of oil destroyed any sense of hard money. If every foreigner coming to Nigeria gets to drive a large SUV, goes to expensive bars and restaurants, and it's clearly based on a system of massive theft of resources from Nigerians, to benefit foreigners and their local partners, then what system of ethics can stop fraud becoming a massive industry?
419 fraud is not just a random pastime, it's become a profession with entire families living off it, and doing well.
If you want to lecture Africans about ethics, start at home and look how the West treats Africa: a pool of resources to be extracted at the cheapest possible cost with the least possible investment. If the middle class complains, send guns and soldiers to kill them. If there is a politician who tries to get a better deal, murder him or start a civil war to topple him.
There's a reason so many Africans still live at that $1 a day level and it's driven by greed and theft on a huge scale. Fix that, then go and lecture Africans about their morality.
Re:Another view of the reason. (Score:0, Interesting)
True, but Robin Hood lived humbly was charitable. We admire him for being noble of character.
Alladin used his stolen lamp and ring to build himself a palace and live in luxury. He is admired for being clever and cunning.
in pari causa turpitudinis cessat repeti (Score:2, Interesting)
The purpose of enforcing illegal contracts ...
Courts will NOT enforce illegal contracts. That principle dates back to Roman Law and is enforced throughout common and civil law worlds. And yes, IAAAL.
BTW your scenario above about the lottery winning and divorce, doesn't disclose an illegal agreement at all. Assuming all the formalities were met to assign the lottery winnings on the condition that 50k (half) would come back you have a) a legal contract assigning the winnings and b) a decision by the court to divide the marital wealth 50/50, 50k from the lottery winnings being owed to the wife independent of the assignment. In the end the mistress would get to keep 50k, and the man would owe his wife 50k.
You want to structure the law so there is no benefit to entering a illegal contract ...
And you would have our courts in effect say "do the killing or we'll make you pay the money back." I don't think so. Certainly in Australia courts will not come to the aid of a criminal enterprise. The woman is guilty of fraud vis a vis the buyers, but the scammers have no legal recourse against her (on these facts).