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The Almighty Buck The Internet Your Rights Online

Nigeria Detains 500 419 Fraudsters 42

Posted by timothy from the bet-you-pray-real-nice dept.
Traicovn writes "Nigeria's agency against economic and financial crime said on Monday that it had detained more than 500 suspects and seized property worth more than $500-million from suspected fraudsters. 'Presently we have over 500 suspects in custody, seized assets and recovered properties worth over $500-million with over 100 cases at various stages of prosecution,' agency chairman Nuhu Ribadu told a seminar. For the rest of the article, visit IAfrica. Personally, I like this 419 spoof."
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Nigeria Detains 500 419 Fraudsters More

Nigeria Detains 500 419 Fraudsters

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  • Cottage Industry (Score:5, Funny)

    by ericspinder ( 146776 ) on Wednesday June 30, 2004 @03:12PM (#9574468) Journal
    Silly me, I had always assumed that at least most of the 419 scams just *said* that they were from Nigeria. More than a Half-A-Billion dollar cottage industry in a poor country like Nigeria and that was just what the fraudsters had left for the government to take, WOW, A whole economy based on stupid, greedy people.
    • personally I've started to gotten russian versions of these now.

      usually claiming some yukos money being involved.

      (they're just about the only bit of spam so far though, I know the exact place they mine emails for these things as well)

      some of the scamsters would go so far as to get you into the country half illeagally looking and blackmail even more money from you.
    • Although I'm sure most people in Nigeria aren't fraudsters, they apparently have a bad rep in general. I know a couple people from other parts of Africa, and they both told me they don't trust anyone from Nigeria...

    • Re:Cottage Industry (Score:4, Insightful)

      by codexus ( 538087 ) on Wednesday June 30, 2004 @05:46PM (#9576469)
      WOW, A whole economy based on stupid, greedy people.

      Best definition for "capitalism" I've ever seen!

    • Re:Cottage Industry (Score:1, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      "A whole economy based on stupid, greedy people."

      Hate to spoil your illusions, but ALL economies are based on stupid, greedy people, because the majority of people are stupid and greedy.

  • It must be said (Score:5, Funny)

    by Ann Elk ( 668880 ) on Wednesday June 30, 2004 @03:16PM (#9574550)

    They just need a way to get the $500 million out of the country. They heard from a mutual friend that you are a trustworthy person...

  • I rtfa, and I still am not sure what this is about.

    Anyone care to explain it better?

    • Re:/huh (Score:5, Informative)

      by ChipMonk ( 711367 ) on Wednesday June 30, 2004 @03:40PM (#9574961) Journal
      Short-circuit explanation: Read the spoof linked from the article. Does it sound familiar? No? I am truly jealous.

      The name "419" refers to the Nigerian criminal code section that this spam violates. No idea how many victims it has claimed, but it has been a cottage industry there for about three years now. These arrests should put a dent in the operation.

  • How's justice in Africa these days? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by dan_bethe ( 134253 ) <slashdot@@@smuckola...org> on Wednesday June 30, 2004 @03:30PM (#9574813)
    Of course we're hoping that these suspects are suspected by way of a fair investigation, and given due process and representation. As opposed to officials picking up a person at a cybercafe who used the same computer as a scammer had used 15 minutes prior. I have a friend in Africa who makes it his business to hunt down 419'ers and he says a lot of them are average joes, some employed and some unemployed, waltzing through cybercafes to send 419 emails.

    I don't know much about Africa. It's a big continent, and I do know that a lot of areas are fairly lawless or corrupt way more than in corporate America. After RTFA, I don't see whether we can take justice for granted.
    • Well how's justice in the Americas these days?
      Or in Asia?

      Wouldn't it be more correct to to ask about the state of justice in Nigeria, since that's where this is taking place?

      Nigeria is after free elections in 2003 nominally a democracy with a solid justice system, but still suffering from a long time under military rule and rampaging corruption.
      If you rtfa you'd see that several of the people arrested are highranking officials.
      But the note that one of them died in prison makes you ponder.

      But bottom
    • I don't know much about Africa.

      of course that didnt stop you from offering a sweeping statement about their culture.


      ... I do know that a lot of areas are fairly lawless or corrupt...


      Thats why I love Slashdot.
      • of course that didnt stop you from offering a sweeping statement about their culture.

        Yeah, that's exactly what it did, hence the presence of a generously stated question instead of a statement or conclusion. And thanks to those who offered the insightful responses I requested.

  • didn't bring in the guy who needed my help to wire transfer funds, I am anxious and still waiting to get my money!

  • If they arressted 500 people (Score:4, Interesting)

    by dcocos ( 128532 ) on Wednesday June 30, 2004 @03:35PM (#9574887)
    and they had $500 million, that's 1 million per person in a country where the average per capita income is $290 a year, the scammers should have stopped while they were a head.
  • I read the article. I was glad that 500 people were "detained" for fraud. I wasn't thrilled when I read the sentence "although the identities of those in EFCC custody are not formally revealed, observers noted that they included legislators, lawyers, politicians, bankers and public functionaries."
    I hope this wasn't 419 rich people were detained while their government took $500 million of their money and other assets. Reading the article, it sounded all above board that the Nigerian government was doing this

    • Re:Does any one know anything about Nigera? (Score:4, Funny)

      by Tackhead ( 54550 ) on Wednesday June 30, 2004 @06:43PM (#9576931)
      > I read the article. I was glad that 500 people were "detained" for fraud. I wasn't thrilled when I read the sentence "although the identities of those in EFCC custody are not formally revealed, observers noted that they included legislators, lawyers, politicians, bankers and public functionaries."
      >
      >I hope this wasn't 419 rich people were detained while their government took $500 million of their money and other assets.Reading the article, it sounded all above board that the Nigerian government was doing this for the public good. I just felt terrified that I might be reading proganda. Is there any one that knows anything about the government of Nigera and their policies?

      1. Issue press release claiming detention of 500 419 scammers and $500M of defrauded funds.

      2. Make Slashdot posting to speculate that instead of it being 500 419 scammers, it's 500 innocent people been shaken down for $1M apiece.

      We know that 4. must == "Profit!!!", and therefore we solve for 3. to obtain:

      3. 500,000,419 emails, all reading:

      "GOD BLESS! I am Crown Prince N'Krumba Fubar! The Nigerian government has issued a false press release claiming a crackdown on the 419 scammers that bedevil our great and proud nation. The truth is that 500 innocent legislators, lawyers, politicans, bankers, and public functionaries have had the sum of FIVE HUNDRED MILLION U.S. DOLLARS ($500,000,000) unawlfully seized from them! I am but an innocent victim of this horrible atrocity, and wish to enlist your assistance in recouping only MY FAIR SHARE of what was taken from me - the sum of ONE MILLION U.S. DOLLARS ($1,000,000)! If you can help, please send details of your account to..."
    • Wish I still had some mod points to kick you're way. There's something not right here. It's hard enough to believe that one group of 419'ers could hit half a billion dollars. It's harder to believe that in a country so poor the local gov't couldn't be bought off to look the other way (unless they were planing to snatch the money). And why the heck would a banker do this kind of thing? He's got access to a bank, he can embezzle as much as he wants.
  • The topic would have been more readable had it been written like so:

    Nigeria Detains 500 "419" Fraudsters
  • "Nigeria Detains 500 419 Fraudsters"

    I want to make a joke about that reading like >500,000 people, but I can't think of a snazzy punchline. Now I know how Bob Saget must have felt.
  • jeez half a million , that's a significant chunk of their population [cia.gov]</kidding>. but seriously, not that significant, how many people knew there were 137 million people in Nigeria?
  • 1MM each ? Much more successful than I dared to think.
  • We are the Nigerian authorities in charge of arresting Internet fraudsters.
    We have recently arrested 500 of these and seized $500 million in assets. As we found your email address in their files, we assume you were one of their victims. Please send us your bank account information, so that we can refund you

    one million dollars.

    (insert pinky in mouth)

  • nigeria being famous for internet fraud is like, so totally gibson i can't even stand it. i bet their cell phone networks kick ass over anything you'd find in SoCal, as well ...

  • Respect (Score:3, Funny)

    by Time Doctor ( 79352 ) <zjs@zacharyjackslater.com> on Wednesday June 30, 2004 @05:33PM (#9576338) Homepage Journal
    With due respect I would like to disclose a transaction to you.I am Dr Zakk Zakkama, headof Nigerian World Bank Fraud and Antitrrust difision. Today we have closed thousand accounts valued at up to 50,000,000,000,000,00 under 419 investigation, however the money in those accounts will otherwise go unclaimed aunmless you can help me get them out of my war-torn country. Please send
    bank informations for transaction to begin.

    Plrease reply to my confidential e-mail address with favourable responce : zakk-zakkama@timedoctor.org [mailto].

    Kind wishes and regards,
    Dr. Zakk Zakkama

  • Related links (Score:5, Interesting)

    by JuggleGeek ( 665620 ) on Wednesday June 30, 2004 @07:12PM (#9577151)
    A woman was sentenced recently [nwsource.com] after having fallen for a 419 scam, and then stealing money from her employer (and their customers) to send to the scammers.

    Some people have hobbies where they pretend to be falling for the scam, just to see what kind of wierd nonsense they can get the scammer to do. This site has some funny pictures...

    http://tbp.berkeley.edu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=303 [berkeley.edu]

    More scammer-baiting can be found at http://www.419eater.com [419eater.com]. And if you want more, just click on their links page - their are lots.

    • After reading 419eater.com, I started a conversation with my guy Dr. Abel Tamboki and played back and forth with him for about a month.

      It's a lot of fun to dick around with them. They'll believe anything and do anything for you as long as you seem somewhat serious about the "transaction". Got my own pic of him (doing something stupid) too!

      It's like having a penpal in Africa!
  • A scammer tried to get me today to send him $4000. The first email I got was a reply to a classified I placed for a used car I am selling. It was odd to say the least, looked like a template email with a "(CAR)" search and replaced. (Yes just like that with parens and ALL CAPS of course) Did not make much sense and the fact that the time was GMT+8 and I am selling the car in a time zone GMT-7 was another give-away. Anyway I kept stringing him along making it look like I was incredibly stupid and I finally g

  • Strange, I tought the government was in for it ... (Score:1, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Having heard quite a few Nigeria stories from the police, I was certain that the Nigerian government was cooperating in the fraud. Using it as a way of financing their country.

    The police told me that people that get on an airplane and go to Nigeria don't even get in the country: they get robbed on the airport, threatened never to come back again and put on the next plane back.

    Sure, it looks like a nice thing, but I wouldn't give much about arresting 500 people in Nigera. It's so currupt already, there's p

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