October 14th, 2005
Microsoft And Nigeria Team-Up to Fight 419 Scammers
by Jimmy Daniels
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews
The Nigerian government and Microsoft are teaming up to help fight 419 scams. We’ve all received them at one time or another, 419 scams are where you receive an email that is from someone in Nigeria who wants to send you money either from a money laundering or other illegal proposal or you might even receive a legitimate business proposal, but they require you to send them money as an “advance fee”, “transfer tax”, or to extend credit of some sort, among many other things. There are always complications of some sort, where you are required to send more money or advance payments until the user gives up or runs out of money. The user is always stiffed and has no legal recourse as the Nigerian government has never been any help as this is one of their largest “industries”.
Nigeria was initially slow to respond to the problem of 419 email scammers operating in the country who were duping innocent internet users out of thousands of pounds by promising a share of the secret multimillion pound fortune of a deposed African dictator. The EFCC is now at the forefront of that battle and has arrested more than 1,000 people, brought 300 prosecutions and seized a billion dollars in assets - but that has still only resulted in 17 convictions to date.
“Nigeria is one country where there are examples of everything that is bad when it comes to technology,” he said. “It’s a big, big problem for us. 419 scams are still the main problem but we are also witnessing other problems such as credit card fraud and lottery scams as well as the hacking and cloning of websites.” Source: Silicon.com
We Say: It’s about time something was done about this, billions of dollars have been lost and almost none of it has been recovered. Crack down on this and make the criminals go to jail, and it will slow down this and other types of scam, as soon as we start making people pay, in one form or another, we can start making the internet better for everyone.
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George says:
I hate to be this way but… Billions of dollars have been lost? Really? That’s a lot of money. Is there some sort of confirmation of this amount?
October 14th, 2005 at 12:55 pm
Jimmy says:
According to the 419 coalition website it was 5 billion by 1996 http://home.rica.net/alphae/419coal/
October 14th, 2005 at 1:03 pm
John Corliss says:
Here’s a site where 419 scammers get taken to the cleaners:
http://www.419eater.com/index.htm
Take special note of the “Trophy Room”. Warning… strong language in places.
October 15th, 2005 at 2:22 am
BillBC says:
I guess I’m heartless, but I’ve always felt that anyone who falls for this scam gets what he deserves. After all the pitch ususally involves stolen money or some sort of criminal activity. It’s so obviously fake that I can’t believe people go for it. “A fool and his money…” etc.
October 15th, 2005 at 7:46 am
Tinman says:
While I agree that a fool and his money shall soon part, and some of these people deserve what they get for being greedy along with gullible, I can say that I’m extremely happy that these SCUMBAGS are finally getting their due. People that prey on others weather it’s because of their greed, gullibility, or whatever, need to spend years and years in prison. That’s what we do with our society’s misfits to protect the innocent. And I know that the prisons in Nigeria are extremely barbaric, which is just fine by me, they deserve everything that they get…..
October 15th, 2005 at 10:40 pm
David M. says:
I am one of the fools that you are talking about. The scam has now move to canada. These scammers are very, very clever.
October 16th, 2005 at 6:35 am
Moe says:
Has it crossed anybody’s mind that this might be God’s way of punishing the greedy lot of you? Plus, What does this actually say about you folks in the weatern world. I mean, for the most part, these are illiterate Nigerians that can not even articulate a complete and grammatically correct sentence. Do you not feel the shame?
October 18th, 2005 at 8:22 am
e03d48c29427 says:
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May 10th, 2008 at 8:25 am