Nigerian Scam; How It Is Done
I am obliged to write a post on Nigerian scam because I am a Nigerian living in Nigeria and I don’t want my readers to be victims.
Hey! I can be beaten up for writing this but, lets do it this way, read the post, pass my blog url to the next person, don’t mention my name….ok?
This will be the first in a series about Nigerian Scam (locally called 419 – representing the section of the Nigerian constitution that condemns it)
I am writing it in response to Razib Ahmed’s post and to give an insight about this cyber-crime that has affected me too much;
The Nigerian scam has dampened internet usage in the country,
Because of Nigerian scam, I cannot do e-commerce (because most people won’t accept credit cards from Nigeria) and my mails to many people (especially to bloggers on how best to start) were ignored, because I am a Nigerian.
In his post, Razib said the two Bhutanese were scammed because they were greedy and foolish; he was right but not entirely…
Believe me, lots of people, less greedy than Razib thought, have been victims, most of them won’t speak out because people will think they were greedy and stupid, its just like a rape. Even Nigerians who have heard of it and whose relatives may have been scammed are still scammed daily.
I believe that a crime is best fought by exposing it; so, I will try as much as I can to write about this crime and their strategies as far as I know from experience and interview with scammers.
Some of them are:
Its as normal as any Business
Scammers are not fools, and they know you are not either, but they have to outwit you, so they do things you will never suspect. I know guys that spend days surfing e-bay and other e-commerce centers. They study the goods or services people sell and they know who they are that buy these goods. They surf dating sites and establish good relationships with sugar-coated words. They send business and money transfer proposals that looks authentic like what you do every day. They are as normal as you don’t expect them to be.
It need not come from Nigeria
Cyberspace has no borders and so is cyber-stealing. Successful scammer (419ers) in Nigeria have links abroad (not necessarily Nigerians) that keeps on updating them on security modifications and helps in cashing the loot. I know someone that was scammed by a Nigerian but the initial contact was in the Netherlands.
It may seem to come from a trusted friend
Some internet café in Nigeria have secretly-installed e-mail extractors, probably, contacts abroad may have them installed somewhere too, if your Nigerian partner of friend should access your business mails in an insecure café, your details can get into the wrong hands who can scam your hard-earned change from you before you find out its not your friend.
Razib also said he did not feel pity for the Bhutanese, I will ask him to. Wisdom alone is not the only means of avoiding a scam. Sometimes, even at the time you are being scammed, you will be fully aware of what you are doing.
Something needs to be mentioned here;
Not all scammers are Nigerians!
Hey! I can be beaten up for writing this but, lets do it this way, read the post, pass my blog url to the next person, don’t mention my name….ok?
This will be the first in a series about Nigerian Scam (locally called 419 – representing the section of the Nigerian constitution that condemns it)
I am writing it in response to Razib Ahmed’s post and to give an insight about this cyber-crime that has affected me too much;
The Nigerian scam has dampened internet usage in the country,
Because of Nigerian scam, I cannot do e-commerce (because most people won’t accept credit cards from Nigeria) and my mails to many people (especially to bloggers on how best to start) were ignored, because I am a Nigerian.
In his post, Razib said the two Bhutanese were scammed because they were greedy and foolish; he was right but not entirely…
Believe me, lots of people, less greedy than Razib thought, have been victims, most of them won’t speak out because people will think they were greedy and stupid, its just like a rape. Even Nigerians who have heard of it and whose relatives may have been scammed are still scammed daily.
I believe that a crime is best fought by exposing it; so, I will try as much as I can to write about this crime and their strategies as far as I know from experience and interview with scammers.
Some of them are:
Its as normal as any Business
Scammers are not fools, and they know you are not either, but they have to outwit you, so they do things you will never suspect. I know guys that spend days surfing e-bay and other e-commerce centers. They study the goods or services people sell and they know who they are that buy these goods. They surf dating sites and establish good relationships with sugar-coated words. They send business and money transfer proposals that looks authentic like what you do every day. They are as normal as you don’t expect them to be.
It need not come from Nigeria
Cyberspace has no borders and so is cyber-stealing. Successful scammer (419ers) in Nigeria have links abroad (not necessarily Nigerians) that keeps on updating them on security modifications and helps in cashing the loot. I know someone that was scammed by a Nigerian but the initial contact was in the Netherlands.
It may seem to come from a trusted friend
Some internet café in Nigeria have secretly-installed e-mail extractors, probably, contacts abroad may have them installed somewhere too, if your Nigerian partner of friend should access your business mails in an insecure café, your details can get into the wrong hands who can scam your hard-earned change from you before you find out its not your friend.
Razib also said he did not feel pity for the Bhutanese, I will ask him to. Wisdom alone is not the only means of avoiding a scam. Sometimes, even at the time you are being scammed, you will be fully aware of what you are doing.
Something needs to be mentioned here;
Not all scammers are Nigerians!
But, it's a pity that this crime may assume the name "Nigeria" for quite some time.
The bad news is: It is not ending soon.
The good news: The Nigerian government is fighting it to redeem our image abroad.
The bad news is: It is not ending soon.
The good news: The Nigerian government is fighting it to redeem our image abroad.
oops, too much meat for you to swallow in one bite, isn't it?
In subsequent posts, I will give details on this and the war against it.
You too can help; leave a comment on your experience and what you think about this post.
In subsequent posts, I will give details on this and the war against it.
You too can help; leave a comment on your experience and what you think about this post.
please check out this blog by a Nigerian scammer
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5 Comments:
You have done well. God bless you
By
Anonymous, at 12:50 PM
Thanks bob, you are the first visitor I had.
it seemed I was shouting in pluto before. Thanks men, pity u didn't leave ur name, please do that next time.
By
Emeka, at 2:23 PM
Thanks for writing about this issue. I agree with you that Not all scammers are Nigerians! I still do not feel sympathy for the two Bhutanese greedy men because they were not ordinary persons. They tried something illegal and got caught. They went to Malaysia and then tried to illegally smuggle fake or real currency. That is against the law and one of the two men was a government employee.
By
Anonymous, at 8:48 PM
I recived many e-mails about this scam and luckly i was watching the news and i seen this horrible scam i was actually thinkin about this offer. He went by the name of Ken Williams and he gave his phone number 234 80 334 53528. I'm glad that you have a site like this it was very helpful.
By
Anonymous, at 4:23 PM
Useful information. Fortunate me I found your website by accident, and I am surprised why this coincidence did not take place in advance! I bookmarked it.
By
tecteem, at 11:03 AM
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