Techdirt is off for the long weekend! We'll be back with our regular posts tomorrow.
419 Scammers Admit To 419 Scams In Order To Do More 419 Scamming
from the social-engineering? dept
Times must be getting tougher on the Nigerian 419 scammers. Every time I hear of someone being suckered by such a scam I wonder how they could possibly be fooled, as I seem to get between 20 to 30 of these emails every day – which has to make you a little suspicious. Besides, there have been so many news stories about the scam that I’m shocked anyone hasn’t heard about it yet. Well, it appears that the scammers are trying to adjust to this new reality, and have even started sending out such emails with the subject line: “This letter can only define Nigeria Scam, a.k.a 419”. The actual email tries to convince the recipient that while most 419 emails are scams, the reason they’re so successful is that, in some cases, there really are Nigerian princesses sneaking money out of the country through random greedy westerners – and this email is one of the legitimate ones. What’s scary about this is that it probably works on some people.
Comments on “419 Scammers Admit To 419 Scams In Order To Do More 419 Scamming”
hah
just after i read this, i got an email, from Barbara Ayesha wanting me to distribute the $18 million to charities for her that she couldn’t trust her family with.
international flavor
I got one from the Philippines yesterday, supposedly from the first wife of deposed president Estrada. Given how much money he is accused of squirreling away I’m really tempted…naah.
Re: international flavor
Maybe the next one will claim to be trying to smuggle out Imelda Marcos’s 6,000 pairs of shoes.
No Subject Given
A friend of mine had this to say to an associate of ours who, upon learning of the 419 scam, commented earnestly that he was glad to have learned this before he went ahead with the deal he had been working out with this nice person in Nigeria.
“For further information consult scambusters.org, snopes.com, and your pituitary gland to reset your IS_SUCKER bit.”