[quote]
Almost every inbox has been plagued by them: Emails offering a chance at a share of millions of dollars (or pounds or euros). Someone works at a Department of Finance or Department of Oil or is terminally ill or for some other reason needs to shift a large chunk of money out of their country. And they need your help.
Just shoot through an email with a few personal details, and you'll end up with 5 per cent (or 10 per cent or 15) of some fabulous quantity of money. But then the transaction hits a hitch — you're going to need to send through a small amount of money to help facilitate the transfer. Nothing big and, after all, soon you'll have enough money to fill a swimming pool, and you'll finally be rid of the long hours and low pay of your day job (possibly as a poverty-stricken overworked tech writer). Then they need another small amount. Then a larger amount.
These email scams are typically dubbed 'Nigerian scams' or '419 scams' after a section in Nigeria's criminal code, but are more accurately known as 'advance fee fraud'. And, unfortunately for the country, it's these scams that many people probably think of when they hear Nigeria's name. There is a lot more variety in the scams in these days — you can help out someone trying to shift money out of Libya in the wake of Gaddafi's overthrow, for example — but my inbox still manages to attract a fair share of promises of West African wealth.
And, hard as it might be for a lot of people to believe, these scams can be fantastically successful. Two years ago a Nigerian man received a 12-year jail sentence after scamming US$1.3 million from victims.
Here's a small sample from one I received recently (though this time it's Malaysia, not an African nation):
I am Mr.Davies Abraham the director of Accounts & auditing dept (CIMB Bank Group Malaysia) With due respect, I have decided to contact you on a business transaction that will be beneficial to both of us and our family. At the bank's last accounts/auditing evaluations, my staffs came across an old account which was being maintained by a foreign client who we learn was among the deceased passengers of motor accident on (November 2003) the deceased was unable to run this account since his death.
The account has remained dormant without the knowledge of his family since it was put in a safe deposit account in the bank for future investment by the client and we have tried to contact the details of the next of the kin but our effort is in vain so CIMB Bank gathered that every body in the family died in the Accident.
The question many people have asked themselves after receiving an email like this is: Who would fall for this crap? The persistence of the scam also raises another question: Can't people come up with better worded, more creative forms of attack? Why, given the scam is relatively well known these days, would a scammer still purport from Nigeria or from another West African nation given the association of advance free fraud with the region?
In retrospect the answer to this question is obvious. According to Cormac Herley, principal researcher at Microsoft Research's Machine Learning Department, it's because scammers aren't necessarily interested in seeming believable: They are looking for the most gullible victims they can find, to maximise return on their effort.
A (maths heavy) paper produced by Herley, aptly titled Why do Nigerian Scammers Say They are from Nigeria? (PDF), argues: "In deciding who to attack true positives are targets successfully attacked, while false positives are those that are attacked but yield nothing.
"This allows us to view the attacker’s problem as a binary classification. The most profitable strategy requires accurately distinguishing viable from non-viable users, and balancing the relative costs of true and false positives…
"Far-fetched tales of West African riches strike most as comical. Our analysis suggests that is an advantage to the attacker, not a disadvantage. Since his attack has a low density of victims the Nigerian scammer has an over-riding need to reduce false positives. By sending an email that repels all but the most gullible the scammer gets the most promising marks to self-select, and tilts the true to false positive ratio in his favor."
Herley notes that, contrary to what some people think, an advance fee scam is not free for the fraudster. "[E]ach respondent to a Nigerian 419 email requires a large amount of interaction, as does the Facebook 'stuck in London scam.'"
The cost of sending an email may be close to zero, but "emptying bank accounts requires recruiting and managing mules".
"The endgame of many attacks require per-target effort. Thus when cost is non-zero each potential target represents an investment decision to an attacker. He invests effort in the hopes of payoff, but this decision is never flawless."
He concludes: "[I]f the goal is to maximize response to the email campaign it would seem that mentioning 'Nigeria' (a country that to many has become synonymous with scams) is counter-productive. One could hardly choose a worse place to claim to be from if the goal is to lure the unwary into email communication…
"Since gullibility is unobservable, the best strategy is to get those who possess this quality to self-identify. An email with tales of fabulous amounts of money and West African corruption will strike all but the most gullible as bizarre. It will be recognized and ignored by anyone who has been using the Internet long enough to have seen it several times. It will be figured out by anyone savvy enough to use a search engine and follow up on the auto-complete suggestions [of search engines]. It won’t be pursued by anyone who consults sensible family or fiends, or who reads any of the advice banks and money transfer agencies make available. Those who remain are the scammers ideal targets. They represent a tiny subset of the overall population."[/quote]
[url]http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/428151/why_nigerian_scammers_say_they_re_from_nigeria/[/url]
So it's basically to weed out only the most retarded people?
[url]http://www.419eater.com/[/url]
so many lulz can be had here, like the time they convinced some scammer that to remove a voodoo curse he had to wrap his dick in chilli peppers and rough twine for 48 hours, and later got him to dig in a mine field next to an international airport, like 3 countries away from where he started
I love wasting scammers' time.
[QUOTE=GenPol;36413802]I love wasting scammers' time.[/QUOTE]
While wasting your own time as well :v:
[QUOTE=Bat-shit;36413833]While wasting your own time as well :v:[/QUOTE]
No, because it's an enjoyable activity.
"Two years ago a Nigerian man received a 12-year jail sentence after scamming [b]US$1.3[/b] million from victims"
that's actually fucking hilarious!
[QUOTE=GreenLeaf;36414754]"Two years ago a Nigerian man received a 12-year jail sentence after scamming [b]US$1.3[/b] million from victims"
that's actually fucking hilarious![/QUOTE]
I am only a bit surprised at how people fall for it.
The only time I got something like this it was a guy saying they were a member of the US Air Force in Iraq who found some of Saddam's money.
[QUOTE=Taepodong-2;36415197]The only time I got something like this it was a guy saying they were a member of the US Air Force in Iraq who found some of Saddam's money.[/QUOTE]
"So, you wanna split it with me 50/50? I just need your bank details."
I actually got my first of these just a few days ago. The scammer had breached one of my friends account on facebook. This friend then asked if I knew about a Mr. David Jones, I said that I did not.
He then proceeded to tell me how Mr. Jones was working at the UN Department of deaf and something hearing, and that he had seen my name on a list of those eligible to receive money. All I had to do was email him.
After a while talking with this friend I started to really suspect that he had had his account breached, so I asked him where we met. No answer. At this point I realized I could have some fun with this. So I emailed him and we had some email correspondence going on, him only answering in big blue text.
He then proceeded to add me as a friend on facebook and we continued our conversation there. I managed to convince him that I paid extra every month to my bank for a 24/7 jour phone-bank number where I could handle Western Union transactions.
He said that in order to receive $300K I would need to transfer $3k to an adress he gave me. I said that I was on the phone with the bank and starting the transaction. I waited for a few minutes and then told him that he would have to accept the transaction over the phone, since it was an international money transfer. I then gave him the number to a sex-talk phoneline in Sweden.
Then he got [B]really[/B] pissed off.
But it works out?
[video=youtube;JAH43TZYGt4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCG-5fluNPo[/video]
[QUOTE=viperfan7;36413600][url]http://www.419eater.com/[/url]
so many lulz can be had here, like the time they convinced some scammer that to remove a voodoo curse he had to wrap his dick in chilli peppers and rough twine for 48 hours, and later got him to dig in a mine field next to an international airport, like 3 countries away from where he started[/QUOTE]
I gotta read this story. Link?
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pYL_4Sul0Q[/media]
[I]"Why don't they answer me?"
"Ignorance, your highness!"[/I]
somewhere in the world, an exiled, starving african prince is frantically sending emails from an internet cafe, trying to send his money over to any trustworthy person in the west so he can move there and live in peace
Pffft, you're just jealous that I am now a royal Nigerian prince.
I was just surprised that they actually have computers in Nigeria.
I always guessed they said they said they were Nigerian because they were.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
!!!buy Viagra now !!! big ! - Robert Nkomo
[QUOTE=axelord157;36417028]I gotta read this story. Link?[/QUOTE]
[URL=http://forum.419eater.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1030364#1030364]The chili pepper thing (somewhat NSFW, no pictures though).[/URL]
I know sending them through minefields has been done a few times, but I don't know what the specific bait was.
Let's look into my spam folder...
[quote]
Winning Notification
Dear Winner!
Please Open Your Attached File to Verify Your Winning Notification and Fill Your Information Below:
(there's this word document that I won't open that's 115KB. Smells like a virus.)
[CODE]
Email Information
Received: by 10.68.5.5 with SMTP id o5csp17486pbo;
Sat, 16 Jun 2012 03:16:04 -0700 (PDT)
Received: by 10.68.200.168 with SMTP id jt8mr12292174pbc.143.1339841764381;
Sat, 16 Jun 2012 03:16:04 -0700 (PDT)
Return-Path: <nationloto999@gmail.com>
Received: from nm11-vm1.access.bullet.mail.sp2.yahoo.com (nm11-vm1.access.bullet.mail.sp2.yahoo.com. [98.139.44.125])
by mx.google.com with SMTP id mo5si2823317pbc.298.2012.06.16.03.16.03;
Sat, 16 Jun 2012 03:16:04 -0700 (PDT)
Received-SPF: neutral (google.com: 98.139.44.125 is neither permitted nor denied by domain of nationloto999@gmail.com) client-ip=98.139.44.125;
Authentication-Results: mx.google.com; spf=neutral (google.com: 98.139.44.125 is neither permitted nor denied by domain of nationloto999@gmail.com) smtp.mail=nationloto999@gmail.com; dkim=pass (test mode) header.i=@yahoo.com
Received: from [98.139.44.98] by nm11.access.bullet.mail.sp2.yahoo.com with NNFMP; 16 Jun 2012 10:16:03 -0000
Received: from [98.139.44.75] by tm3.access.bullet.mail.sp2.yahoo.com with NNFMP; 16 Jun 2012 10:16:02 -0000
Received: from [127.0.0.1] by omp1012.access.mail.sp2.yahoo.com with NNFMP; 16 Jun 2012 10:16:02 -0000
X-Yahoo-Newman-Property: ymail-5
X-Yahoo-Newman-Id: 956073.15470.bm@omp1012.access.mail.sp2.yahoo.com
Received: (qmail 7705 invoked by uid 60001); 16 Jun 2012 10:16:01 -0000[/CODE]
[/quote]
Then I got some crap from RuneScape...
Another lottery...
A business proposal with a decent looking document
[quote]
Am Alif Anazim a legal practitioner in Malaysia, I have an offer for you
involving a huge deposit left by my one of my late client in Malaysia.
I write you seeking your assistance to stand as next. Write back with your
contact details and I shall give you more information.
Regards,
Alif Anazim.
[/quote]
I feel like playing with this one.
And oh god, this one is long...
[quote]
THE UNITED NATION ORGANISATION
LONDON UNITED KINGDOM
UNITED NATION PAYMENT APPROVAL
OFFICE Special Duties/Logistics Department
FOREIGN CONTRACT/WINNING PAYMENT BUREAU
Our Ref: GBT /USA/STB Your Ref 25321/imf/us/09/10
UNITED NATION AND EUROPEAN UNION OFFICIAL WINNING PAYMENT VALUED $8,300,000M
UNITED NATION ORGANIZATION AND EUROPEAN UNION ORGANIZATION do hereby give this irrevocable approval order with Release Code: GNC/3480/02/00 in your favor for your contract entitlement/award winning payment with the UNITED NATION to your nominated bank account. Now your new Payment,United nation Approval No;UN5685P,White House Approved No:WH44CV, Reference o.-35460021, Allocation No: 674632 Password No: 339331 , Pin Code No: 55674 and your Certificate of Merit Payment No : 103 , Released Code No: 0763; Immediate Citibank Telex confirmation No: -1114433 ; Secret Code No:XXTN013, Having received these vital payment number , therefore You are qualified now to received and confirm Your payment with the United Nation immediately within the next 72hrs.
As a matter of fact, you are required to Deal and Communicate only with MRS RHODA WILTON, NEW DIRECTOR INTERNATIONAL REMMITTANCE CITIBANK OF UNITED KINGDOM, with the help and monitory team from the CITIBANK OF FEDERAL RESERVE ACCOUNT OFFICE IN US which is our official remitting bank, Committee On Foreign Payment Matters in United Nation, has look up to make sure you receive your fund valued $8.3m. So contact: MRS RHODA WILTON. on Tel:+4470457 61336 FAX +44 871 900 7516
Email: [email]rhodawiltonu@globomail.com[/email] for immediate release of your contract/inheritance/Award Winning claim Be informed that you are not allowed to correspond with any person or office anymore, You are required to send her the bellow information for your transfer.
1) YOUR FULL NAME:
2) ADDRESS:
CITY, STATE:
3) PHONE:
4) COMPANY NAME(IF ANY) POSITION AND ADDRESS
5) BANK DETAILS:
BANK NAMES:
ACCOUNT NO:
ROUTING NO:
SWIFT CODE :
BANK ADDRESS:
6) PROFESSION AND MARITAL STATUS,
7) COPY OF YOUR INT'L PASSPORT/DRIVERS LICENSE
NOTE: YOUR PERSONAL CONTACT/COMMUNICATIONCODE WITH CITIBANK IS(022),YOU ARE ARE ADVICE TO SEND YOU FULL BANKING INFORMATION TO THE NEW CITIBANK OF LONDON INTERNATIONAL REMMITTANCE DIRECTOR HEADED BY MRS JUDITH RODIN AND MAKE SURE YOU ADHIRE TO HER INSTRUCTIONS,
WITH YOUR NEW PAYMENT CODE FOR RELEASE OF YOUR PAYMENT AND SEND HER ALL YOUR BANKING INFORMATION NOW. CONTACT CODE(002)
OFFICER: MRS RHODA WILTON
POSITION: NEW DIRECTOR,INTL,REMMITTANCE CITIBANK LONDON.
EMAIL: [email]rhodawiltonu@globomail.com[/email] TEL: +44 70457 61336 FAX +44 871 900 7516
MRS RHODA WILTON
(CHAIRMAN COMMITTE ON FOREIGN CONTRACT/AWARD WINING PAYMENT UNITED NATION AND USA GOVERNMENT).
[/quote]
I feel like playing with this one too. Someone make up fake info!
[quote]
Due to the petitions received by the UN, I Secretary-General Ban ki-moon from all over the continent in regards to the fraudulent activities going on in the West Africa sub-region with security's agent and diplomats who has been delaying people's funds, Kindly view below mail attaced for full details
[/quote]
Moar payments!
My brothers laptop broke a few months ago and was expecting a call from Dell. About 2 weeks ago these guys with African accents said my computer had problems and they needed to fix it. At first I thought they were from dell but it became pretty obvious they were trying the "you have 343234534 viruses/problems and you better send us money to fix it" thing so I just messed with them for about and hour and hung up.
[editline]21st June 2012[/editline]
[QUOTE=garychencool;36426362]Moar payments![/QUOTE]
You lucky bastard. Having Malaysia and the UN (twice) both wanting to give you money.
[video=youtube;bf_uvylg5VI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bf_uvylg5VI[/video]
U TALKING TO BIG MANGH
You lucky people, all I get are people wanting to help fix my virus ridden computer. If I won the Nigerian lottery I could buy a brand new one, and throw out this hunk of junk.
[QUOTE=Armandur;36415601]I actually got my first of these just a few days ago. The scammer had breached one of my friends account on facebook. This friend then asked if I knew about a Mr. David Jones, I said that I did not.
He then proceeded to tell me how Mr. Jones was working at the UN Department of deaf and something hearing, and that he had seen my name on a list of those eligible to receive money. All I had to do was email him.
After a while talking with this friend I started to really suspect that he had had his account breached, so I asked him where we met. No answer. At this point I realized I could have some fun with this. So I emailed him and we had some email correspondence going on, him only answering in big blue text.
He then proceeded to add me as a friend on facebook and we continued our conversation there. I managed to convince him that I paid extra every month to my bank for a 24/7 jour phone-bank number where I could handle Western Union transactions.
He said that in order to receive $300K I would need to transfer $3k to an adress he gave me. I said that I was on the phone with the bank and starting the transaction. I waited for a few minutes and then told him that he would have to accept the transaction over the phone, since it was an international money transfer. I then gave him the number to a sex-talk phoneline in Sweden.
Then he got [B]really[/B] pissed off.[/QUOTE]
The moment you hear western union, run. It provides untraceable money orders.
[editline]22nd June 2012[/editline]
Annyways, good for you :P
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