I went to Nigeria to meet a man who scammed me • Hacker News Board

Re: I went to Nigeria to meet a man who scammed me

#91

Post by saint_fiasco » Thu, Oct 20, 2016, 2:39 PM UTC

baakss wrote: post #18

denysonique wrote: post #15

Reminder that most advance-fee scams do not originate from Nigeria. Such articles like this one stereotype Nigeria in a falsely negative manner. >While Nigeria is most often the nation referred to in these scams, they may originate in other nations as well. For example, in 2006, 61% of Internet criminals were traced to locations in the United States, while 16% were traced to the United Kingdom and 6% to locations in…

Microsoft published a research paper on "Why Nigerian scammers say they're from Nigeria". Was that research paper a stereotype that painted Nigeria in a false and negative manner? https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/wp-content/uploads/...

That research paper says that scammers themselves encourage the stereotype to reduce false positives.

To take advantage of the dissuasive effect of saying you are from Nigeria, you don't necessarily have to actually be in Nigeria.

Re: I went to Nigeria to meet a man who scammed me

#92

Post by _nedR » Thu, Oct 20, 2016, 2:41 PM UTC

wodenokoto wrote: post #78

whack wrote: post #69

One thing I never quite understood. These "Nigerian prince" scams can originate from any developing nation where the exchange rate makes for very lucrative prospects. Ie, Chile, Egypt, Romania, Kazakhstan, China, India, Thailand, etc etc. Why do a disproportionate number of these scams seem to originate from Nigeria?

According to wikipedia most don't originate from Nigeria, but claim to do so, which to me only ads to the mystery. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advance-fee_scam

Paper : https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/publication/why-do-...

Or Article : http://gizmodo.com/5919818/why-nigerian-scammers-say-theyre-...

Quite clever and counter-intuitive really.

Re: I went to Nigeria to meet a man who scammed me

#93

Post by orblivion » Thu, Oct 20, 2016, 2:47 PM UTC

Noseshine wrote: post #68

elcct wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reminds me of: Go to a bank. Get a job there and work there for years and years learning the place from the inside, and also learning how all of the processes and procedures are done, earning everyone's trust and respect, and simultaneously building up a 401k with matching while also going up the career ladder and taking more and more positions with more responsibility and more pay until one day you finally decide th…

I admit I'm confused now. I think , but I'm not entirely sure, that you are making fun of the reply, thinking "that guy got a job, what more do you want?" As I read it though the point was > Although they have not met each other again since, followed by > she continued to provide him with financial assistance the last part > until he completed his degree a few years ago and got a job in the American oil sector. is co…

> is completely unverified, and given that the whole thing was a scam to begin with IMHO certainly does need verification in order to be believed.

That would mean he's also scamming the BBC.

Re: I went to Nigeria to meet a man who scammed me

#94

Post by cpfohl » Thu, Oct 20, 2016, 2:48 PM UTC

Surprised this wasn't mentioned, but it's worth noting that traveling to Nigeria to meet scammers rarely ends well for the traveler. It's not safe. It sounds like she had a unique situation with an apparently repentant scammer, but these people are criminals, and they've already demonstrated their lack of respect for you.

Re: I went to Nigeria to meet a man who scammed me

#95

Post by tedmiston » Thu, Oct 20, 2016, 2:48 PM UTC

easytiger wrote: post #60

UnfalseDesign wrote: post #56

There seems to be a lot of commenters here saying Johnny is playing the long con. Whereas I don’t entirely disagree, I think they are missing the point of the story. The point is not just that Johnny’s life improved from below average to average. The other point is that Maria’s life improved from average to above average. At an age where many Americans are retiring and spending their days trying to stay busy, Maria i…

> Although they have not met each other again since, she continued to provide him with financial assistance until he completed his degree a few years ago and got a job in the American oil sector.

That's the point though, he went from scamming people on the phone for money to having a college degree from a U.S. school and having a regular job with a legitimate paycheck, and now he gets to live in the states too.

Re: I went to Nigeria to meet a man who scammed me

#96

Post by chucksmash » Thu, Oct 20, 2016, 2:48 PM UTC

wodenokoto wrote: post #78

whack wrote: post #69

One thing I never quite understood. These "Nigerian prince" scams can originate from any developing nation where the exchange rate makes for very lucrative prospects. Ie, Chile, Egypt, Romania, Kazakhstan, China, India, Thailand, etc etc. Why do a disproportionate number of these scams seem to originate from Nigeria?

According to wikipedia most don't originate from Nigeria, but claim to do so, which to me only ads to the mystery. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advance-fee_scam

There was an article from Microsoft[1] posted four months ago that talked about this phenomenon.

The takeaway as I recall is that filtering out potential victims who have heard of the scam as quickly as possible is the most profitable move.

[1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11909111

Re: I went to Nigeria to meet a man who scammed me

#97

Post by tedmiston » Thu, Oct 20, 2016, 2:50 PM UTC

cpfohl wrote: post #94

Surprised this wasn't mentioned, but it's worth noting that traveling to Nigeria to meet scammers rarely ends well for the traveler. It's not safe. It sounds like she had a unique situation with an apparently repentant scammer, but these people are criminals, and they've already demonstrated their lack of respect for you.

This was my general concern with the article too.

Sure this story ended with some positive notes, but it feels like they're encouraging the same behavior for others. Tourist scams alone are so dangerous. Other people attempting this is even worse.

Re: I went to Nigeria to meet a man who scammed me

#98

Post by Kurimo » Thu, Oct 20, 2016, 2:56 PM UTC

morgante wrote: post #42

emodendroket wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, it's a lot of money to commit to up-front, but it's oddly specific, few people are gonna agree to it, and they could easily just ask to cut the checks directly to the school.

How is getting someone else to pay for your schooling not a con?

Most of the time it's just called "parenthood."

Re: I went to Nigeria to meet a man who scammed me

#99

Post by jrochkind1 » Thu, Oct 20, 2016, 2:57 PM UTC

UnfalseDesign wrote: post #56

There seems to be a lot of commenters here saying Johnny is playing the long con. Whereas I don’t entirely disagree, I think they are missing the point of the story. The point is not just that Johnny’s life improved from below average to average. The other point is that Maria’s life improved from average to above average. At an age where many Americans are retiring and spending their days trying to stay busy, Maria i…

I don't think Maria _cares_ if Johnny is "playing the long con". That's what I like about it.

(Hell, how many 'normal' friendships/romantic relationships are "playing the long con", if you want to put it that way, call me cynical, but people aren't entirely honest with each other and take advantage of each other all the time, with varying levels of self-knowledge. It's being human.).

It does sound like her financial assistance to him is part of their relationship, just like that of, say, Donald Trump and Melania, or people who pay professional dominatrixes, or your aunt with the picture and bio of the 'african orphan' he's donating to every month.

Re: I went to Nigeria to meet a man who scammed me

#100

Post by voxic11 » Thu, Oct 20, 2016, 2:57 PM UTC

zyrthofar wrote: post #70

michael_h wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, they won't. We can take over her finances if she is declared mentally incompetent . She's not mentally incompetent - she understands everything, but she just disagrees with the crucial bit: that the dude doesn't love her and is scamming her. As the judge told us yesterday : we are walking a fine line, taking over another person's autonomy, but it's not illegal to fall in love and do colossally stupid things.

But wouldn't that mean that you and your SO would inherit these debts when she dies, and there's nothing you can do about this? That's truly awful :(.

In the United States and most countries I'm aware of debts cannot be inherited.