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I Flew to Lagos and Got Beaten Up Because of a Nigerian Email Scam

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Re: I Flew to Lagos and Got Beaten Up Because of a Nigerian Email Scam

#11

Post by klodolph »

flym4n wrote: post #4

Darwin's theory proven right once again

What, his theory that biological traits become either more or less common in a population as a function of the effect of inherited traits on the differential reproductive success of organisms interacting with their environment?

Could you elaborate on how a guy getting scammed proves this right? Maybe you can demonstrate that people with Nigerian ancestry are less likely to fall for this kind of scam (since their ancestors lived in an environment with selective pressure to avoid the scams)?

Re: I Flew to Lagos and Got Beaten Up Because of a Nigerian Email Scam

#12

Post by jchung »

It's easy to bash the victim of a scam, but reading through this I couldn't help but feel bad for this guy. He was down on his luck and looking for a way out. He got hit up by the wrong folks at the wrong time, and taken advantage of. Let's remember to blame the thugs who beat and robbed him first and foremost.

Re: I Flew to Lagos and Got Beaten Up Because of a Nigerian Email Scam

#14

Post by xivzgrev »

I feel sad reading this. I'm happy that they left him alive though and with no permanent injuries (what if you were left paralyzed?). Also that he learned his lesson.

As for the other commenters here, have you never done anything stupid in your life? Maybe not on this magnitude, but then all you're doing is trying to rank order yourself ahead of him on the gradient of stupidity. What value does that add?

Re: I Flew to Lagos and Got Beaten Up Because of a Nigerian Email Scam

#15

Post by jonsleet »

Domenic_S wrote: post #6
herbig wrote: post #2

"I’m superstitious, so one night I told myself, All right, if I win a game of hearts with less than 15 points, I’ll do it. I’d never scored that low in my life, so when I landed at 11 points, I thought it was a sign and decided to buy a ticket." There's your problem right there. People like this are prone to other irrational thinking. I would bet that the vast majority of people who fall for this stuff are also deepl…

One comment in and, bam, random religion bashing. Stay classy, HN.

Yes, perhaps. But it could have been incongruent if instead he had said "I would bet that the vast majority of people who fall for this stuff are also deeply skeptical."

Re: I Flew to Lagos and Got Beaten Up Because of a Nigerian Email Scam

#16

Post by columbo »

I'm glad the guy decided to tell his story. Most people are ashamed to admit that they fell victim to a hustler. They don't want to be seen as stupid, or get ridiculed by others.

About the same time (ten years ago) I went in for a job interview that turned out to be a hustle. They promised they were looking for programmers (really generic, like they didn't know what they were asking for).

When I showed up at the door I was sent into a conference room where a guy was giving a presentation on a new buy-in-application that was "guaranteed" to make money. Everything about the room made it uncomfortable to say no; there was one door with a guy standing in front of it smiling, they would hand out papers and not ask but pleasantly direct you to fill out your information.

I knew it was a scam, when I got up to leave in the middle of the presentation the guys running the show called me out; shaking their head in dismay and making comments as I left. Sort of a shaming ritual for me on my way out.

There were maybe thirty other people in the room, one guy left when I did but the rest stayed, out of that group I'm sure a few probably bought into it just because they were unemployed, down on their luck and willing to try anything.

Re: I Flew to Lagos and Got Beaten Up Because of a Nigerian Email Scam

#17

Post by objclxt »

herbig wrote: post #7
Domenic_S wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One comment in and, bam, random religion bashing. Stay classy, HN.

How is religion as superstition religious bashing? I'm talking about correlations, not morality or religious truth. The stay classy thing is overused.

You didn't say religious people were prone to superstition, you said they were prone to 'other irrational thinking'. I think there is a slight difference.

You're also generalizing all religions, when in fact there are some religions which actively warn against superstition and miracles (Buddhism, for example). So I can see why someone might think your comment was ill-informed (and I say that as an atheist).

Re: I Flew to Lagos and Got Beaten Up Because of a Nigerian Email Scam

#18

Post by pekk »

livingparadox wrote: post #8
herbig wrote: post #2

"I’m superstitious, so one night I told myself, All right, if I win a game of hearts with less than 15 points, I’ll do it. I’d never scored that low in my life, so when I landed at 11 points, I thought it was a sign and decided to buy a ticket." There's your problem right there. People like this are prone to other irrational thinking. I would bet that the vast majority of people who fall for this stuff are also deepl…

I nearly choked on my water when I read his method for vetting it. Also, I take a slight offense at that last part...

If the first entails the second, that doesn't mean the second entails the first

Re: I Flew to Lagos and Got Beaten Up Because of a Nigerian Email Scam

#19

Post by smsm42 »

Even given proof that I have no reason to doubt, I am still find hard to believe there's an educated and, judging from the writing, reasonably intellectually capable person that can genuinely believe there's a Nigerian official in Lagos that would reach out to random stranger to seek help with stealing a million dollars. And then he has a friend who, being told everything and asked for the plane ticket money, didn't say "dude, you know I'm your friend, but you need to lay off drugs for a while, they're really frying your brain" but actually enabled him in every way? And that happened not in those mythical good old times when nobody knew what spam is and everybody believed every email, but in 2003!

Shows how much bigger and stranger the world is than one could have imagined.

Re: I Flew to Lagos and Got Beaten Up Because of a Nigerian Email Scam

#20

Post by DigitalSea »

Sadly people are going to rip into this guy for telling his story, I feel bad for him. I know there are many of us who know what it's like to be down and out, desperate and willing to do anything to get back to the top (especially if you have a spouse and kids). You have to remember 10 years ago not many people knew about these types of scams, while they probably don't work as well nowadays, once upon a time many people were tricked, this guy just got it worse than most people probably did.
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