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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

#51

Post by conradfr »

DigitalSea wrote: post #20

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 peo…

Feeling bad to an extend. After all, he knowingly wanted to participate in illegal money laundering.

I don't think this kind of activity ends well for ordinary Joe.

Greed and easy money are powerful motivators though. There was (is ?) this Nigeria scam where Nigerians would buy electronic stuff from eBay at above market prices and sending fake PayPal emails to make the seller send his object.

I worked as a CSR at PayPal years ago and had to tell French people every day that PayPal had nothing to do with this and that they will never get money nor their device back.

I would feel bad for them sure, but in the meantime their desire to make too good money from some Nigerian was what prevented them to see the red flags.

When something is too good to be true I always try to remind myself that Santa isn't real.

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

#53

Post by eurleif »

smsm42 wrote: post #46
eurleif wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most religions frown on other religions, too.

I really can't understand why you chose to answer my comment with this. I pointed out pretty clearly that a practice of homebrewn divination, in which the hero of the article engaged, is not "religious" and actually is explicitly forbidden by many religions. In response to that, you offer me meaningless platitude not connected to anything on the topic. What are you trying to accomplish here?

My point was that Christianity forbids practicing Hinduism just as much as it forbids practicing divination. Being forbidden by religions does not make something non-religious.

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

#54

Post by j_baker »

I don’t recall the exact wording of the email, but the gist of it was that the governor of Lagos West constituency, Bola Tinubu, had hidden around $1 million in a secret bank account to avoid taxes. The money had been stolen from public funds, the email continued, and the Tinubu family couldn’t use it because they were being closely monitored by the government.

What did this guy expect? I mean, it's one thing to fall for a scam like this under the pretense of helping a wronged/deposed Nigerian princess. But it's another to be told you're participating in a corrupt business deal and still go through with it.

My concern is less about the intelligence of the author. Rather, I'm concerned about the morality. Sure, people do bad things when they're in need. I just have little sympathy for someone who knowingly decides to participate in organized crime and then gets taken advantage of. You've made a decision to take advantage of someone else, and then you're going to complain when you get taken advantage of?

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

#55

Post by mattm »

ganeumann wrote: post #22

I really want someone to tell the story about the one time they flew to Nigeria to help a governor get some money out of the country and it turned out to be legit. That would be far more interesting. My father used to get similar Nigerian scam correspondences back in the 70s/80s, in the postal mail.

Probably as close as you will get

http://books.google.co.jp/books?id=bVEFCfjadN8C&pg=PT144&lpg...

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

#56

Post by austenallred »

columbo wrote: post #16

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 ran into the same sort of scam back in the day. I was trying to get by as a content writer, and a guy called me up and said, "Look at my site, I think it needs some new content." He wasn't sure what he needed, and it was definitely poorly written, so I figured I could help out. He told me he wanted to meet me at his office at a local community college. Community colleges regularly have offices available for small start-ups, so no red flags had been raised yet.

I showed up and there was apparently a conference going on. The guy said, "I just thought this was the best way for you to see what we do." Fair enough, I grabbed my nametag, sat down, and started taking notes. I was pretty down on my luck and cash at the time, so I wasn't really in a place to be asking too many questions; I would literally take any client I could get.

The presentation was among the strangest things I've ever seen; a guy talking about how he got in at the ground floor and throwing $20 bills into the audience, showing pictures of his mansion and Lamborghini, full of lines like "fire your boss!" and implying that anyone who isn't rich has been duped and isn't as smart as those in the crowd obviously were.

I can't remember what the company was, but it was something about a lawyer on demand; you pay in $40/month, and anytime you need an attorney you have one - like insurance but with lawyers. To be able to sign up you had to pay $250, then you got x% of everyone that signed up under you, x/2% of anyone that signed up under them, and some sort of commission for getting your friends and family to pay the $40/month: The classic multi-level marketing garbage where 99% of the presentation is about making money and 1% is about the product.

There were people who had obviously been placed in the front row talking about how much money they had made, how they were here just a month ago and already had reached level X, and they would methodically nod their heads whenever the money-throwing guy talked.

It was really slimy, and by this point I was just ready to get out of there. The guy brought over an application and said, "Alright, so for you to be a content writer legally we need you to be a part of this program, so you put up the $250 up front and then I'll pay it back once we've gotten our project going." He refused to spot the "membership fee" up front for me, so I left, though he even stood in front of my car to try not to get me to leave.

I had almost forgotten about that.

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

#57

Post by smsm42 »

mikeash wrote: post #48
smsm42 wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You know there's a difference between being religious and asking Hearts game to tell you if you should participate in the 419 scam? Most religions actually frown very hard of those kind of things. For Avraamic religions, there's a direct prohibition of such practices in Leviticus 19:26.

Those religions also often encourage attempts to communicate telepathically with their God and interpret/act on the results, which from the outside looks like the same kind of activity. Religions don't frown on those kind of things, they only frown on those which aren't approved by the religion.

which religions do you mean and how exactly do you know they encourage telepathic communications with their God? Do you have sources that confirm your opinion and if so, which sources are those?

>>> they only frown on those which aren't approved by the religion.

That's a vacuous statement - of course religions approve only things that they approve, and disapprove things that they disapprove. But among the things many religions - including Avraamic ones most common in Western world - disapprove, directly in their scripture and in many other sources - is divination, fortune telling and seeking omens.

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

#58

Post by geekfactor »

Seriously? Could you really even get $1,300 (or equivalent) in a single draw from an ATM in Lagos in 2002?

Update:

Found this article [1] stating that before 10/2012 the limit was 100,000 NGN, which at the end of 2002 traded at about 125 to the dollar [2]. That would put the withdrawal limit at about 800 dollars, but I'm not sure that's far off enough to call this article a fraud.

[1] http://businessnews.com.ng/2012/10/10/banks-raise-atm-daily-...

[2] http://www.likeforex.com/misc/historical-rates.php?f=USD&t=N...

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

#59

Post by mikeash »

smsm42 wrote: post #57
mikeash wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those religions also often encourage attempts to communicate telepathically with their God and interpret/act on the results, which from the outside looks like the same kind of activity. Religions don't frown on those kind of things, they only frown on those which aren't approved by the religion.

which religions do you mean and how exactly do you know they encourage telepathic communications with their God? Do you have sources that confirm your opinion and if so, which sources are those? >>> they only frown on those which aren't approved by the religion. That's a vacuous statement - of course religions approve only things that they approve, and disapprove things that they disapprove. But among the things many…

I was using an unconventional way to describe prayer. The Abrahamic religions all, as far as I know, encourage prayer, and most of them that I know of encourage attempting to receive and interpret a reply. It's common enough that major national political candidates talk about attempting it without getting laughed off the stage.

My point about "aren't approved" is that many religions explicitly recommend divination, fortune telling, seeking omens, and the like, but only in a manner approved by that religion i.e. by doing so through their God, rather than through cards or animal bones or whatever. They do not universally discourage such behavior, though.

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

#60

Post by j_baker »

jscheel wrote: post #45

Never hide anything from your spouse. Ever. Especially not financial troubles. Some openness and trust could have gone a long way here. Perhaps his wife could have helped him figure out their financial problems, maybe she would have even directed him away from the scammers.

It's simply not possible (or even preferable) to have zero secrets from your spouse. I mean, I agree it's generally preferable to be open, but I think you're exaggerating. Do you tell your spouse everything about your life?
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