I remember when I was a CSR at PayPal for the French market I used to think that there should have been some huge warehouses in Nigeria full of computers and phones.
Years later it seems it's still working splendidly.
Nigerian scammer gets a laptop from me
131–140 of 146 posts
Re: Nigerian scammer gets a laptop from me
#132I really wish someone would install some of the dye packs used to prevent theft in stores/banks in shipping boxes and mail those to scammers. it would be interesting to see if walking around with blue dye on their face would decrease their desire to scam others.
bonus points for a cheap cell phone camera that uploads a pic after the scanner is sprayed with the dye.
Re: Nigerian scammer gets a laptop from me
#133This is super old...
you're thinking of po-po-po-powerbook.
Re: Nigerian scammer gets a laptop from me
#134"If people in the U.S. aren’t suspicious of free money, PayPal payments that look fake, the absence of a payment in their account, fake emails from PayPal’s FBI department or just Nigerians in general, then they deserve to have their money taken from them." I could easily see my parents falling for this. I don't think they deserve to have their money taken. Although, to be fair, I doubt my parents could set up and us…
Saw a new type of phishing email the other day - a fake order confirmation page from Amazon saying someone in Florida had ordered a widescreen TV on our account.
Obviously, first reaction of a non-techy user would be to click on the Amazon link in the email and enter their account details to check their order history.
And that's how they get your Amazon account details. I think this works because the "OMG my account has been hacked!!!" panic overrides you're natural caution about phishing emails.
Re: Nigerian scammer gets a laptop from me
#135More records of people baiting Nigerian scammers: http://419eater.com/html/letters.htm . People on http://www.419eater.com/ lead these “4-1-9” scammers on wild goose chases deliberately to waste their time, in the hopes of distracting them from attacking other people and also just having fun.
Not to defend or in any way condone the actions of the scammers (which I certainly don't), but I wonder how many of the counter-scammers do so out of high-mindedness, and how many are just looking for a chance to humiliate a relatively easy target - particularly after seeing some of the photos in the 'Trophy Room'. I also wonder how many of those initiating the scams are actually the vicious, heartless criminals that…
I don't think 419 scammers are necessarily evil people, but if you make your living stealing from people, then I say fair play for people trying to humiliate you for a laugh.
Re: Nigerian scammer gets a laptop from me
#136Earlier quoted context omitted.
The shipping address?
Well, it was never mentioned. In addition, because there are a lot of scams that seem to originate from Nigeria (not all that say they're Nigerian are), the author wonders why people should not be suspicious of ALL Nigerians like they are of fake FBI notices. Interestingly, that paragraph is the most hilighted of this thread and no one thinks that type of blatant sterotyping and discrimination is odd. As a Nigerian,…
There are definitely scams that certain ethnic groups are involved in (Indian tailor scams? Chinese tea/art scams?), but this has more to do with skill diffusion more than ethnicity; people willing to scam learn it from someone close to them, and it seems 419 scams have achieved critical mass in Nigeria so the diffusion is pretty broad now (couple with an economic situation that makes scamming somewhat desirable).
I've met plenty of Nigerians who are not scammers. Stereotypes melt away quickly when you meet real people, but the survival filters remain in place.
Re: Nigerian scammer gets a laptop from me
#137"If people in the U.S. aren’t suspicious of free money, PayPal payments that look fake, the absence of a payment in their account, fake emails from PayPal’s FBI department or just Nigerians in general, then they deserve to have their money taken from them." I could easily see my parents falling for this. I don't think they deserve to have their money taken. Although, to be fair, I doubt my parents could set up and us…
I hate this sentiment so much. No one "deserves to have their money taken from them". Victim blaming 101. One of the reasons we have to waste so much effort fighting this kind of crap is this moronic idea that if you get scammed you deserve it.
Re: Nigerian scammer gets a laptop from me
#138Earlier quoted context omitted.
You're extremely grumpy. Blaming the victim is not some brave, heroic concept. People can imagine what it looks like to be in physical danger, and instinct can help them avoid the situations to some degree. It's hard to imagine what it's like being in an unsafe situation on the internet.
>>Blaming the victim is not some brave, heroic concept. Blaming the victim is bad only if you believe that blame is a zero sum game. Unfortunately, it is not. If you walk down a dark alleyway in New York at night alone and get mugged, the mugger is guilty of mugging you, but you're also guilty of being a silly goose. You don't gain immunity to blame simply because you were the victim.
Yea, and if you wear provocative cloths, you're asking to get raped right?
Victim blaming is wrong, period. If you get mugged, you're not guilty of anything. Stop making excuses for people behaving shitty.
Re: Nigerian scammer gets a laptop from me
#139Earlier quoted context omitted.
How 'bout if you just moved to New York from backcountry Idaho?
I would say that a criminal is equally guilty if they commit a crime in a dark alley NYC or if they commit a crime in backcountry Idaho. If I replace my bicycle u-lock with a nice hefty rope and start lashing my bike to whatever object seems solid at the time (this is a concept that actually appeals to me), then I should receive some blame when my bike gets inevitably stolen. However the bicycle thief is no more nor…
No you shouldn't receive any blame. The person doing something illegal should receive the blame.
You are making your life less convenient for yourself by letting your bike get stolen but you're not doing anything wrong.
Re: Nigerian scammer gets a laptop from me
#140More records of people baiting Nigerian scammers: http://419eater.com/html/letters.htm . People on http://www.419eater.com/ lead these “4-1-9” scammers on wild goose chases deliberately to waste their time, in the hopes of distracting them from attacking other people and also just having fun.
Not to defend or in any way condone the actions of the scammers (which I certainly don't), but I wonder how many of the counter-scammers do so out of high-mindedness, and how many are just looking for a chance to humiliate a relatively easy target - particularly after seeing some of the photos in the 'Trophy Room'. I also wonder how many of those initiating the scams are actually the vicious, heartless criminals that…
Who cares why they do it? And who cares why the 419 scammers do it? The point is, scamming makes the world a worse place and it's done because it makes money. Anything that can be done to ensure that it never makes money makes it more likely to go away. Yes, there's a chance people just looking for work are the ones who's time is wasted. Bad luck, but they chose that job. Yes, it's possible that the counter-scammers enjoy their hobby a bit to much. At least they use their possible character flaws to better mankind, ever so slightly.