Nigerian scam evolving?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I believe this is just another iteration of the Nigeriam scam.

What do y’all think?

And looking at the email header, I have to ask: is “ng” the WWW country code for Nigeria?

2

Geeze!!They seem to pick the same numbers an awful lot. here are two more, notifications where they picked the same ones…

http://citadelle.intrinsec.com/mailing/current/HTML/ml_syslogng/0670.html

http://www.ee.ethz.ch/~slist/gedafe/msg00194.html

3

And finally, a site warning of the scam…

http://www.crimes-of-persuasion.com/Nigerian/lotteries.htm

4

Very sneaky, they’re getting. Using Dutch names to disguise the fact they’re coming from Africa.

5

Huh. Never got this one, but I got one that was more or less exactly the same as the Nigerian scam that supposedly came from a Taiwanese businessman.

6

But the best version is here! :smiley:

7

Sure is:

http://ftp.ics.uci.edu/pub/websoft/wwwstat/country-codes.txt

8

You’re not alone, Ringo, Bayby.

Evidently they recycle winning lotto numbers:)

9

I am getting a Nigerian scam email about 2-3 times a week. Each time, it’s under a different name with a slightly different body. Annoying as all hell.

10

I suppose you can call them & what does it cost? $20 a minute? I think that’s how they make a profit.

11

Interestingly, Slate has a comprehensive article on the Nigerian scams this morning. Look here.

12

http://www.geocities.com/steerp1ke/

This guy strings them along.

The last one, the LOVECRAFTIAN one is worth the price of admission. Funniest thing I’ve read all year!

But all are funny.

Warning: you’ll need some background HP Lovecraft knowledge.

13

I just got one at a Yahoo email address I use. It’s from “Dr. Daniel Usman a senior director with the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation in the Federal Republic of Nigeria”. Should I string him along? Maybe we could make it a group effort and see how much of his time we can waste. We could post the emails here. What do you think? Do the moderators have a problem with this idea?
Dave

14

While stringing them along has some entertaiment appeal, there are some serious bad boys behind these, and I think you’re better off just leaving it alone.

15

From The Sydney Morning Herald’s Column 8 this morning:

16

I have several times tried to “play” with a Nigerian scam artist for sheer entertainment value. Each time, my e-mail bounced. How on EARTH am I supposed to give him money if I can’t contact him?!

17

I have sent back streams of obscenities when the letters manage to get into my Hotmail account, because it’s so spammed up I don’t use it any more, I just maintain it. Telling someone to “fk off and die you money-scamming fking nigerian (or subsitute whatever country it’s purportedly come from) piece of shit I hope you burn in hell” is a lovely, lovey feeling.

As some of these letters depend on a reply, at least some of the emails have working reply-to addresses. SOMEONE must be getting my obscenities back. That makes me feel soooo good.

What really sickens me is I have heard of people who have been taken in by these scams and lost their life-savings. Yeah sure, by today’s standards they seem amazingly stupid and naive. But there are still people only just getting started with email who have no clue about spam. I still have quite intelligent, tech-savvy associates sending me the “Microsoft and AOL will pay you $5000” one (dream fking ON! They are TAKING your money, not the other way round!)

davidm - I am happy to string your guy along. Just let me know what you want! You never know, we may even end up helping the authorities nail some of these people.

18

As for the OP…

If it walks like a duck, swims like a duck, quacks like a duck…
then… well, you get the idea.

As for stringing along other Nigerian scammers? So long as you’re comfortable that they cannot identify you from your email and you do not get involved in person, I say GO FOR IT!

I strung one along for three months and (get this) SEVENTY ONE emails!
I think that they finally got tired of me because they haven’t replied in the last several weeks to my queries.

19

I think I’ll start by getting a new email at Yahoo or Hotmail and replying from there. Any suggestions for a good name and persona? We need a name that’s an obvious joke to an American but that will sail right over a Nigerian’s head. Maybe I could be a well off but naive immigrant with poor english skills. Everyone is welcome to make suggestions!

20

Has anyone considered getting a e-mail box just for spam, waiting until you get about 10 or 15 Nigerian letters, then mass-mailing the letters back to all the spammers?