Nigerian scam victims should be locked up
Says Nigeria
VICTIMS OF THE NIGERIAN SCAM should be locked up and not pitied according to a Nigerian diplomat.
The Nigerian high commissioner to Australia, Olu Agbi has made the point that people who are ripped off by the scams are just as guilty as the fraudsters and should be jailed.
Professor Olu Agbi said it was "greedy" Australians who tried to take part in these crimes - even though they are scams.
Agbi said that people who ignored repeated warnings not to deal with shady characters on the internet deserved no sympathy.
He added that media coverage of fraud coming from Nigeria had given the country "a bad image". It made it really hard to do business with the country. Of course the fraud itself had nothing to do with it, just the media talking about it.
Agbi said that the Nigerian Government frowned on these scams and every day tried to track down those who are involved.
He added that there were 140 million people in Nigeria and fewer than 0.1 per cent were involved, which, to be honest sounds to us like a fairly big industry and finding someone taking part in a scam would not be that difficult.
However we have to admit that he does have a point. After all, the whole concept of the Nigerian scam is that a mark will make a lot of cash by robbing the Nigerian government and laundering money.
Not something respectable people do. µ
L'Inq
Sydney
Morning Herald
Comments
Irony, I've heard of it.
A big fat LOL at those who get scammed. And even bigger LOL if they get in trouble for attempted fraud.140K!
140,000 people are involved in the scam? that's a lot of people! Thankfully only the greedy and stupid get involved in this so there's no real victims!0.1 per cent
isn't that by any chance also the exact internet penetration in Nigeria?Olu Agbi deserves no sympathy
Not all 419 scams encourage the mark to commit a crime. Maybe someone from the 419eater club should target Olu Agbi.Professor Alu Ogbi should be worried
Years before nigerian scams became "Nigerian e-mails", they were "Nigerian letters". Yes, it's an ancient art.But diplomats should watch their mouths a bit, because I remmeber a case sometime in early 1990's in Czech Republic, when a pensioner who lost his life savings trough one of those letters and was laughed at at Nigerian Embassy. He came next day with his gun and shot one of the bast.. I mean diplomats of course, dead as he was leaving the building.
Careful dear professor the Aussies may be no wimpier.
interesting counter point
Interesting counter point - in today's nannying societies, people sometimes forget there are consequences associated with their actions."After all, the whole concept of the Nigerian scam is that a mark will make a lot of cash by robbing the Nigerian government and laundering money."
It definitely is money laundering, but I wonder what percentage of the average person knows what money laundering is when they see it? So few people understand how their home loans are funded, let alone international buggery like this.
I highly doubt Professor Olu Agbi would be as objective if it were Australian citizens who were bilking Nigerian residents out of their money, irregardless of the questionable morality of the scam.
Funny.
Is that the same diplomat that asked me if I wanted to hold on to a few million dollars for him?The same diplomat that uses a yahoo address?
No way.
Diplomatic Flimflammery!
Diplomatic Flimflammery!What the diplomat neglected to mention is that the "greedy victim" format is only one of a dozen or so popular varieties of Nigerian scam... many of which play on the decency and compassion the victim.
eg. Romance Scam - the Nigerian lad pretends to be a Russian blonde desperately seeking romance. Needs money to travel to meet "her" true love. Wicked uncle demands fees...
Puppy Scam - Nigerian pretends to breed English Bulldogs, offers them free to good home - with a few associated fees.
Charity Scam - Nigerian pretends to be impoverished Pastor, desperately trying to save the children in the war-torn nation of his choice... the best way to do this? Fees, apparently.
Loan Scam - Nigerian uses fake loan company website to offer low interest loans to cash-strapped families.
Buying/Selling Scam - Nigerian poses as owner or buyer of car/bike/computer etc. Sends you a fake check in payment or tries to pay with stolen credit card info. The really clever ones actually make off with your car/bike/computer as well.
Incidently, Nigerian scammers often pay corrupt officials - including diplomats - for fake I.D. Though I'm sure that Olu Agbi wouldn't be involved in anything like that. Would he?
Not a bad idea
Not a bad idea. At the very least they should relabel the "victims" as "suckers" who deserved to lose their money.Looking for love ..
Dont forget the poor unfortunates that are looking for love that get scammed by these lowlifes. Does he think they should be locked up also?Not all vicitms are greedy, some are innocent.
Like my title said. Some Nigerian scam people on dating sites. pretend to be someone in love with a victim to get them to send them money by using various lies and excuses to meet up.Some Nigerian scammers try to scam merchants and sellers on sites like criagslist or ebay.
Are those victims BAD people?! Hell no. they are lonely people or people selling merchandise.
Many victims are scammed because they have a good heart. like some that think they are giving to a church overseas.
So that Ambassador should STFU. their government should show more effort in getting those scammers instead of sticking more knives in the victims.
victims of greed
I've always thought that whoever got scammed deserved to be scammed. It's simple darwinism: if you're dumb enough to let your own greed turn you into a dumb victim, then you deserve to be ripped off!On the contrary...
My four email addresses are crammed with this Nigerian crap they export so freely and I never send them a goddamned penny. But still this .1% of the Nigerian population takes up almost 95% of my email space and I have to wade through this tide of Nigerian excrement to find legitimate email. I have no pity for Nigerian businessmen, diplomats (there's a joke) or politicians who can't find or put a stop to all the trash us honest, non-greedy and not-particularly-gullible users of the Internet have to spend honest time and dollars on. Maybe it would be simpler to just pull that whole country off the world wide web. We certainly won't miss their stink, Mr.Olu Agbi!Only 0.01%?
"He added that there were 140 million people in Nigeria and fewer than 0.1 per cent were involved, which, to be honest sounds to us like a fairly big industry and finding someone taking part in a scam would not be that difficult."Wouldn't that mean 140,000 scammers?
Money Laundry
More specifically, the victims were trying to take part in a money laundry which is a scam though.nigerian scams
I totally agree with this mans comments, any person that gets involved with these scammers is asking for trouble. an honest person would not enter into any of it. only the dishonest and the greedy.That's an awful lot...
...of Nigerians. Although LESS than 140.000 individuals could also be one or two, couldn't it. Regarding the laundering of money, are the officials so upset, because they're being robbed of something that was formerly their territory, I wonder..?Scam'n Spam!
Your article is dead on but without forgetting the legitimate complaints. Another thing there are cases where some unscrupulous Nigerians [not exclusive] go to other countries for "Business"I could see in the near future officials of some countries requiring a business itinerary from alien "businessmen/women" for each entry AND each exit.
It's the banks that want to see money rolling quickly nothing to slow it down, they do not care who holds the account.
Borders has become a finish line to international criminals.
Hey here is a solution, tie in a license system to passports for funds wired internationally. The one dishing out the money would require by law the traveling business persons passport or number or info representing the passport with a government or bank official present during the transaction.
"Bussinessmen/women" present or not if the passport number is fake the bank or government official's computers would ring as such, then money saved! If it's legitimate it would be compared to a complaint list.
Then we will see if Nigeria [not exclusive] is that innocent or guilty by measuring the number of passports issued from those countries.
Aussie Scam Victim
I support the advise made by the nigerian diplomat in Aussie. All scam victims are thieves and they should be punished and given atleast 5 yrs in jail term for their greediness.I disagree with the stupid comment made by Vasek on the 22 August 2008 . This is absolutely a rubbish comment and he should thrown out of this site.