From the Home of the Nigerian Letter Scam

[Gold Rush]

Well, I have some time at work, so something to chew on. I guess this is a case of "just desserts" and what sort of people of that country have to look up to in terms of "rolemodels".

If you've never heard of the Nigerian scam, head on over to Snopes.com and search it out. Heck, I've gotten a few of these letters and e-mails myself.
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Ex police chief run over by squad car By Camillus Eboh


ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria's graft-tainted former police chief fell out of a squad car which then rolled over his legs Wednesday in a bizarre incident after a court ruled he would face a second trial on corruption charges.

Tafa Balogun is accused of stealing and laundering $100 million in his three years as Inspector General of Police in one of the most high-profile cases resulting from a government crackdown on graft. He denies the accusations.

Balogun is already facing trial on 50 charges brought by the government's anti-corruption agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Wednesday, a court in Abuja ruled he would face a second trial to cover further charges.

Proceedings drifted into farce after the decision was read.

Police tried to drive Balogun away to complete bail formalities but his defense lawyer resisted and in the confusion Balogun was shoved into a police car which sped off before the doors were closed. A short distance away Balogun fell out of the car and the back wheels went over his legs.

He returned to court, limping and covered in dust.

"This is not a prosecution but a persecution. This is a vendetta," he told the court. He said he had a broken leg, although he was still able to stand.

Just after speaking, Balogun apparently fainted and was carried out and taken to hospital.

Rotimi Jacobs, who represented the EFCC at the court hearing, said the attempt to take Balogun away had been a mistake, while the judge called the police action "barbaric."

It was unclear whether there would be any repercussions.

Balogun is one of the most senior figures facing prosecution in President Olusegun Obasanjo's anti-corruption drive. Two ministers and the president of the senate have lost their jobs.

The campaign is part of government attempts to persuade Western creditors that Nigeria, the world's eighth biggest oil exporter, has purged official corruption sufficiently to merit debt relief. No senior figure has been convicted.

Nigeria is the world's third most corrupt country, according to a perceptions index compiled by Transparency International.

The EFCC says Balogun should undergo two trials because the Federal High Court, where the original trial will take place, does not have jurisdiction over all the crimes of which he stands accused.

Justice Salisu Garba of the Abuja High Court Wednesday ruled in favor of the EFCC and said Balogun would face 92 charges of corruption in a second trial on July 23. Balogun's defense lawyers had argued he should be tried once.

[Kinetix]

So he was the guy running the Nigerian Scam?

[Gold Rush]

Oh, not him. :)

Well, at least I don't think he ran one.

Maybe it's more apt to say "Not JUST him".

You see, the Nigerian scam, in a nutshell, is that you get a letter out of the blue. It could be via postal mail, e-mail, or fax. Businesses and Business owners tend to recieve it more than others, since business tend to be listed in various places (Yellow Pages, Merchant lists, etc.). The letter is suppossedly from someone connected with the government, an oil official, or the wife of one of these. There may be more. They give you their name and title (all fake). The letter states they don't know you, but are asking you for help in transferring funds out of the country. Sometimes they give you a story about the government being taken over by a new regime, but most of the time their is an overt hint of corruption, such as "When doing the accounting, we found an excess amount of funds where available above and beyond what was reported so we took these funds" sorta deal.

Whatever the offered reason, they need your help to move these funds to a bank account in america. Once done, they can be moved to a new bank account under their name, when they suppossedly finally arrive in America. In exchange for this service, they will give you a percentage of the full amount moved. Mostly I've seen 40-80 million, but the amount varies. I think I've seen a few for 100-180 million. The percentage take also varies. From somewhere around 5 percent of that to 20 percent. At this point, most people's heads go numb and the salivatory glands start to work overtime. It is at this time they ask for your bank account number so they can get started on the transfer.

They even give you contact phone numbers and e-mails if you have questions. But it is all smoke and mirrors. I have heard of some elaborate lengths they go through with these deceptions. Basically, what happens is that after they get your bank account number, they then empty your account of it's funds.

Another variant of this that has popped up is the "You have won our lottery", of which, all who have recieved this type of letter have never even bought a ticket, but they assure you the winnings are yours. So, from there, they take you through many hurdles, which involves a monetary fee here and then another added there to clear your way to the money, which you never recieve, but they do get your fees. Some of these scams get quite severe and may call for you to fly down to collect your reward, at which point, they either threaten you, kidnap you for ransom, or some other not so nice thing.

Actually, there are many of these scams, both online and off and the majority of them come from the country of Nigeria. Nigeria is a very poor country whose citizenry are so desperate, they are willing to do this and many other things to collect money. It is a most dangerous country as well with a high crime rate and a corrupt governmental system. It may be one of the most dangerous countries to live (at least before the Iraq War, but it still may hold the title). Shielded Bullet-proof cars with flame thrower attatchments, so they can't carjack you, are a very common option there. To add to this, the women there have little rights under their law.

The problem of Nigeria, especiallly it's scams has spread WORLDWIDE and many countries are trying to correct Nigeria's ways, but the problem seems SO ingrained within it's society and government. They never really listen, so the best other gvernments can do is warn it's citizenry not to travel to Nigeria.

If you are looking for a TRUE lawless land, full of thieves and cutthroats that seem to have no moral conscienceness, Nigeria is your answer. Even in the hazy areas down in Central America where some crimes go unreported and police are bribale, there is a type of control/order to things. It may be drug lords spreading money, but at least it is not as chaotic as Nigeria.

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Gold Rush

[WingedAvenger]

This (http://www.geocities.com/steerp1ke/) has always been one of my favorite sites about getting back at those 419 scammers. (I think I've posted it here before.) :chuckle: Check out the David Ehi one, it's a riot.

[Solario]

I was actually phoned with a Nigerian Royalty type thing a couple of minutes ago, basically I answered the phone and some computerized female voice told me I had won a trip to the carribean. Of course had I actually done this, A. I would have had to enter a contest first, B. The Voice would probably not be a digital one and C. It most likely would have been in danish and not english. So I hung up as soon as I heard it.

[Gold Rush]

Good site, WA!

Actually, I also briefly considered turning the scam back on them myself and somehow draining THEIR money from THEIR accounts. But...too lazy to go through hoops and it is a bit on the underside.


It's funny how they have enough money to afford things such as a computerized dial-up machine, but I guess they have some money left over from other people they've scammed, Solario. And they seem to go to some lengths to legitimize how they look to those they are conning.

Case in point (not sure on specifics). There is a lady (from England?) that got victimized. Her scam was a bit like the lottery scam but different; I think they found out she had a recently deceased husband who had been in the country in the past on business. They claimed she had some leftover fortune from his previous business dealings. Info seemed good. She shelled out a bit of money and eventually after about once or twice paying a fee, she arranged to fly over there.

She was lucky, although they pressured her, she did manage to leave, but get this: The scammers took her to a building and had it set-up/decorated to look like a bank. The address was the same as a big bank's too. Turns out they later found out the building she entered was actually IN FRONT of the actually bank (I am thinking alleyways rather than drivable streets, which is not too uncommon in third world countries).

Quite a bit of effort there on the con-men's part. Needless to say she wised up and was pursuing legal against the country itself. I *think* she won her case, but still hasn't got her money back. Her stated purpose was to publicize this sort of thing, but that coulda been after the fact that she'd never get her money back.
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Gold Rush

(Why can't Spam come with Viking Hats like in Monty Python?)