Fighting Nigerian Email Scams (funny!)

[suncrafter]

Have you ever gotten one of those Nigerian scams in your email? You know - where they say you won millions in a lottery (or whatever)?
Well the webmaster on this site http://www.419hell.com/ answers those scam emails and does everything he can think of to mess with the scammer's head and waste their time.


Here is a fake photo ID that one of the scammers sent him...
(I think I could eat a photo with some paper and poop a more convincing ID!)

[Erpy]

I think AGD2 likes to engage in scam-baiting or at least he used to. Pulled some evil tricks himself too which makes the fake ID pale in comparison.

[Gronagor]

Hmmm... one could make a killing with Photoshop lessons in Nigeria!! Woohoo!! (Not to mention English-classes, but I won't qualify for that type of job)

[Broomie]

That looks perfectly legitimate to me, I don't know what the fuss is about.

I'm surprised they think they can get away with this though. If they're as stupid as this than why don't they use these scams on their own fellow Nigerians? They'll probably make a lot of money!

[Gronagor]

That's the scary part... the fact that they're still doing it, is probably enough proof that there are people falling for it.

[Anonymous Game Creator 2]

You'd actually be be surprised at just how lucrative 419 scamming is! In 2006, Nigerian scammers laundered over $7 Million dollars from Queenslanders in Australia alone. That's ONE state of ONE country, so you can imagine how much they are making the entire world over!

These criminals make an absolute fortune, and I've personally come across Nigerian scammers who generate 10-30K every few months. This is in spite of the crappy-looking identifications cards/documents, despite the bad English spelling and grammar, and despite the abundance of sufficient information available on the Web warning people about these scams. A quick Google turns up tons or results. Yet, every year scamming becomes more and more profitable for the scammers as they continuously find more and more victims.

Believe it or not, they also do scam their fellow Nigerians (and other West Africans, both scammers and non-scammers alike). I have seen one Nigerian scammer offering visas and greencards to the USA by targetting only other Nigerians. I have also seen Nigerian scammers purporting to sell hacking and password cracking software and then bulk mailing the fake advertisement to other known scammers in hopes that other scammers will send him money to buy these non-existent tools.

In fact, one of the funniest ways to bait a scammer is to act like a rich, gullible victim and pretend to send him money via Western Union when he asks. While the scammer is waiting for you to send him the MTCN number, you write him an email from another address (in Nigerian Pigdin for authenticity), pretending to be a rival scammer. You tell him that you know about the scam he's pulling, and that if he doesn't split the money 50/50 you will "spoil his job". It can be even funnier to quote his share as something much lower, like 70/30, and watch him seethe with anger but try to maintain his composure (albeit badly) for the sake of keeping the deal afloat. Sometimes this tactic can be used to great effect to get the scammer to jump through hoops. It's funny too, because you can play him off between your fake victim and your fake scammer characters, like a tennis ball! Of course, after about 2 weeks of delays, the fake scammer always collects the entire payment and disappears -- leaving the real scammer empty-handed and frustrated. Then you start the process all over again and add a different twist each time that prevents him from getting his hands on the loot! The ultimate aim of many scambaiters is to receive death threats from the scammer (often hilarious due to the combo of bad English and the creative imaginations of the scammers). And if you're really good, you'll get a Voodoo curse placed on you. The juju is like the ultimate prize in knowing you have pissed a scammer off to the highest degree possible. It's much sought after!

West African scammers like to convince themselves that colonialism is their justification for "targeting westerners". But anyone with an ounce of common sense can see that's plain bullshit. In reality, these scammers will target absolutely anyone who replies to their email, as long as it means getting money out of them. Some baiters have even performed morality tests emailing scammers from the most unfortunate kind of victims possible to see if the scammer would show any compassion and drop the scam if he knew he was dealing with a terminally sick person or a child needing life-saving surgery (where sending the money to the scammer would mean the difference between the victim being able to afford treatment or dieing). In all such cases, the lowlife scammers continue with the scam without any regard whatsoever as to how it would affect the victim's life. In fact, they happily tell the victim to go ahead and send the money because they'll be able to afford the treatment after they receive the multi-million dollar consignment. Believe me when I say that there's absolutely NO depth that this scum will not sink to in order to steal money.


Anyhow, to comprehend how people can fall for these scams, despite all the evidence staring them in the face that they're dealing with a fraudster, one needs to look at the type of people who become victims, and why. Smart scammers (and yes, there are some very intelligent ones out there too) know their game well and can be the biggest threat as they are very hard (but not impossible) to bait. Savvy scammers learn to target certain demographics by adapting the tactics they know will work:

1. New Internet users: People who are new to the online world and believe that every email sent to their newly opened email account MUST be legit.

2. The elderly: Generally, older folks are more trusting, they have money saved up and thus make easy targets for scammers, particularly if they're also new Internet users.

3. Foreigners from countries where English is not the main language: A growing number of native English speakers are cluing into scammers' (generally) poor mastery of the English language, and this makes potential Western victims twig, wasting the scammer's time. Some scammers realize this and, instead, target citizens of other non-English speaking countries. This way, the victim is forced to speak in English with the scammer, and there's a double language barrier in place (i.e. two non-native English speakers communicating in English). In such cases, the chance of spelling mistakes and grammar errors on the scammer's part is likely to go unchallenged by the victim. These foreign victims are also generally very poor, so the scammer's implication of a huge multi-million dollar windfall means these particular victims will be very likely to pay (if they can scrape the money together from their family and friends).

4. Desperate People: People suffering severe financial hardships, going through divorce settlements, or with steep medical bills due to an ongoing sickness (or caring for someone with such a sickness). These are probably the most pliable type of victims for scammers. They know that they can exploit them the most, because they know that they can play on their vulnerability and turn the scam in their favour that way. Once the scammer acts like a friend and probes into the victims life, he's able to groom the victim which makes them trust and open up to him. The scammer tells the victim that everything will be okay once they get the millions of dollars he has to offer and urges him to finish the transaction. These victim types frequently lose upward of 50K (sometimes ranging into the hundreds) and often end up committing suicide.

5. Check Mules: People who the scammers recruit with a fake job offer. They claim that the position is to work as a "payment officer" accepting customer's payments. The scammer sends the victim a fraudulent check, tells the victim to deposit it in his bank account, keep 10%, and then forward the rest to the scammer via Western Union (untraceable once it's sent). When the authorities eventually trace the paper trail back, the laundered money leads directly to the victim's bank account. The victim goes to jail, since all he has are tales (but no proof) that some phantom, nameless scammer made him do it.

5. Otherwise intelligent people who are irrationally blinded by the money: Some other types of victims who fall for the 419 scam are truly surprising. People like doctors and lawyers who are usually deemed intelligent by their social standing in life, but not necessarily "street smart" occasionally fall for this scam.


The authority site on 419 scambaits is 419 Eater. Baiters there have made scammers do some absolutely crazy things over the years. They have made them travel to different countries, get lost in the Sudan searching for treasure, get tattoos with PWNED across their back, and even hand-write Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets from beginning to end. They are constantly raising the social-engineering bar there!

Two of my favourite scambaits are:

The Road to Nowhere: Extremely entertaining with some excellent psychological twists that really screwed these scammers over. It's also a rare case where there was a white scammer working with Nigerian associates.

The Great Penis Caper: If you're not roaring with laughter by the end of this one, you've probably had a lobotomy. Fair warning: this one contains some male nudity, so if you don't like the idea of seeing disrobed Nigerian scammers (or if you're at work), don't look.

EDIT: Oh yes, and Erpy's right. I did do something very evil to one of these scammers, but unfortunately I can't post the results publicly online!

[Gronagor]

You can't leave it in the air like that! If you didn't want to share, you shouldn't have said anything! LOL!

[greensenshi]

If you're not roaring with laughter by the end of this one, you've probably had a lobotomy.

... Okay, I laughed. And "some" male nudity is an understatement I think.

[Blackthorne519]

The Great Penis Caper is one of the most hillarious things I have ever read.


Bt

[Lady Pyro]

Okay that was hilarious!
Also, I love some of the spelling errors:

"It quiet Unfortunate that he was short by Gunpoint"

[Chief]

ahahaha this stuff is hilarious!!!

one of my all time favorites, which i haven't even read the whole thing because it's so long, is here:

http://www.thescambaiter.com/forum/show ... =109&pp=25

[Quest For Glory Fan]

I just read the Harry Potter one and it was pretty golden.

[XboxNation]

Oh my God!

The Great Penis caper is the most ridiculous thing I have ever read. I thought the Adventures of Blood Ninja were amusing.

Oh my.

The things we do with our spare time!

[FamousAdventurer77]

The Great Penis Caper was HILARIOUS but you peeps also must see the Brad Christiansen Exhibits!


http://www.quatloos.com/brad-c/rosemary.htm

Romancing The Pickle Taco!

[Broomie]

Just had a good old Nigerian scam attempt. Thought I'd share my own story.

So, I sold my laptop on ebay and allowed users to Buy it Now. It wasn't long till someone did buy it for the full price. Noticing the winner was from the US I was a bit skeptic about the shipping costs. I got a message on ebay that we should discuss further via email. So I sent her an email and about 5 minutes later I got this.



Seemed pretty authentic. And £130 for shipping... to the United States. I'm pretty sure it's cheaper than that. Oh wait, check out the shipping address.

Shipping Information

Address:
Peter Adewale
6, Babashola Street Lawanson
Surulere
Lagos
23401
Nigeria.

Ah, the 'too good to be true' has truly diminished. Nigeria? You again? What won't you do?

So, I was pretty much certain that is was a scam and a waste of my time. If you check the image you can see the sending address is paypaiukdirect@accountant.com. Then I get this in the email shortly afterwards. For someone who lives in the US, I'm sure she would be able to write a bit better than that. Don't get me wrong, people are idiots when it comes to writing but something here just seems to... cliche?

Dear Seller,
Calvary greeting to you in the Name of the Lord. I was just browsing through ebay to see if i could get something so cute,nice,lovely and cheap as a Birthday Gift on my behalf to my adopted-son he is currently studying in a missionary college in Nigeria. He works with a petroleum company in west Africa as an expert rate while i am on a nuclear inspection tour in North Korea and i won't be coming back home till mid of April and so i decide to buy this particular gift to show my love to him.so i want to know if the item is in its top condition as i don't want to buy him a faulty item since it is a new year. I would be grateful if you could help in sending the item down to west Africa (Nigeria) on my behalf as i am due to leave for Asia soon i wont be able to receive the item here in the Us.
Moreover,I'll find out the postage cost to my adopted-son address from Us and I'll duly include it with payment.I have notified Paypal regarding the shipment address and i was told i do not have problems with that so i would be happy if you would ensure safe delivery as this my first time of sending item to Africa but it is necessary for me to do this as you know that i have missed the item i was meant to do this.please find below the postage address and also i want you to get the item shipped via International Royal mail Signed For Delivery to his address.

Peter Adewale
6, Babashola Street Lawanson
Surulere,
Lagos, 23401,
Nigeria

You can check my feedback as i am a responsible buyer and i do not want to deal with time wasters, payment as been make and your paypal account will be credited as soon as they see the shipment tracking number and also i will leave you a good positive feedback as soon the item as been send out and do the same for me
Hope to read from you soonest.

Thanks and God bless

Ah, you're pulling the God card I see. What a nice "cheap" gift for your adopted son who happens to be studying in Nigeria, of all places. Funny, I've seen a similar message before. Infact, I've seen a damned duplicate of this message from a similar scam. Either this woman needs some new material or that's one spoiled son with one too many birthdays.

So yeah, you've blown it. I did reply to her though.

Hi,

Sounds like a wonderful gift, your son will be very happy with this laptop. It's fast, easy to use and to carry around. Perfect for a student!

Btw, I'm very familiar with these Nigerian scam emails and have heard the exact same story regarding a birthday gift for a studying son. Infact, I've heard the exact story that you just emailed to me posted on a 411 scam forum.

I'm not going to fall for this so I refuse to send my items out when we both know you're going to get a free laptop and I'll be down a further £50 or so for the shipment costs. The email I got was convincing but the email account (palpai) was easy to catch.

Sorry it couldn't work out though. You had me fooled for a second. I'm not going to go any further and report this however, but you can give me good feedback on ebay for being a good sport.

Good luck next time!

James

Awaiting response. Once found out you never usually get a reply. I'd like to have lead her on and sent her a fisher price laptop worth about £10 but I'd rather not spend that on shipping costs. Plus, I'll probably leave the return address on there and find a parcel on my front door step with malaria ridden mosquitos. Or just get bad feedback. Anyway it was best to leave it.

However, to someone like me I can spot it quite easily. But to the untrained eye, this can easily spell disaster. The Paypal verification was pretty well made, luckily I'm net-wise and know that whenever something seems like an awesome deal, I mean £430 for a laptop I bought for £280 is pretty sweet but you add the word Nigeria into the mix... well you know that's the mother of all bitch slaps. However, I can slap back pretty damned hard as well, ya know.

[Chief]

that's kinda funny and crazy.. i think you should have reported it though!

[Anonymous Game Creator 2]

Broomie, it's a good thing you noticed this scam attempt and weren't conned into sending your item. However, since this particular scammer is likely to have your personal details, I'd suggest not baiting him and just breaking it off without further correspondence. The scammer might seem like he's far away in Lagos, but knowing the droves of scum that the UK is allowing to immigrate to its shores these days, Nigerian scammers are also likely to have acquaintances and contacts working closer to home, more than likely living just down the street!

So, it's best if you play it safe and drop this one. Baiting them should only ever be done using fictitious names, anonymous email addresses, and a PO drop box (if you're planning to send/receive stuff) which cannot be traced back to your real identity.

The general rule of thumb if you do reply to a scammer is not to inform them about their spelling mistakes and grammatical errors, nor tell them what they've done right or wrong when it comes to fooling you and what made you wise up. Doing so will only educate them to improve upon their mistakes and their next victim might not pick up on the same inconsistencies you were able to. I've seen Nigerian scammers who are able to type and speak flawless English and they're the ones making a fortune and who cannot be stopped. The world needs less of these guys! Fortunately, they're few and far between. But this is why you don't want to educate them. If anything, it's best to feed them misinformation that encourages them to make even bigger mistakes or ridiculous words (i.e tell them that in the Western world, we don't call it a "Financial Transaction"; we call it a "Larcenous Money Extraction" and that's how he should refer to it from now on). Things that will discredit them to potential victims.

Finally, as Chief said, report it. Ebay scammers usually hack the accounts of powersellers or people with a high ratio of positive feedback. This means vicims will be more likely to trust the person. If you don't report it, then eBay will not be aware that the account has been hacked and in the control of a scammer. Reporting it will make eBay aware of the problem and allow them to give access back to its rightful owner.

[Gronagor]

Sheesh. Damn phishers keep on sending me a fake e-mail for a bank. They just got lucky and it is the bank I'm in.
Man, they're good. Much better spelling etc. Even the site seems extremely authentic and up to date!

---

Dear Valued ***** Bank Customers

As from this March 2009, We are introducing the online GX-5 banking method which is aimed at preventing internet hackers and phishing experts from getting access to your online banking details in any way. All Online banking users are required to adhere strictly to this warning and follow up the process to this upgrade.

Register your online banking access, click on the link below and follow the instructions:

http://*********

**** Bank will not be responsible for loss of funds to online phishers as a result of failure to comply with this important new directives. We are committed to serving you better.

Bank and stay safe online.

Security Management,

February 2, 2009 | Copyright 2009 ****. All rights Reserved. *******
Authorised financial services provider


Obviously I knew it was fake, but decided to print it out and ask the opinion of people at work. I'm unhappy to say that 95% would have fallen for this e-mail. I decided to send this e-mail to a number of banks, so that they know about it and close down the sites. 3 days later I received the same e-mail, but the url (only seen when you right-click and check the properties) changed. Did the same and 3 days later a new e-mail with a new site. This repeated for a number of times.

The funny thing is, when the first one came, I noticed they've used the wrong date and said something like 'February 2008'. Half an hour later I received a new one with the corrected date. LOL!

Was fun to once again use Phishfighting.com

[Anonymous Game Creator 2]

The vast majority of bank phishing emails are sent by Russian scammers who generally have a much higher technical knowledge in banking and computer matters than their Nigerian counterparts.

The most effective way to get those fraudulent bank phishing sites shut down quickly is to sign up for a forum account at http://www.419eater.com and post the phishing email (with full headers intact) in the "Fake Banks" forum, and request that somebody kill the fake site. 419 Eater has a large base of members who are skilled at getting phishing bank sites shut down quickly, via a good network of connections with hosting providers, banks, and law enforcement officials in many countries around the world.

[Gronagor]

Thanks.

Where do you get time for all of these stuff?

[eriqchang]

[Lady Pyro]

Compliment of the day? I'm pretty sure that's how I'm going to have to start every letter I write from now on.

[Fender178]

I used to get them kind of emails. The kind of phishing emails that Im getting now is ones that they pretend that they are from my ISP and they want to update my information.