Nigerian Spam » Scam Baiting Ethics

Scam Baiting Ethics

Most decent people who stumble across our site are initially amused by the tricks but then start to feel some twinges of conscience, sure it’s funny but perhaps it’s not very funny *nice* to string them along like that. After all, surely they will not be doing it unless they had to…etc

Over time there have been some outstanding answers to this question so it was decided to collect these together.

Surely no one believes it when they get one of these 419 scam letters?

It often looks surprising when you hear of someone who actually believed that some ex-presidents son wanted their help to save his family fortune. In February 2004, Nigerian Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said:

It is fact that many people do believe these spam letters, enough to make 419 scams crimes quite a profitable money earner. It has been predicted that there are well over 250,000 scammers involved in 419 scams in whole world and that they reap in over US$1.5 billion yearly. The average victim pays out US$20,000.

People who by now know that it’s a 419 scam tend not to get taken in, but there are so many other variations from ‘assist me get this dead man’s money out of the country before the spiteful government takes away it’ to ‘I’m dieing. Please look after my children when I’m not there’ that it is quite easy for someone who does not know to get sucked up. And of course once the scammers have their scrapes into their victim they use every ploy they know to make them pay more and even more until there is nothing left.

Scam Patrol comes crossways between 15-20 victims per week, many of who have by now sent money at the time they were warned. Sadly, many of those are already so influenced by the story, which they refuse to believe the warnings and still continue to contact the 419 fraud scammers. But only people who are really greedy and a bit dishonest themselves will get sucked in to this fraud scam. After all most of the letters need you to pass yourself off as a family member on legal documents so they deserve what they get.

Many of the early 419 scam letters did state either that person A (usually a foreign national) had died without any relatives left or the corrupt government would confiscate this money if person B (the victim) doesn’t mimic a relative to claim the money. Another variation of these 419 scam letters was that the money had been found by over-invoicing oil agreements and they needed help to slip it out of the country. But typically these 419 scam letters had a disclaimer to the effect of, "This is a totally legitimate transaction. It would be carried out legally, and you would be protected from any breach of the any law." This was to assure more honest victims, which everything was above board and legal.

Now a days 419 scam letters come in hundreds of dissimilar formats, just you need check out the Surplus Letters Forum! There are the famous close relative spam letters, the orphan scams, regretful dying sinner needs help giving luck away to charity, tsunami victim contribution appeals, fake cheque scams, wash-wash, anti-scam scams (been a victim of 419 scams crime? We’ll get your money back for you – at a price) and many more.

They wouldn’t send much. After a couple of times they would realize that they’re being duped before they lose too much money. It would be good if that was the case. However, the most winning of these criminals are extremely good at what they do. Plus, it gets to a point where the victim thinks “I’ve come so far and paid so much, certainly this is the last payment”. The victim becomes attentive into a boundless spiral of fees and setbacks each costing more and more money.

There are documented cases of victims from a numeral of different countries who have already paid out millions to these 419 scam senders. Some of them are still persuaded that the money they were promised a share of exists. But the 419 scam mail senders are only trying to get ahead & feed their families. If the west hadn't raped their country of its wealth they wouldn't have to do this. Funnily enough, this is the quarrel is most often used by the Nigerian lads and their supporters as well. Recent lad visits to the meeting show that this is a current justification for their scamming.

Basically the argument goes something like this:

s Nigeria was a pleased and peaceful country until this west came along.
s Western companies, such as Halliburton and Shell, bribed their way into this peaceful country and proceeded to strip Nigeria of its assets leaving the population poverty stricken and struggling to survive.
s Therefore the West is accountable and now it is reimbursement time.

This fails to take into account several awfully basic facts and concepts:

v There is a culture in Nigeria, which esteems those who could make money without working. In the 18th century, European traders sat in shells and trading posts at the mouths of the Oil Rivers, Badagry and few other sites and were also well used to the ludicrous amounts demanded by Nigerian traders for Palm Oil, Ivory and Slaves. Serious negotiation was concerned and people like John Holt are on record irritable about the difficulty of dealing with the locals

The somewhat "jack the lad" culture of southern Nigeria joint with the foolishness of foreigners showed to how easy it was to make money from the white mugus and intelligent scammers soon developed the 419 scams, initially by way of fax and then via the internet. Children raised in this culture soon study that scamming is satisfactory – particularly if you are successful. A Nigerian member of this forum wrote:

v Using internet cafes will costs money. Those poor starving Nigerians who could not afford to feed their family also could not afford to use internet cafes.

v It is the better educated Nigerians who are actually able to speak some English. While we might laugh at the way they crush it (how well could you write in another language?) they will not be able to speak it at all if they were not somewhat better off than many of the rest of their own countrymen.

v Scams do no really target Westerners. They target anyone with just money. In this thread one of the 419eater scammer’s moderators, Lew Skannen replies to this claim with a list of some of the victims, which he has personally spoken to:

s Thai women, catering assistant in Bangkok - lost about £20,000 of money borrowed from family and employer. When she told the scammer she had no money he told her to go borrow some.
s Saudi Arab - $130K
s Egyptian - sick wife - lost $10K
s Egyptian - $7K
s Black American woman - student - lost $2K
s Black American woman - single mother - lost about $10K but was saved from losing another $20K by a timely phone call.
s Korean guy - Lost $1000+
s Mexican woman- reasonably wealthy family I think - lost $120K
s Polynesian woman - $5K
s Colombian man - $500 only.

v Successful 419 fraud scammers do make a lot of money out of it. If they were actually doing this to right past wrongs then the money might be used to assist the poor. But this money obviously doesn’t get distributed to the poor. It goes straight to their pockets. The money that their victims have borrowed to money this business deal and would spend years paying back goes on supporting a way of life that very few others in Nigeria could enjoy.

v Many countries are very poor and many countries have come off second best from colonialism but Nigeria had a huge amount of precious natural resources (oil). There is more than enough to haul it out of the poverty. However dishonesty is a colossal problem, Nigeria is rated as the second most dishonest country in the world (after Bangladesh) and that was the corruption right through the whole of the society, from the top down. Nigeria would not really be able to flee what some see as the inheritance of colonialism until this difficulty is dealt with. As long as it is bear, or worse encouraged, by the bulk of people then they would continue to struggle as a poor nation, stigmatized by a standing for corruption and scamming.

Those pictures with the signs & poses are degrading. How can you make them do that?

The 419 scam have a choice and they could (and sometimes do) even choose not to send a picture. There are no stem boxes with $20 million, which they must get out of the country. They are just doing it to extract money out of the victim. If they believe that holding a stupid sign or posing with a fish on their head is going to get them some quick money from a gullible victim then they would do what it takes. They are criminals, they are scammers.

Okay, so the 419 scam mailers are trying to get money out of people. That’s a crime but it not like its fatal!

Actually it can be. Numerous victims of 419 scammers have committed suicide or also had been murdered due to these scams. One chiefly nasty type of scam engage themselves getting a victim to travel to the scammer’s country, typically Nigeria, South Africa or to Amsterdam, with big amounts of cash to ‘confirm the transaction’. The victim is then actually kidnapped, often beaten also tortured and sometimes killed.

This is not a rare event. It had happened numerous times. Recently too, a victim 29 year old Greek man, George Makronalli, who had traveled to South Africa as part of a 419 scam. He was then kidnapped and actually killed when his family refused to pay the ransom. A day later, police found George's body in the Durban. Both his legs and arms were badly broken and he had been set alight, probably while he was still alive.

Even if the 419 scam does not cost the victim their life frequently it could band them of everything they have worked for and hold dear. Many victims end up losing their homes, their retirement or education savings, businesses and jobs, and their professional as well or personal credibility. All they are left with is large debts, which they have no way of repaying.

The dread becomes vast, unconnected to specifics, just an all encompassing blanket of depression. Fraud spammers often suggests the following feelings or emotional reactions among its victims:

w self-doubt, shock, disbelief
w societal censure and indifference (the attitude, which victims of fraud deserve what they get as a result of their own greed and stupidity)
w isolation
w anger, resentment, and a sense of betrayal to the criminal (Scammers) for taking advantage of them particularly if they were someone they knew
w frustration with Scammers justice professionals
w shame, embarrassment, and guilt if they feel they added to their own or others' victimization
w fear for their monetary security
w Increased concern about their individual safety and with their well-being or that of their family.

Some of the same physiological and long-term poignant effects experienced by victims of aggressive crimes are also knowledgeable by fraud victims such as:

s Feeling of terror or helplessness
s Rapid heart rate
s Hyperventilation
s Fright
s Inability to eat or sleep
s Loss of enjoyment of daily activities
s Depression
s Short-term effects on victims include:
s Preoccupation with the crime
s Inability to think or perform simple mental tasks
s Concern that other people will blame them for what has happened
s Increased strain on individual relationships (even to the extent of divorce or withdrawal of support)

As you could see, 419 scams are about more than just pick-pocketing a handful of small change from large victims. The 419 scammers ruin lives. They use every ploy in the book to get as much money as likely out of their victims. They do not care about the people they scam or even the effect it has on them. They fool the liberal and the greedy alike.

These members have also been seen first hand the profound effects that are experienced by people who has been scammed. Some of them then deal with hundreds of victims a year. They know all too well the pain of the victims. Any understanding they may have once had for the criminals has fade when faced with the day to day harsh reality of the suffering imposed on innocent men and women who have had the bad luck to get caught up in a 419 scam.

Please do not offend them by siding with these scammers. Posts that question the principles of scam baiting, call baiters racists, try to validate the scams or call victims gluttonous would usually result in a civil request to use the search button before posting. Do continue to post and you might find their patience stretched.

What can I do to help?

There are a few things you can do to help.

w Make sure that your family and friends are 419 Scammer safe. Nothing will be more gut-wrenching than to use hours baiting and end down fake banks just to find out old any, Aunty Enid has fallen for a scam and get off her retirement savings off to Nigeria!
w Bait! The more scam baiters the better as it keeps the 419 scam busy.
w Have fun when you are scam baiting with them. While baiting, the more you mess around with a lad the more probable he’ll be doubtful of the next new victim reply that lands in his inbox.
w Keep alert for scammers details. Things such as explanation numbers, physical addresses, false bank web addresses, cc’d lists of few other e-mail addresses and so on could be very helpful. We also have good connections with the South African police anti-419 team [http://www.419legal.org] that have been successfully arranged stings. Plus some members have the aptitude to do mass mail outs to warn potential victims in cc’d lists without getting blackout for spam.