Police Arrest Cyber-Cafe Owner For Throwing Out 419 Scammer?
from the so-much-for-the-crackdown dept
Earlier this month we wrote about the latest in a long line of claims from the Nigerian government that they were really (no, seriously) about to crack down on 419 scammers. A bunch of folks from Nigeria responded to say that the scams weren't as big a deal as reports had made them out to be, but this was quickly followed up by an article in the LA Times about, among other things, how one of the more popular songs in Festac, Lagos is now about how much fun 419 scams are. In the meantime, we received this submission this morning: Seun writes "The Festac, Lagos policemen don't seem to be aware of the Government campaign against corruption - especially the 419 scam. Here's one cyber-cafe owner's account of how he was arrested by the police for trying to throw a scammer out of his premises. The reporter further alleges that the scammers actually pay the policemen to protect them." Obviously, at this point there's no evidence to back up the story, but it does show that stopping these scams is likely going to take more than just an announcement from those at the top of the government (and some assistance from Microsoft). There's clearly a lot of corruption going on, and that's not easy to wipe out over night.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Wouldn't it be ironic...
[ link to this | view in thread ]
His next step...
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Oil Exporting Country
[ link to this | view in thread ]
No Subject Given
[ link to this | view in thread ]