Now Where's The Scam For Getting Access To The Jailed 419er's Fortune?
from the can't-you-just-see-it? dept
We've been harsh in the past over the unwillingness of the Nigerian government and judges to crack down on the advance fee 419 scams, despite plenty of talk about doing so. However, it appears that might be changing. Last week, a judge apparently sentenced one such scammer to 376 years in prison, where (one hopes) he won't have access to the internet. One interesting aspect to the trial, was that a gullible American the scammer bilked out of nearly $2 million showed up to testify (after serving a couple years in prison in the US for money laundering, associated with the scam). The defense by the scammer was pretty weak, claiming that his voice being identified from over a hundred phone calls to the victim was a simple accident -- as he just happened to call the number which he found on an internet cafe computer, where the previous user had not logged out. With a defense as weak as that you wonder how he was able to con someone out of $2 million. I thought 419 scammers were supposed to be quick on their feet in responding to every eventuality. Also worth noting: the judge ordered that the scammer pay back $1.6 million of the stolen money. That still leaves a tidy profit from what we can see. In the meantime, how long will it be before we start seeing the latest 419 scam from people claiming to be the SON or DAUGHTER of HARRISON ODIAWA, jailed and kept away from his fortune of $1.9 MILLION US?
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Blame
Yes I had a computer class when I was in school (I had to request for it..) but they only used it to teach typing, basic programming, or how to run a small business with Microsoft Office... With that basic knowledge it only takes ONE "I love you" email to screw your whole life up if you manage all your bills online.
Guess the Board of Education is too busy micro-managing their budgets, than to care about teaching real world lessons that are actualy worth anything. (And they do a terrible job in the budget as well anyways, ..atleast here in New York City..)
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Re: Blame
You can't blame the parents when they don't know how to use the PC either. They are just as gullible, perhaps even more since they did not grow up in the internet age like the rest of us.
Though you could say they should be responsible enough to take some kind of course on internet use before allowing their kids to use it so they can pass on the knowledge, but do such programs actualy exist? And if they did, they would have to keep up to date on the latest happenings in the technology world, and find a way to keep past students in the know as well.
"I never had a school class how not to be gullible"
Falling for a phishing attempt in your email that looks EXACTLY like a real PayPal confirmation email complete with exact replica website just because you didn't know about checking the website URL to make sure it read www.paypal.com does NOT make you gullible. You can't blame everyone who has been scammed as just being gullible, that is more of a "haha im smarter than them" remark and is generally unwarrented, regardless of how you were taught early on (which again plays into the fact that you would need parents who understood technology that well to begin with).
"keep a discussion on topic"
Ask 50 people in the streets if my comment involving the blame of why people are scammed, compared to the article being about scammers is related. You may be surprised at how many people agree that I am well within the topic threshold.
"not blindly blame others in order to prevent personal responsibility"
The 'take personal responsibility" defense is a weak one at best. Considering the situation is based on a lack of knowledge by no fault of their own. You can't take personal responsibility for falling into a trap that the ISP's and antivirus/adware software claims they protect you from but only do a 75% job at.
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Re: Blame
One of W. C. Fields' most famous quotes is "You can't cheat an honest man," and it holds true for these schemes. If you get caught up in one you have no one to blame but yourself, and I have no sympathy for you.
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Re: Blame
They almost always attract people with something shady.
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I do think they need to teach the fundamentals of typing and how to use Microsoft Office (excel, word, etc etc. [preferrably OpenOffice, but we won't go there here]) as in the business world, you really can't get by without a basic understanding of these elements. They do not however have to teach you about the dangers but, I would like it if they did. Even if it was just for one class period; maybe even simple packets with information regarding the dangers involved with the internet. But they are not to blame.
Simply put, the internet is like fire: you play with fire, you are bound to get burned. You have to face the fire with a healthy understanding and respect of it's capabilities, and of it's dangers. You may cook your food, you may heat your cave [lol], but you may also burn yourself.
The internet can help you in communication, research, and what ever other use you may think of, but it is also an outlet for spam, scams, and people who may want to hurt you (stalkers, pedophiles, rapists, etc).
As with everything, proceede with caution.
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Re: Blame
I never said anything about my parents teaching me thing about computers, in fact it is the opposite. But they did teach me to use my mind to determine how to sort the ‘facts from the fiction’ in a way that was generic enough to span to any topic. Schooling may have taught me how to add and subtract and read some words but my parents made sure that learning was taken to the next level and that tools were applied to allow me to think and learn for myself. Both school and my parents taught me to do my own research and learn for myself when presented with a lack of understanding.
I will admit that I have succumbed to phishing as well and clicked to a false site (years ago before it was a widespread issue or ‘in the news’). I realized something wasn’t quite right and did more research to determine what was going on. I have since continued to teach myself how to avoid it since it is MY adult responsibility to make sure the things are done safely for me and my family.
Adam- I originally responded to you because I didn’t think that a blanket statement about blaming schools (or anybody else) was productive or topical for the article.
The point of the article above isn’t about a simple phisihing scam that is played out clicking a few links, rather it is a about a long term, multiple contact scam that plays into people’s greed to juke them out of lots of money. It continues on to suggest that while one scammer is caught, it doesn’t stop the scamming and doesn’t stop people from being greedy and gullible.
Personally I have invested in a many things in my life, some were good choices and some were bad, but I researched them all before I ‘signed’. There were some that I found that looked awfully suspicious and I walked away. The people who fall victim to this scam didn’t do their research and if they did, they didn’t walk away. Negligence of the law doesn’t excuse you for breaking it.
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“You can't blame the parents when they don't know how to use the PC either. They are just as gullible, perhaps even more since they did not grow up in the internet age like the rest of us.”
I didn’t blame the parents for not knowing about the internet or PCs, I suggested that you should blame the parents for not teaching their kids to paying attention to the world around them instead of the blaming the schools for not teaching something. Most of the people who fall for these scams were probably born when a simple calculator was the size of a modern laptop computer.
““Though you could say they should be responsible enough to take some kind of course on internet use before allowing their kids to use it so they can pass on the knowledge, but do such programs actualy exist? And if they did, they would have to keep up to date on the latest happenings in the technology world, and find a way to keep past students in the know as well.”“
You are on the right track…Learning and curiosity is a lifelong process and doesn’t stop when you become an adult. Once again it isn’t just about kids. And yes they do exist all over the place; most ISPs also have a section about it on their websites. If you are going to use something in life it is up to YOU to learn how to use it safely (but dumb warning stickers can be funny). Often that takes an active role, not just waiting for somebody to tell you something.
““Falling for a phishing attempt in your email that looks EXACTLY like a real PayPal confirmation email complete with exact replica website just because you didn't know about checking the website URL to make sure it read www.paypal.com does NOT make you gullible. You can't blame everyone who has been scammed as just being gullible, that is more of a "haha im smarter than them" remark and is generally unwarrented, regardless of how you were taught early on (which again plays into the fact that you would need parents who understood technology that well to begin with).”“
True I have fallen for one as well (but caught on to it before any damage was done). I made it a point to teach myself on how to avoid them after that. This was before the term ‘phishing’ was popular and widely known. But nowadays even the most basic internet classes teach about what a URL is and how it works, and how simply checking it can defeat most phishing schemes.
You are right, I can’t blame everyone scammed for being gullible, but at some point it comes down to their lack of understanding about what they are doing. These days it is hard avoid information about being scammed (ever since the media has sensationalized it).
““Ask 50 people in the streets if my comment involving the blame of why people are scammed, compared to the article being about scammers is related. You may be surprised at how many people agree that I am well within the topic threshold.”“
Sarcasm below: That seems to be very scientific. I will bet 45 of those people will tell you go away … unless you have a TV camera and/or a wad of cash, and then they will say anything you want.
Seriously now, how people are scammed may be topical, but blanket blame rarely is a useful argument.
And try asking 4 out of 5 dentists what brand of toothpaste they recommend, you will be surprised what results you get.
““The 'take personal responsibility" defense is a weak one at best. Considering the situation is based on a lack of knowledge by no fault of their own. You can't take personal responsibility for falling into a trap that the ISP's and antivirus/adware software claims they protect you from but only do a 75% job at.”“
Sounds like your shifting blame to the ISP’s since they didn’t protect you, the exact opposite of the definition of personally responsibility. While the lack of knowledge is not always ones own fault, doing something that requires knowledge when you don’t have it is. People make mistakes as it is human nature, but they should also learn from them.
But is what you are saying is that it is your ISP’s responsibility to make sure you don’t contact somebody who will try to steal from you (not talking about just phishing or viruses)? The tools you suggest they provide help to protect you from things humans can’t detect by the human eye (can’t read malicious code once it is compiled), but common sense and some reading will help you avoid and defeat them (i.e. don’t open unknown attachments). You don’t take candy from strangers for a reason. If you did and it was poisoned whose fault is it that you got sick from it? The candy people cause they didn’t wrap it well enough, the person who gave it to you or your own for taking it in the first place. (Look I just took a simple piece of knowledge which I learned in school and applied it to a whole new and unrelated topic something not taught to me in school at all).
But that really isn’t the point either since these scams that people fall for are mostly due to social engineering, which has little to do with the internet or computers at all.
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What's so abstract about high school math? Do you ever do anything besides flip burgers and watch TV? If so, you use your math.
This attitude is demanding a curriculum teach social skills and ethnocentric behaviour at the expense of real knowledge is nauseating.
If you don't know how to properly use and identify email, you shouldn't be using it with such reckless abandon. Don't give out your credit card information to a technology you don't understand.
People aren't allowed to drive when they have little to no understanding of signs and traffic patterns, nor are they allowed to do "adult things" (vote, drink, etc) until they are considered "old enough" to do so responsibly. Why now are we supposed to hand hold them with PCs?
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wow
the internet is more than a toy for many of us who work in a technology field. i use it all the time for research on code and languages.
schools should be teaching the internet and computers. if they can teach home ec, they can teach computers. the problem ive seen in schools is that there isnt enough time to cover everything. its up to the parents to encourage continued curiosity and self improvement. it is also up to the parents to be as smart as their children.
just because you are an adult doesnt mean you should stop learning. to that end, there are plenty of people who dont understand internet scams. to them i say, "ask someone, read, research, be curious, call the company..." my guess is that their gullability isnt isolated to internet scams.
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Wheww! Glad that's done
I am sure everyone feels better now. The blame is placed, we can all move on to the the next problem and tell the world who to blame and what other people, institutions, etc. SHOULD have done. It would be a waste of time to--maybe--- take some action....
Naw--what the world clearly needs is someone to lay the blame and direct the masses on their "should have dones".
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kill these spammers
And leave all of the murdering rapist thieves to their own devices.
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Exactly bomb the living hell out of everyone that gets in your way or pisses you off. That's the solution for a wonderful new world. Hale Satan.
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Re: kill these spammers
I won't even bother by responding intelligently to such mental guano. So here goes - Mr. bomb the living sh*t out of everyone, go back to switching channels on your television set and leave the forums to constructive thinkers.
sincerely,
the unknown
why do i even bother... i suppose it's fun
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Wow...
Should they teach net safety and security in school? Hell, do they even really understand it? Do parents?
My brother is a police detective in a medium sized city, he says that their computer crimes division is basically made up of cops who know how to google effectively and use a few system utilities (like binary editors, simple crap), but they have no formal training program, nor are they required to hold any kind of IT oriented degree (as of now, it is in discussion) although they get to attend some national seminars and such as available...
I wonder how long our innocence and naivety as a society will last? How many more prisons do we build to house the smart kids who who play with the "fire" mentioned above and get into trouble? Or does somebody actually dare to teach "internet morals and standards", and if so, who gets to set the standards?
Brave new world.
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Re: Wow...
If you need to go to school to learn that this is not OK you will be too dumb to understand the lesson anyway.
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