So Many Suckers -- 419ers Bring In Millions In Just A Few Months
from the shockingly-easy dept
Want to know why you get so many 419 advance fee emails every day? It's because there are still way too many people with way too much extra cash who continue to fall for what is, basically, one of the oldest cons around. The latest is that a group of 419 scammers in Amsterdam have been arrested -- but not before they conned at least $2.4 million out of gullible people in about four months. In fact, officials think the $2.4 million is quite low -- and the real number may be "many times more than that." Late last year I read Drake's Fortune, which is basically about the equivalent of today's 419 scams, but from a century ago. The amazing thing is just how much a little greed and the thought of easy wealth causes people to completely lose all critical thinking abilities -- even to the point of still believing the con men after the whole thing is revealed and their money has been taken.
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
What is a 419
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
419 Scams
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: 419 Scams
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
I May Burn In Hell........
I donate money to a few charities each year, but break out in a sweat when I do.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: I May Burn In Hell........
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: I May Burn In Hell........
The best con in the world is one where you get some retard who thinks he's getting one over on "the man" and you fleece the idiot.
I got my first introduction to this world in high school when a guy, significantly larger than I, asked to look at a knife of mine and then decided that he'd hold it hostage. I told him I'd have his money the next day and I promptly got the cash he wanted, put it in an envelope and then got some play money and put it in another envelope. Thanks to a few security guards looking out at school I had good reason to put the cash back in my pocket and make the old switch-a-roo. When the guy discovered it he at least had a sense of humor, realizing I could probably do it again but much worse but I got a helluva high knowing his greed showed him who was really running the game.
So feel sorry for some of these idiots!?!? Never, they deserve it.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: I May Burn In Hell........
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Almost got a friend...
Luckily, he mentioned it in an email. I did a bunch of lookups for him and sent him a bunch of links about it basically begging him not to do it. He eventually didn't, but even after all the information I sent him, it still took a phone call to convince him otherwise.
I consider him an average intelligence person and he fell for it hook, line, and sinker. It was surreal...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Almost got a friend...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
They Deserve It
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
No Subject Given
And like a lot of others here I have zero compassion for the people who fall for the scams.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: No Subject Given
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: No Subject Given
There are two things that I think are unlimited, the universe and stupidity, and I�m not so sure about the former�.
What most people don�t realize is these are called �confidence� tricks not because they gain your confidence but because they take you into theirs, by telling you something embarrassing / damaging about themselves.
They are willing to trust you with their most embarrassing secret, so why shouldn�t you trust them?
Got to love social engineering, much easier to get someone to tell you the password than try and crack it.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: No Subject Given
If you've got a junk email address that you don't mind trashing, just post it here and I'm sure someone could forward you an offer.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
No compassion...
Second, it amazes me that you people have no compassion for the victims here. Yes, they were stupid. That's even more of a reason to have compassion for them. Con artists don't prey on the strong, they prey on the weak (and in this case it's those who are weak minded in a sense). It's wrong. It's shameful. The victims deserve our compassion and not a our ridicule.
My 2 cents...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: No compassion...
Two points:
1. People are not an endangered species, so it is hard to argue against:
2... It is morally wrong to let a fool keep his money.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
No Subject Given
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Lotteries
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
The Scammers Cant get caught?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: The Scammers Cant get caught?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]