Are 419 Victims Guilty Of Fraud If They Recruit Others?
from the legal-questions dept
One of our readers, Stack, sent in a link to this story about an Australian couple arrested for their participation in recruiting others into a Nigerian 419 scam. Stack suggested in his submission that it was a case of a 419 victim who, having "learned" the scam then turned around and started scamming others. But, from the description I'm not so sure that's the case. Instead, it sounds like the couple was really convinced that the scam was real, and merely convinced others to join in the scam, as well, in order to collect the "necessary" money to free the (non-existent) millions in Nigeria (or whereever this particular scammer claimed the money was).This raises some interesting questions. If my read is correct, then the couple in question certainly didn't profit from the scam at all, and didn't even know they were being scammed. As we've seen in the past, victims of 419 scams are often so convinced by the scam that even when the whole thing is explained to them, they still believe the scammers are willing to give them money -- something that's been found to be true in historical scams like the infamous Drake's Fortune.
However, if that's the case, the couple in question didn't know it was a scam, and wasn't directly profiting from getting others involved (though, they ignorantly thought they were). So... are they victims or are they scammers? Or both?
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Filed Under: 419, advance fee, australia, blame, nigeria, scams, victims
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If, on the other hand, they did so while unaware that it could be a scam or they did not pocket any on the proceeds, then they are simply guilty of being spectacular idiots.
One is a crime that should be punished, the other is not. It's also not mentioned what happened to the original scammers. It's not unlikely that the authorities are simply going after this couple because it's easier than trying to prosecute people in another country.
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If we start putting people in prison just for being idiots then you're likely to get a life term.
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These people are pieces of scum. They deserve to go to jail. It should be celebrated whenever these criminals who sign up to help out a criminal activity, get ripped off themselves.
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Did the Australian couple know they were being scammed? No. Did they believe they were a part of a scam? Sure they did. The Australian couple had no legal right to the money the Nigerian Prince or bureaucrat was pretending to sneak out of the country.
And the fact that the Australian couple did not profit is meaningless. There are plenty of crimes that are committed where there is no profit. Profit is not the sole criteria for a crime. While the Australian couple was trying to get people involved in what they truly believed was a scam, they were being scammed by someone else. That does not change the fact that they were trying to get people involved in what they truly believed was a scam. The fact that they failed at their scam does not exonerate them.
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We're talking about a specific crime, the crime of fraud. Not crime in general. Seeking profit is usually part of the requirement for the crime of fraud.
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Conspiracy...
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That would be easy to prove. All the prosecutor would have to do is show the emails. Some Nigerian Prince, bureaucrat, etc. writes the Australian couple and requests help sneaking money out of his country. That's a scam and the Australian couple obviously believed it was a real scam when they recruited others to help. The fact that it was a different scam than the one perpetrated against the Australian couple is not any sort of an exoneration. Criminals back-stab their fellow co-criminals all the time.
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My read on this would be that in this case there is evidence that the 2 charged did profit from the scam to the tune of 4.3 million.
It is unlikely that if all 12 were victims of mass stupidity (honestly how long does it take to google some of these things and discover they're scams!?!) and all were losers in the equation, that the original 2 have to take a further loss or be punished through the legal system. Clearly they profited from the recruitment somehow.
Also as mentioned above, if they intentionally sought to defraud - even if they weren't successful - they have still committed an offense (the conspiracy part). Perhaps those law enforcers actually managed to stop a crime BEFORE more victims were created by this couple.
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419 Scam in Australia
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They did not know
One thing i will point out to you all is that,they always use diabolic means to talk to you(DO AS I SAY). It will never be natural. I lived in Nigeria most of my youth days.In a nut shell,dont be greedy.
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