Nigerian spammer scammers arrested.... finally :)) - GoFuckYourself.com

CDSmith · 07-22-2005, 02:46 PM

There was a small blurb about this in a local newspaper yesterday, it said over 300 arrests were made. Here is the full article though, from July 18th...

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/TechNews...8/1136864.html

Nigeria cracks down on fraud
By Dulue Mbachu

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) -- The first and only victim so far snared by Kele B. was an American he e-mailed along with tens of thousands of others saying: "Congratulation! You Are Our Lucky Winner!"

Recipients were told their e-mail addresses had been randomly selected in a $6.4 million US British government "Internet lottery." When the American responded, he was told he'd have to pay fees and taxes of over $5,000 before he could collect.

"After he paid up I stopped answering his calls," summed up Kele B., 24, who refused to give his full name.

Nigerian police say they've scored results in a crackdown launched by President Olusegun Obasanjo's government in the past three years on such crime -- which had grown to the point here that it is associated with Nigeria all over the world. But much of their work has been on old cases, while new scammers like Kele B. are appearing and evolving new ruses to both trap victims and evade detection.

Nuhu Ribadu, head of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission set up in 2002 by Obasanjo to tackle financial fraud, said cash and assets worth more than $700 million were recovered from suspects between May 2003 and June 2004.

More than 500 suspects have been arrested and more than 100 cases are currently being tried in court while another 500 cases are now under investigation, he said.

The agency won its first major court victory in May when a Lagos court sentenced Mike Amadi, to 16 years imprisonment for impersonating Ribadu himself and setting up a Web site in the name of the financial agency that offered juicy but bogus procurement contracts. Amadi was, fittingly, caught by an undercover agent posing as an Italian businessman.

Faced with the consequences of economic decay and massive unemployment caused by plunder of the country's oil wealth by successive regimes, millions of jobless or underemployed Nigerians are tempted to make a living dealing drugs, trafficking in humans or smuggled oil or by fraud.

A recent World Bank study found a 17 per cent national unemployment rate, reaching 25 per cent for university graduates in cities such as Lagos.

People from other countries are responsible for international financial fraud. But Nigerians have become so associated with the crime that certain schemes, no matter who is behind them, are known as "Nigerian scams" or "419 scams," after the Nigerian penal code section criminalizing them.

Such scams have added to a reputation for lawlessness that helped keep foreign investors away. Obasanjo's 1999 election ended more than 15 years of brutal and corrupt military rule under which the fraud rings flourished. Under Obasanjo, top government officials as well as big time scammers have been put on trial.

"We reached a point when law enforcement and regulatory agencies seemed non-existent. But the stance of the present administration has started changing that," said Ribadu.

Police spokesman Emmanuel Ighodalo credited global collaboration involving Interpol, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation and other Western security agencies. Nigerian police officers have also received equipment and training in Western countries on how to deal with Internet crime and money laundering.

The U.S. has taken note.

"Nigeria is working very hard toward lessening the incidence of financial crimes. And we applaud that," said Rudolf Stewart, U.S. Embassy spokesman.

Gone are the days when criminal kingpins bribed police and were rewarded with official security details. In addition, worldwide publicity has made it difficult to fool potential victims with old tricks -- which often revolved around a scammer masquerading as a fallen dictator or corrupt official seeking help to transfer millions abroad.

But new scams have evolved, such as Kele B.'s fake Internet lottery, or credit card and identify theft schemes.

A day spent in Festac Town, a district of Lagos renowned as a centre of Internet scammers, revealed a criminal community that woke up late daily after "overnight browsing" of the Internet, sending millions of e-mails with all manner of propositions.

The rest of the day was spent driving around in flashy cars or hanging outside favourite Internet cafes while dressed in designer clothes, trading stories about successful heists and near misses while hatching new plots.

Festac Town's communication specialists sell services such as foreign telephone lines with which a scammer can purport to be calling from any major city in the world. Kelle B. convinced his victim he was in London.

Others in Festac Town are master forgers. Still others market software for Internet surveillance, the most popular of which is the "e-mail extractor," with which millions of e-mail addresses can be harvested.

A chubby-faced 28-year-old driving a Lexus jeep who gave his name only as Elekwa said he earned a diploma in computer science and was without a job for two years. Then a man who turned out to be the chief of a fraud gang saw him solve what seemed like "a complex computer problem" at a business centre four years ago in the southeastern city of Umuahia lured him to Lagos promising to make him rich.

"Now I have three cars, I have a two houses and I'm not looking for a job anymore," Elekwa said, beaming with satisfaction. He refused to give details of his role.

The Nigerian financial crimes agency insists it is catching up with the latest schemes.

Ibrahim Lamorde, who directs the agency's operations, said a raid on a Lagos hide-out early this year turned up 5,000 forged bank checks and international money orders for countries in Europe, South America and the U.S.

In another case, three high school students who used a stolen credit card to buy Sony Ericsson cellphones from Australia $12,220 were arrested when they went to a courier company's office to collect the package.

But the biggest cases now in court go back to the 1990s.

Legislator Maurice Ibekwe died in custody last year while facing trial for defrauding a German businessman of more the $300,000 in 1992. His alleged accomplice is still facing trial.

Friday, following charges filed in February 2004, a court convicted Amaka Anajemba of helping defraud a Brazilian bank of $242 million in the West African country's biggest international scam case, sentencing her to prison and ordering her to give up $25.5 million in cash and other assets. The trial of Anajemba's four co-defendants was expected to start in September.

Fred Ajudua, a flamboyant lawyer and businessman who once enjoyed official police security, is now in custody for several fraud cases including tricking more than $1.69 million out of two Dutch nationals between 1999-2000.

The financial crimes agency has often expressed frustration at what its agents see as deliberate efforts by suspects to delay their cases.

"It's not really in their interest to see the cases go quickly because of the overwhelming evidence against them," said Osita Nwajah, spokesman for the agency.

****************

My spam filters nab all the "we wish to transfer $27 million dollars to your account" emails, all of which say they are from Nigeria. Easy to delete but still annoying knowing that people out there are falling for such con artists and scammers every day. Glad to see over 500 of them are in jail now. I won't say what I hope happens to them :D

LittleSassy · 07-22-2005, 02:50 PM

one down! thousands more to go...

CDSmith · 07-22-2005, 02:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LittleSassy

one down! thousands more to go...

Correction: 500 down

... and thousands more to go. :D

BVF · 07-22-2005, 03:03 PM

it's a token amount. believe me. Nigeria is corrupt from the top down. It's a criminals paradise.

Downtime · 07-22-2005, 03:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LittleSassy

one down! thousands more to go...

hundreds of thousands ...

thaifan99 · 07-22-2005, 03:05 PM

Does this mean im not gonna get my 20%!!??

BVF · 07-22-2005, 03:06 PM

Here's the story on my trip to Nigeria http://www.mrnogood.com/general/nigeriatrip.htm

HpicAnn · 07-22-2005, 03:07 PM

at least one was cought!!

07-22-2005, 03:12 PM

so I will get my money back ?
as in what is happening with the money found ?
is it re-invested by the government of Nigeria ?
LOL

Tim · 07-22-2005, 03:18 PM

Anyone have the url of the guys who messed around on the phone with those guys?

nico-t · 07-22-2005, 06:54 PM

they were spamming? damn i thought they were my friends for their friendly emails

Spunky · 07-22-2005, 06:56 PM

About freakin time..that scam has been around for quite some time

CDSmith · 07-22-2005, 09:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spunky

About freakin time..that scam has been around for quite some time

I remember getting them in '98.

gopsycho · 07-22-2005, 10:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CDSmith

I remember getting them in '98.

totally. so funny, i remember my girlfriend at te time totally buying it

Giorgio_Xo · 07-22-2005, 10:09 PM

See sig.

The Ghost · 07-23-2005, 12:31 AM

I guess we'll have to settle for the religious version of the scam.

Vitasoy · 07-23-2005, 01:51 AM

Well it took long enough

Hinc · 07-23-2005, 01:58 AM

Thats great news!

Rui · 07-23-2005, 03:28 AM

Yep, saw that on the TV yesterday, hope they caught alot more tho :S

beemk · 07-23-2005, 05:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BVF

Here's the story on my trip to Nigeria http://www.mrnogood.com/general/nigeriatrip.htm

wtf are you wearing?

VeriSexy · 07-23-2005, 06:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LittleSassy

one down! thousands more to go...

Nah, there's only a handful with the resources and know how on how to spam. Most people in Nigeria don't even have access to the internet

07-22-2005, 02:46 PM	#1
CDSmith Too lazy to set a custom title Industry Role: Join Date: May 2001 Location: My network is hosted at TECHIEMEDIA.net ...Wait, you meant where am I located at? Oh... okay, I'm in Winnipeg, Canada. Oops. :) Posts: 51,460	Nigerian spammer scammers arrested.... finally :)) There was a small blurb about this in a local newspaper yesterday, it said over 300 arrests were made. Here is the full article though, from July 18th... http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/TechNews...8/1136864.html Nigeria cracks down on fraud By Dulue Mbachu LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) -- The first and only victim so far snared by Kele B. was an American he e-mailed along with tens of thousands of others saying: "Congratulation! You Are Our Lucky Winner!" Recipients were told their e-mail addresses had been randomly selected in a $6.4 million US British government "Internet lottery." When the American responded, he was told he'd have to pay fees and taxes of over $5,000 before he could collect. "After he paid up I stopped answering his calls," summed up Kele B., 24, who refused to give his full name. Nigerian police say they've scored results in a crackdown launched by President Olusegun Obasanjo's government in the past three years on such crime -- which had grown to the point here that it is associated with Nigeria all over the world. But much of their work has been on old cases, while new scammers like Kele B. are appearing and evolving new ruses to both trap victims and evade detection. Nuhu Ribadu, head of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission set up in 2002 by Obasanjo to tackle financial fraud, said cash and assets worth more than $700 million were recovered from suspects between May 2003 and June 2004. More than 500 suspects have been arrested and more than 100 cases are currently being tried in court while another 500 cases are now under investigation, he said. The agency won its first major court victory in May when a Lagos court sentenced Mike Amadi, to 16 years imprisonment for impersonating Ribadu himself and setting up a Web site in the name of the financial agency that offered juicy but bogus procurement contracts. Amadi was, fittingly, caught by an undercover agent posing as an Italian businessman. Faced with the consequences of economic decay and massive unemployment caused by plunder of the country's oil wealth by successive regimes, millions of jobless or underemployed Nigerians are tempted to make a living dealing drugs, trafficking in humans or smuggled oil or by fraud. A recent World Bank study found a 17 per cent national unemployment rate, reaching 25 per cent for university graduates in cities such as Lagos. People from other countries are responsible for international financial fraud. But Nigerians have become so associated with the crime that certain schemes, no matter who is behind them, are known as "Nigerian scams" or "419 scams," after the Nigerian penal code section criminalizing them. Such scams have added to a reputation for lawlessness that helped keep foreign investors away. Obasanjo's 1999 election ended more than 15 years of brutal and corrupt military rule under which the fraud rings flourished. Under Obasanjo, top government officials as well as big time scammers have been put on trial. "We reached a point when law enforcement and regulatory agencies seemed non-existent. But the stance of the present administration has started changing that," said Ribadu. Police spokesman Emmanuel Ighodalo credited global collaboration involving Interpol, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation and other Western security agencies. Nigerian police officers have also received equipment and training in Western countries on how to deal with Internet crime and money laundering. The U.S. has taken note. "Nigeria is working very hard toward lessening the incidence of financial crimes. And we applaud that," said Rudolf Stewart, U.S. Embassy spokesman. Gone are the days when criminal kingpins bribed police and were rewarded with official security details. In addition, worldwide publicity has made it difficult to fool potential victims with old tricks -- which often revolved around a scammer masquerading as a fallen dictator or corrupt official seeking help to transfer millions abroad. But new scams have evolved, such as Kele B.'s fake Internet lottery, or credit card and identify theft schemes. A day spent in Festac Town, a district of Lagos renowned as a centre of Internet scammers, revealed a criminal community that woke up late daily after "overnight browsing" of the Internet, sending millions of e-mails with all manner of propositions. The rest of the day was spent driving around in flashy cars or hanging outside favourite Internet cafes while dressed in designer clothes, trading stories about successful heists and near misses while hatching new plots. Festac Town's communication specialists sell services such as foreign telephone lines with which a scammer can purport to be calling from any major city in the world. Kelle B. convinced his victim he was in London. Others in Festac Town are master forgers. Still others market software for Internet surveillance, the most popular of which is the "e-mail extractor," with which millions of e-mail addresses can be harvested. A chubby-faced 28-year-old driving a Lexus jeep who gave his name only as Elekwa said he earned a diploma in computer science and was without a job for two years. Then a man who turned out to be the chief of a fraud gang saw him solve what seemed like "a complex computer problem" at a business centre four years ago in the southeastern city of Umuahia lured him to Lagos promising to make him rich. "Now I have three cars, I have a two houses and I'm not looking for a job anymore," Elekwa said, beaming with satisfaction. He refused to give details of his role. The Nigerian financial crimes agency insists it is catching up with the latest schemes. Ibrahim Lamorde, who directs the agency's operations, said a raid on a Lagos hide-out early this year turned up 5,000 forged bank checks and international money orders for countries in Europe, South America and the U.S. In another case, three high school students who used a stolen credit card to buy Sony Ericsson cellphones from Australia $12,220 were arrested when they went to a courier company's office to collect the package. But the biggest cases now in court go back to the 1990s. Legislator Maurice Ibekwe died in custody last year while facing trial for defrauding a German businessman of more the $300,000 in 1992. His alleged accomplice is still facing trial. Friday, following charges filed in February 2004, a court convicted Amaka Anajemba of helping defraud a Brazilian bank of $242 million in the West African country's biggest international scam case, sentencing her to prison and ordering her to give up $25.5 million in cash and other assets. The trial of Anajemba's four co-defendants was expected to start in September. Fred Ajudua, a flamboyant lawyer and businessman who once enjoyed official police security, is now in custody for several fraud cases including tricking more than $1.69 million out of two Dutch nationals between 1999-2000. The financial crimes agency has often expressed frustration at what its agents see as deliberate efforts by suspects to delay their cases. "It's not really in their interest to see the cases go quickly because of the overwhelming evidence against them," said Osita Nwajah, spokesman for the agency. ************** My spam filters nab all the "we wish to transfer $27 million dollars to your account" emails, all of which say they are from Nigeria. Easy to delete but still annoying knowing that people out there are falling for such con artists and scammers every day. Glad to see over 500 of them are in jail now. I won't say what I hope happens to them :D __________________ Promote Wildmatch, ImLive, Sexier.com, and more!!** ALWAYS THE HIGHEST PAYOUTS: Big Bux/ImLive SIGNUP ON NOW!!! Put some PUSSYCA$H in your pocket. ICQ me at: 31024634

07-22-2005, 02:50 PM	#2
LittleSassy Confirmed User Join Date: May 2005 Location: behind you Posts: 7,402	one down! thousands more to go... __________________ Proadultoutsourcing.com ~ version 2.0 OFFSHORE SOLUTIONS PROVIDER SINCE 2003 ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE 264-580-554

07-22-2005, 03:03 PM	#4
BVF Black Vagina Finder Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: The Midwest Posts: 13,975	it's a token amount. believe me. Nigeria is corrupt from the top down. It's a criminals paradise. __________________ Black Pussy Click On Mr Cosby..CCbill, 60/40, 136 FHG's....The Cos Loves Black Ghetto Pussy!!

07-22-2005, 03:05 PM	#6
thaifan99 Confirmed User Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: London UK Posts: 3,029	Does this mean im not gonna get my 20%!!?? __________________ ARE YOU A FAMILY MEMBER? CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT!

07-22-2005, 03:06 PM	#7
BVF Black Vagina Finder Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: The Midwest Posts: 13,975	Here's the story on my trip to Nigeria http://www.mrnogood.com/general/nigeriatrip.htm __________________ Black Pussy Click On Mr Cosby..CCbill, 60/40, 136 FHG's....The Cos Loves Black Ghetto Pussy!!

07-22-2005, 03:07 PM	#8
HpicAnn Confirmed User Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 4,319	at least one was cought!! __________________ GiVe YoU a BiG......... tImE Best Converting Webmaster Programs! All Niches Covered! [email protected] IcQ: 226461222

07-22-2005, 03:12 PM	#9
ThumbLord Guest Posts: n/a	so I will get my money back ? as in what is happening with the money found ? is it re-invested by the government of Nigeria ? LOL

07-22-2005, 03:18 PM	#10
Tim AffiliateManager for Hire Industry Role: Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: UK Posts: 19,209	Anyone have the url of the guys who messed around on the phone with those guys? __________________ 🍑🍆 Sex Vitamins 🍑 𓂸 This sig for sale!

07-22-2005, 06:54 PM	#11
nico-t emperor of my world Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: nethalands Posts: 29,903	they were spamming? damn i thought they were my friends for their friendly emails

07-22-2005, 06:56 PM	#12
Spunky I need a beer Industry Role: Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: ♠ Toiletville ♠ Posts: 133,944	About freakin time..that scam has been around for quite some time __________________ *YOUR INFORMATION HERE*

07-22-2005, 10:09 PM	#15
Giorgio_Xo Confirmed User Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Las Vegas, NV Posts: 4,263	See sig. __________________ Make Levees, Not War

07-23-2005, 12:31 AM	#16
The Ghost IslandDollars.com Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Icq: 176176 Posts: 12,188	I guess we'll have to settle for the religious version of the scam. __________________ ISLAND DOLLARS 1000's of Exclusive TS scenes / Constant Updates Best TS Network your surfers will ever join

07-23-2005, 01:51 AM	#17
Vitasoy GFY HALL OF FAME DAMMIT!!! Join Date: Oct 2003 Posts: 58,202	Well it took long enough __________________ [email protected]

07-23-2005, 01:58 AM	#18
Hinc Confirmed User Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 2,577	Thats great news! __________________ webmaster @ adultlist. com AdultList.com - Directory Listings, Advertisements, Hardlinks Loasex.com - Directory and old school TGP - taking submits A few sales/opportunities: High Quality Guest Posts For Sale Network of Aged sites for sales. Get in touch on the email above for info.

07-23-2005, 03:28 AM	#19
Rui web Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: On icq: 85-483-060 Posts: 9,533	Yep, saw that on the TV yesterday, hope they caught alot more tho :S