There it was, in my inbox along with a reminder that my February piece for this magazine was overdue- a scam email asking for donations for victims of the Haiti earthquake. I was reminded of a winter pastime I engaged in a dozen years ago, the first Internet game I ever played: scamming 419 scammers. I briefly thought of toying with this scammer scum trying to cash in on a heart breaking disaster that's ravaged one of the world's poorest nations. But then I thought: What kind of heartless SOB would seek profit from the devastation in Haiti?
You see, 10 or 12 years ago, most Internet scams were the so-called 419, or Advance Fee Fraud scams and their derivative, fake purchase offers for horses or dogs advertised for sale. You've no doubt gotten some 419 scams yourself, although today's spam filters do a better job of screening them out. They used to be readily identified by the poor English, all-caps typing and scripted text and involved some variation of millions of dollars to be had via a get-rich-quick scheme. A poor widow or deposed noble who lost her dear husband in a “ghastly accident” and needs to get a secret “fund” out of the Central Bank of Nigeria or the corrupt Nigerian Petroleum Institute. She found your name in a business directory, and needs your help to get the fund out of Lagos and into a “safe” bank in the U.S. In return, you'll get a cut of 20 to 50 percent just for sending her your bank account and “holding” the many millions. These are called 419 scams named after the (rarely enforced) section of the Nigerian criminal code that deals with them.
In the late 1990s, during a cold winter much like this one, I was selling a horse and advertising it on the net. In addition to the usual, ever-multiplying masses of get rich quick offers, I was overwhelmed with scammer replies to the horse ad. So I scammed a few back. It was hugely entertaining to learn the lingo and get them off script so I could shriek with laughter over their horrible English and desperate desire to relieve me of my riches. The scammers liked to call themselves “guymen” and their victims, “mugu” or “maga”. I had them sending me photos of themselves holding lewd signs, or a dead fish on top of their heads or other humiliating poses. I'd comply with their lawyer's or “barrister's” requests for documents by sending fake files and blame their stupidity for not being able to open them. I dangled my character mercilessly—a dumb, rich widow easily conned from parting with her millions. I got some hilarious photos and a few very realistic looking fake cashier's checks, one of which cost $29.00 in postage to send via overnight.
I pretended to fall in love with one scammer, sending him photos of myself that were actually movie stars in suggestive poses. I then sent him on a “safari” from Lagos, Nigeria to Abidjan in the Cote D'Ivoire to meet me at the airport there, a journey of several days. His desperate calls and emails prompted an abject apology and elaborate lie from me about security needed traveling with my trunks of money and another safari, this time to Ouwagadougou in Burkina Faso, that might even have still been Upper Volta at that time. There, he'd pick up a prepaid first class ticket to the U.S. so we could be married. Before I ended that scam, the lovelorn “guyman” spend many days and thousands of miles traveling in pursuit of his “mugu”, the rich blond stupid U.S. widow.
Equally funny were the curses and death threats I'd receive when I ended the scam and revealed how stupid they were to fall for it. Not only was it an entertaining pastime that one cold snowy winter, I figured if they were busy wasting their time with me, that would mean fewer people they'd be able to fleece. I never once considered that I was messing with criminals, some of whom wouldn't hesitate to kill for a very small sum of money.
Most people think these scams work because the scammer, once armed with the scammee's bank account number, would then plunder that account. But the real money is made by luring the mark into the scam and then requesting advance fees via Western Union to cover bribes or other “modalities” of the transaction. The “guymen” often operate from Internet cafes in Nigeria off a script. In the classified scams, “guymen” answer ads for a litter of puppies or a horse for sale and prey on those anxious to sell. They inevitably offer over the asking price, preying on those that ignore the basic tenet: If it sounds too good to be true, it's a scam.
From animals, the scammers have branched out to include a wide variety of items for sale or properties for rent. This scam has netted untold millions as the “guymen” engage the seller in a dialog and offer over the asking price, offering to pay with a U.S. cashier's check. A cashier's check sounds safe, right? So the seller agrees to the deal and gets a very realistic looking check for three or four times the sale price which includes an amount for the shipping of the animal. They're to cash it immediately and wire a couple thousand to the shipper and the balance to the “guyman”, oh and keep a thousand over the sale price, too. The realistic looking checks are cashed, the money wired and it typically takes 10 days to two weeks for the bank to discover the check is fraudulent—then they come to you for the money. The scammer and his shipper are long gone and aren't even in the U.S., so there's no recourse.
Today's scammers are far more sophisticated—scamming is big business. Many scams, including the one I got for Haitian victims, even had a fake website that looked legitimate. Scammers also have been known to impersonate banks and some of the scam websites look almost identical to the real thing. Scammers made millions off American generosity after 9-11, the tsunami in Indonesia, Katrina and now, the Haitian earthquake. Search internet scams and you'll find that among the top 10 scams are the 419, overpayment for goods and charitable scams. I can't really advocate messing with them as I once did, since the scammers often operate from mob rings, many of which have branches in this country. Remember nothing is truly anonymous on the Internet, and NEVER send money to any charitable organization you've never heard of.
Publishers Note: Julie took advantage of her space in the Blue Ridge section to impart this very important and “interesting” information. Next month she will be back on track with what is happening in the Blue Ridge – the start of the Spring Races!!
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
