Posted 10/23/09 at 10:45:00 AM by Paul Lilly

Nigeria has long been a hotbed for scams - either that, or we've all made a terrible mistake by not wiring over thousands of dollars to unknown recipients for a multi-million dollar payout down the line. Believe it or not, people still fall for it, so we're pleased as punch that Nigeria's anti-corruption police force has stepped up to the plate with some major busts.

"Over 800 fraudulent email addresses have been identified and shut down,"Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) boss Farida Waziri said in a statement. "There have been 18 arrests of high profile syndicates operating cyber-crime organizations."

This doesn't mean you'll never see another Nigerian scam mail in your spam box, but hey, at least it's a start. And going forward, the EFCC feels pretty confident it can make a dent. Rather than rely on raiding cyber cafes and waiting for complaints to trickle in from the public, the EFCC said it is using smart technology in conjunction with Microsoft to actively track down fraudulent emails.

The EFCC hopes this is the just beginning. Working at full capacity, the crime unit believes it can forewarn about a quarter of a million potential victims within the next six months.

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Posted 11/19/08 at 11:14:37 AM by Paul Lilly

The internet has become a breeding ground for scams of all shapes and sizes, but perhaps none more popular (and thus more easily recognizable) than the email rouse of a long lost relative, government official, or bank employee holed up in Nigeria and needing your help in securing a large sum of money. There's really no need to go on because you've undoubtedly received variations of this scam in your inbox countless times and, well, it never works. Or does it?

Not only does the old Nigerian bit still lure victims, the scam claimedits biggest known payday to date thanks to Janella Spears who forked over a mind boggling $400,000. Despite the big payout, Spears still contends she isn't easily duped. After all, she works as a registered nurse, teaches CPR, is a reverend who has married many couples, and also learned sign language to communicate with her hearing impaired husband. So what possible spin could this common scam have come with that got a seemingly intelligent woman to take the bait?

Hit the jump to find out what it was that convinced Spears the scam might be legit.

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Posted 11/09/07 at 09:34:31 PM by Mark Soper

"Like CDs through a disk drive, so go the operating systems of our lives." Join us for the continuing saga of Microsoft vs Mandriva for the desktops of Nigerian schoolchildren.

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