Can Anything Official Be Done About 419 Scams?

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Posted: Wed Dec 31, 2014 1:16 am

This site is all about baiting, which is designed to waste the time and resources of scammers. But it seems to take about an hour of baiter time to waste each hour of scammer time, which is perhaps not as efficient as it could be. Of course, autoresponders set to dish out insults, or autobaiters are possibilities that have been tried with limited success.

But is there any possibility of taking other, official action, within the system, to reduce 419 scams? American citizens are being irritated, ripped off, and sometimes even committing suicide because of inaction by a foreign government (Nigeria). The same with Great Britain. Is there any way that the state department could be persuaded to apply pressure to Nigeria to enforce some of its own 419 laws? We have a valuable resource on this forum, a large number of people who would be prepared to write letters to a senator or whatever. Is there some political expert here who would know how best to approach this problem?

Nigeria is a laughing stock in the world financial community - why does it not take action to cut back on the scammers? How about requiring ID to use an Internet Cafe? Could Western Union be required to issue 419 warnings before transferring more than x number of dollars from the USA to Nigeria?

Anybody have any ideas?

Posted: Wed Dec 31, 2014 2:00 am

#1) Scamming isn't just out of Nigeria, it's all over the world.

#2) WU DOES have warning, everywhere in their stores or establishments that offer their services, about NOT sending money to persons you don't know. They also have pamphlets about scams. They do the best they can, but if someone wants to send money to someone they don't know, despite the warnings, well, there is nothing WU can do. MOST transactions out of WU are perfectly legitimate. Green-dot is no longer going to allow the reload cards sometime during the first of the year.

Just focusing on Nigeria would hardly make a dent in the world of scamming. We need to educate the people who are potential targets (which is EVERYONE!). Talk to your friends and loved ones, have them talk to their friends and loved ones. Scamming has been going on since the dawn of time and it will never go away, we just do what we can to make sure the scammers are focusing on us, rather than a real victim.

Posted: Wed Dec 31, 2014 5:45 am

On your last point JBStrabismus

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2891311/Forgers-one-Britain-s-biggest-fake-ID-scams-sold-thousands-counterfeit-passports-driving-licences-little-50.html?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490

Quote:

Forgers behind one of Britain's biggest-ever fake ID scams sold thousands of counterfeit passports and driving licences for as little as £50

Duo were 'go-to' forgers for gangs and illegal immigrants in north London

Ironically it is now probably easier for a scammer to get a bank account in the UK than it is in West Africa.

I spent most of 2014 baiting and contacting UK ad scammers and I suspect that the number of UK bank accounts available for use by fraudsters is limitless.

The worst thing is that some have been involved in very simple frauds that have netted over £1,000,000.

Posted: Wed Dec 31, 2014 9:36 am

On a note related note: another Dutchie here?

Posted: Wed Dec 31, 2014 7:22 pm

Removed unnecessary quote of previous post- bware419ers

I will neither confirm nor deny that I live in an underground bunker in Utrecht. My forum name comes from the old Spike Milligan TV comedy series "the World of Beachcomber".

Posted: Wed Dec 31, 2014 7:36 pm

Quote:

Duo were 'go-to' forgers for gangs and illegal immigrants in north London

I love the pic, especially the guy on the right. If I am not mistaken, doesn't he look a bit like Gomer?

Posted: Sun Jan 04, 2015 5:51 pm

I haven't been on this site for many many years, I think the forum was down once when I tried to access it and then I was never bothered to return. It's nice to see the activity is still higher than ever and that people are organised to stop these people.

I've started to receive 419s again for some reason. Not sure why, I haven't been actively using my _primary_ e-mail for anything that they could sniff out.

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